Smallman1
It definitely was an informative watch and it echoed the thoughts conveyed by Putin in several recent videos I’ve seen online where he’s addressing questions from international reporters (which got suspiciously little air time, as far as I could see, on western media outlets, probably because he made some valid points).
And I do agree with Meirsheimer’s view that it’s never as simple as “West = Good; East = Bad” and we should always question the narrative being force-fed to us by the state media (whichever side of ‘the fence’ we’re on).
That said, those sympathising with Putin’s view tend to refer to the ‘NATO expansion eastwards’ as if the west are hell bent on expanding ‘the empire’. Totally ignoring the possibility that the countries on the eastern edge of Europe (some being ex-soviet) might actively seek membership into such an alliance. Are we actively expanding the ‘empire’ in a hostile/provocative manner or are we simply letting countries jump on board if they wish to? Putin clearly views it as the former.
As current members of NATO, are we supposed to turn away those countries on the eastern periphery that wish to join us, just in case it pisses Putin off? Meirsheimer’s view is that the Ukraine should stay as a neutral / buffer state in order to resolve this, will Ukraine residents be happy for that to be the case?
