The Countermeasure
1 min readOct 5, 2023

--

I don't think there were ever any peace plans that were agreed to in principle, or with any substantial guarantees for either side. There is no agreement that either Ukraine or Russia would walk away from feeling good as of yet.

I would also say the West has not tricked Russia. Any guarantees by NATO to not "expand" were upheld in terms of NATO members not aggressively advocating to expanding membership any harder than they usually do. Russia understands the nature of political realism; it is the world's best exemplar of it. Tricked would imply an understanding being subverted, but Moscow knew what to expect all along. It was the logic behind their own violations of 1990s agreements. To that end, Russia's own treatment of the Soviet Bloc sealed a fate in which Central and Eastern European nations would forever drift from Moscow's grasp the moment they received self-determination.

The culture, lifestyle, economics, security of the West are and have been superior to what Russia has been able to offer. It is a separate discussion, but the Central Asian states are a good example of this; the minute China entered the scene as a viable partner Russia has had an uncertain and diminished presence there simply because it has less to offer on paper.

--

--

The Countermeasure
The Countermeasure

Written by The Countermeasure

Challenging the prescriptive narrative of mainstream media // 2+ mil impressions on X // Sign up for email notifications!

No responses yet