Russia does not operate by the rules of any other nation. Since its foundation by Norse invaders (Russ = red)., the nation has never been occupied or conquered. Mongols may have taken the steppes but they never really took the heartland of Moscow, St Petersburg and Kviv.
It is the world’s largest nation, but that isn’t enough, as the USSR it colonised more than a dozen other nations with only plucky Finland escaping their vast imperialistic grasp. And Afghanistan, time and again.
In reality the whole of the Eastern Bloc and the ’Stans’ were Russian colonies.
The problem is, Russia still think they are.
What has been more complex is the transition from communism to outright facism. An ultra right wing dictator has usurped the country’s constitution.
Russia even managed to place their puppet in the White House. Whether motivated by blackmail, greed or just outright stupidity, the US’ greatest nemesis somehow became the poster kids of the ultra right Republican Party.
Meanwhile, the one person capable of standing up to the Uber bully Putin retired.
It is no coincidence, in my view, that Angela Merckle’s stepping down saw Putin escalate his ambitions.
Energy security has always been a poor priority for most European nations, with the Green morons exacerbating the situation with their tin brained ideas.
Germany shut off a full ten per cent of its energy capacity at the end of 2021 thanks to its idiotic anti nuclear power stance. A country of genius engineers should by now have exported thorium and fusion energy plants to the world instead of lying about the damage their diesel cars cause. But that’s another rant.
So Russia has seen its opportunity. The West is dependent on its energy supplies. Gas in particular. And the Nord 2 pipeline would keep this dependency live for at least another two decades.
Russia annexed the Crimea with no consequences, just like the Anschluss. They could easily take the Ukraine. But I believe that Putin doesn’t necessarily want the Ukraine. He wants Nord 2.
With Metckle gone there is no Western lease of any stature to stand up to him, and he know it. The bully rules the school yard.
The only solution for a Western alliance to invade Russia, occupy and normalise energy supplies. The alternative is this nutter becomes the next Kaiser or Hitler.