Each one of us sees the world through a different lens but I think broadly there are two kinds of people in this world. The first category of people believes the world should work ideally according to the rules laid out. But when things do not play out accordingly, these people feel miserable. The other category of people form an opinion of the world by observing it in real life and they know that it rarely works according to the rules. It appears to me that this difference in expectations and point of view arises from one’s surroundings and experiences during childhood and later in life.

I am not judging anyone here but I think that people falling in the second category will be able to better understand why Russia attacked Ukraine. To keep this post short, I will not go too much into the details but I will refer a video to you if you want to deeply understand the facts.

What does Russia want?

So first of all, what exactly is Russia demanding and why? Russia’s chief demand is that Ukraine must not join the US-led NATO alliance and remain neutral. It argues that if Ukraine becomes a part of NATO, that would pose a serious threat to Russia’s security as the alliance was primarily formed by the US, Canada, and several European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union.

Russia also claims that NATO is failing to fulfill its promise of not expanding into eastern Europe. NATO says it never made these claims.

Is Russia asking for too much?

In my view, Russia’s security concerns are legitimate and valid.

Now that the Soviet Union does not exist, the main enemy of NATO is Russia. That America has always felt insecure due to Russia is well known. In case of any conflict between Russia and any NATO member, all member nations would be required to step in and fight against Russia. This naturally is a legitimate threat to Russia. Moreover, if Ukraine joins NATO, the alliance can create military bases and store weapons(including nuclear weapons which Ukraine currently does not have) in Ukrainian territory. It is obvious that Russia is feeling uncomfortable with this plan. Western influence on Ukraine is also what makes Russia furious.

Ukraine, being a non-NATO member as of now, acts as a buffer between Russia and NATO. If it joined NATO, it would bring Russia and NATO face to face. Since NATO is backed by several powerful countries, it would be able to threaten Russia in the future with illegal demands. This is a possibility Russia wants to avoid at all costs.

President Putin said in a press conference in December 2021 that “…the US is deploying missiles close to our home on the porch of our house”.

One may argue that Ukraine being a sovereign nation, has the full authority to join any alliance it wants. But from the point of view of Russia, a powerful country with a strong military, this does not go well. Ideally, we can say that Russia is doing wrong in sending its forces into Ukraine but come on, the world is not ideal. No country is as pure as it portrays itself. The corruption and human rights violations done by the US and other western countries are well known. In fact, the US has attacked many sovereign countries since World War II. We see all the time countries make and break their promises. It is stupid to assume that any nation will behave morally when its security is at stake.

Russia further argues that if it made an alliance with countries such as Canada or Mexico and park its military equipment at the borders of the United States, would America keep quiet? I believe you are now able to understand Russia’s point of view. No country will ever like that enemies collect weapons near their borders. It is logical that Russia wants to avoid this at all costs and has therefore launched a military operation in Ukraine to destroy strategically important infrastructure and possibly remove the west-favoring government. It is also important to note that Russia had given many warnings to the world publically before launching this attack but it seems that the western nations wanted this conflict to happen by avoiding all these warnings.

Watch this video of President Vladimir Putin’s address before launching the military operation in Ukraine:

Ukraine is a strategically important nation to Russia. It is not strategically important to the US. But still, the US wants to meddle in the affairs of other countries. It wants to portray itself as the savior of all mankind. Supplying arms in large numbers to Ukraine is effectively adding fuel to the fire. The possibility that Ukraine will win against Russia is very low and the best way to save the lives of its people is that it agrees not to join NATO.

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What does the US want?

The real agenda of the US, it seems, is to isolate Russia, destroy its economy, and portray it as a criminal and violent nation. I believe that the US is afraid of any country that can challenge its title of a superpower. China is strong both financially and military-wise. Russia is a strong military power and has huge natural reserves. Both these nations also have strong nuclear capabilities.

With the burden of the astronomical national debt, America has become financially much weaker and is able to exist only due to the single fact that the Dollar is the World’s reserve currency. Unchecked money printing by corrupt politicians will lead America to ruin if not controlled. It has also led to huge inflation.

The unilateral economic sanctions, I believe are more than was required and hint towards the real dark intentions.

The US froze Russian foreign reserves worth 300 billion dollars and cut off several Russian banks and financial institutions from international markets. These sanctions are preventing Russia to use its own legitimate money held in the US.

How the crisis could have been avoided?

Only if NATO had agreed to deny membership to Ukraine, all would have been going well. Again, you may not agree with this statement and that’s not a problem.

Shekhar Gupta’s Business Standard article may make things a little clear. Naive to expect nations to let their strategic choices be determined by morality

Now the world and its common men, women, and children are paying the price for this conflict in the form of inflation and the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. This military conflict should have been avoided. There should be no justification for human suffering and loss but these issues are secondary in world politics and that is the cold truth.

My personal view

My personal view is that the crisis is the result of the actions of the west and I completely agree with Professor John Mearsheimer. The hidden agenda of the west is now in front of all. India and China have not supported America and the EU because they understand the game. May God give these so-called leaders some wisdom so that the lives of countless innocent people are not destroyed.

Additional Reading

I have come to the conclusion that most of the media outlets are biased. This topic is a sensitive one and requires that we keep an open mind and listen to arguments from both sides before jumping to conclusions. You may refer to Russian news company RT for understanding Russia’s point of view about the situation. RT has been banned in many NATO and anti-Russian countries.

Please comment responsibly. I’m open to constructive criticism and feedback. The views in this post are my own and not sponsored in any way by anyone. My views could change if new facts emerge. Thank you for reading.