Florida Man Was Here... (@sean_carter)

This has been brewing since 2008 when NATO said Ukraine and Georgia could join the Alliance. The events of 2014 and the invasion of Georgia should have told the West that Russia was not happy about a NATO country on its doorstep. It is of strategic importance to Russia (not least economically), but not the West, so why 'poke' the bear? Putin has only done what he has warned the world he would do on several occasions over the last decade. It doesn't make it right, but he can't be held solely accountable. I am convinced that he is not inherently expansionist and seeks the status quo. But, on the other hand, from his point of view, the expansionists are NATO, the EU, and the promotion of democracy. That can't sit well with a president like Putin! By "intervention," I mean offering NATO membership, EU membership, etc. Putin must have asked himself why they suggested NATO article 5 membership to a country on his doorstep unless they thought it had strategic importance. It doesn't, of course, unless they have designs on Russia! That represents a severe threat to them. Ukraine should be a neutral country, unaffiliated to NATO, the EU, or anything which gives the impression that the West is creeping too close to Russia's borders.