The level of bias in that article is unreal and I feel hopeful it is more West Point analysts pushing propaganda than being ignorant. That was a lot of ink spilled trying to ignore why Russia might have felt the need to invade Ukraine before the two sentence grudging admission that Ukraine was arming up and aligning with Europe (cough the US) and maybe that was noticed by the Russians. Even though of course that wasn't really a factor, Blattman assures us.
Empathy is a useful offensive tool. He's not wrong that all the other factors were at play, but any analysis really has to admit that there would have to be a lot of fear of whether the US was going to stay peaceful as the noose kept tightening around Russia. Dismissing that without benefit of hindsight on what is going on in the Kremlin right now is foolish.
Empathy is a useful offensive tool. He's not wrong that all the other factors were at play, but any analysis really has to admit that there would have to be a lot of fear of whether the US was going to stay peaceful as the noose kept tightening around Russia. Dismissing that without benefit of hindsight on what is going on in the Kremlin right now is foolish.