Russia Was Scared So They Had to Attack Ukraine, Part II

By Rich Kozlovich 

In my commentary Russia Was Scared, So They Had to Attack Ukraine! Part I,  I noted so many very knowledgeable and smart geopolitical analysts just keep insisting Russia had to attack Ukraine because they were scared of NATO, so that justified an all out war against a smaller weaker nation as "an act of premeditated self-defense."  Apparently they're all going to the same school of geopolitical consensus thinking, and they're all ....everyone of them ....wrong!  

They get a lot right however, as in this August 24th, 2022 piece by Ridvan Bari Urcosta,  Russia’s Buffer Zone May Have to Wait, outlining how Putin and his band of thugs are going to have to alter their plans because everything they've been doing isn't really working.  But he, like so many, goes on to say:

"Russia invaded Ukraine with the goal of reestablishing much-needed strategic depth on its western borders"

 Nonsense!!!

My response to this is, overall this was a good and informative piece but why is it so many geopolitical writers keep insisting on using this, or similar phrases: “Much-needed strategic depth"?  Against whom exactly did they have this “desperate” need for strategic depth that justified an invasion of a weaker and non-aggressive neighbor?

Not one of the countries shown on the map offered had any intention of invading Russia, and even if they foolishly did, it was thought Russia’s military was of such quality before now any attempt would be disastrous.  I knew better by the way, I just didn’t realize how bad it was. 

This idea that: "Ukraine helps fulfill the Russian need to create a larger buffer zone between itself and the West, particularly NATO states", is again nonsense!

NATO was, and has been from the beginning, blatantly defensive, and quite frankly, they weren't very good at it with members failing to pay their dues.  They can’t possibly believe Putin was afraid of a NATO attack!  

Since before WWII it was the Russians who have been the aggressors and have done everything in their power to destabilize western nations, going back to 1920 with the spies and agents Stalin sent to America, many of whom filled the FDR administration, and they still work to undermine the west.  The only reason Russia objected to any more NATO members is because that prevented them from being the attackers, not the reverse.  

So I keep asking:  Just exactly who was going to attack Russia, now or in the foreseeable future?  

Not one European nation can do that now, and with their economic structure, never in the future, and I mean never as inflation is clearly going to cause serious social unrest, and coupling that with their energy crisis, which is going to get worse,  European nations and the EU's biggest concern is going to be survival.  

So any of this "we have to attack just in case" clabber is nonsense.  And that includes Russia’s traditional enemy, Turkey.  If I was Putin I'd worry a lot more about China than anyone else in the world, including the United States.

This invasion was nothing short of an aggressive effort at revanche, period! Nothing more and nothing less and no matter what claptrap is being spouted, Putin had every intention of conquering all of Ukraine, and more.  The question you should be asking is what should I believe, what I see happened before my eyes, or what they tell me?