That’s the thing. Most people who haven’t been to Russia have a completely mad idea of the people there and the country.
While in actuality Moscow for instance is quite a safe city (safer than London and I lived in London and I have been twice to Moscow) and the people are just like most people elsewhere.
Same for Ukrainians.
But… but… Putin got Trump elected 
Remeber Russia saying they had no intention to invade and that troops along the border were just there for military practice? The sad thing is the Russian people were fed that lie and many (outside of Russia) believed it.
Absolutely crazy
NATO and the EU dosnt want eastern europe to be filled with countries run by Dictators who remain in power with the help of Russian military such as Belarus. Nor does it want weak countries which are at the mercy of Russian instability such as with Ukraine. NATO and the west in general wants europe to consist of stable countries supported by democratic ideologies. So yes over time it absolutely was a goal to see the Europeanisation of Ukraine in the same way we saw this in the Baltics for example.
Is that a bad thing absolutely not, the issue is Russia has zero disregard for what the people of Ukraine want and astill harbour massive imperialist views for the region which belong in the 19th century.
This is insane
Yeah i went to Moscow about 4 years ago, no different to any European city, plenty of money about.
From who, exactly? Most Americans can’t find Ukraine on a map.
Pressure on Biden from Dem congressmen and senators who are up for election this year.
Fuck that, I’d rather die. Being incinerated in a nuclear explosion is instant and painless, living a life of torment under a mad dictator would be infinitely worse.
I’m not aware of a ton of grassroots pressure from Dems and center lefties to do anything other than maybe some reflexive “Putin = Bad”.
The only pressure is going to come if/when sanctions make gas more expensive and then the same Republicans who hammered Biden for being weak and not doing enough can hammer him for bumbling things overseas and making gas prices too high.
This is skirting around the militarisation aspect, esp. that would come down the line with NATO and Article 5. How does it all benefit your average person in Michigan or Leeds? It doesn’t really, and the end result has been low grade border/territorial conflicts that have now escalated to this situation.
Putin’s a bad guy, but my gauge is even most in here in this thread don’t want war., and the % among the wider public is even larger. There is massive war fatigue and the average person on Main Street doesn’t want this, and wouldn’t have wanted “Europeanisation” of Ukraine if they knew it would have led to the current situation.
Well shit.
I think if you were to ask Russians, Chinese, people in certain countries in the Middle East if dying in a nuclear holocaust would be preferable to not living in a democracy, as is currently the case, you wouldn’t get an answer that looks like your post haha.
I said Congresspeople and Senators up for election this year, not grassroots. Your average Dem in grassroots is naturally anti-war even if they’ve forgotten that befriending Liz Cheney and the like recently. Biden is already in trouble because of inflation. The polls show him underwater even in CA and NY. That’s a lot of Dems n DC worried about their futures, and iirc 40 Dem Congresspeople have already given up on running for re-election. The rest who are trying to get re-elected need some campaign messaging of some wins under Biden. All that they would have going into November would be people calling Biden weak, on top of inflation, etc. issues. This issue with Ukraine has potential to be conflated into an overall narrative, combining it with the Afghanistan debacle. Nervous Dems are going to be on Biden’s back, that’s how it is in DC.
Have you ever been to Russia my comrade? Sincere question.
In the last twenty years the CCP have lifted more than 400 million Chinese out of poverty and into middle class. Their society is thriving. Many Chinese are perfectly content because their lives have vastly improved. And a bunch are of course not happy.
Not to say the CCP is great. In many aspects they aren’t at all, but there is plenty of reason to rather live under their rule than be bobbed to oblivion. 
All in all, it’s a western arrogance and superiority complex thinking everyone wants to love life the way we do in the west. It’s wrong to assume so and quite frankly a bit offensive.
Safer for who? Because I know as a North African with a Muslim family I’d much rather live in London than Moscow.
I can’t imagine the LGBT community feel particularly safe in Moscow. I don’t also imagine that many other minorities feel particularly at ease in Moscow.
Yeah, they might have lower crime rates than London but I know for a fact I feel safer here than I would living under an autocrat with bigoted views.
Have you been to Moscow? What’s your experience with Moscow? Please let me know.
Moscow is a safer city in general than London.
Did you know Russia comprises of millions of Muslims who live perfectly fine lives?
The bigotry regarding life in Russia I read on here is astounding. And it’s usually those who haven’t even set foot in that country.
Most things in the world don’t effect Joe Bloggs from Leeds or Michigan.
Western countries should not turn a cold shoulder to Ukraine and just leave them to the mercy of Russia (which is what they are without protection of EU or NATO status) just because it is the easier thing to do.
The people of Ukraine have as much to right to join the EU (should they eventually reach the requirements) as any other country that has already joined.
Russians do need to be put in check, they have been getting too ballsy in Syria, with Iran and now in Eastern Europe.
The west aren’t the only scumbags around.
It may set a dangerous precedent with China and the South China sea and Taiwan