Putin is 69 years old. Born at a time when the memory of WW2 and the death of an estimated 27m Russians was still dominant.
He grew up during the cold war, an era of mutually assured destruction. By 1991 he was a Lieutenant Colonel in the KGB, the year in which the break up of the USSR got underway.
That he is wary of the motives of NATO and the EU should be no surprise - he has no reason to trust the West.
The West has been very aware of Ukrainian instability since at least the 2014 invasion of Crimea, and arguably since its formation in 1991. The civil war between the separatists and Ukraine has apparently killed ~14000 since 2014, so hardly a trivial easily missed sideshow.
Rather than express surprise at Putin's actions, we should question why any conflict remained unresolved since at least 2014, particularly as the Minsk agreement clearly wasn't working.
This is not written to condone the actions of Putin, but a reflection of the inadequacy of the West and UN in failing to resolve problems long before war intervened.
The threat of sanctions is equally inadequate - Putin must have considered and discounted the consequences before he took the decision to invade.
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The Ukraine - Volume 1 new |
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26 Jan 22 16:22 |
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11 Feb 22 17:57 |
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11 Feb 22 17:59 |
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11 Feb 22 18:21 |
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20 Feb 22 19:22 |
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22 Feb 22 08:37 |
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22 Feb 22 08:34 |
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22 Feb 22 09:03 |
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22 Feb 22 09:10 |
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22 Feb 22 09:12 |
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22 Feb 22 10:52 |
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Zero |
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22 Feb 22 12:50 |
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sooty123 |
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22 Feb 22 13:05 |
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Zero |
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22 Feb 22 13:47 |
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sooty123 |
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22 Feb 22 14:07 |
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Bromptonaut |
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22 Feb 22 15:14 |
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sooty123 |
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22 Feb 22 15:29 |
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Zero |
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22 Feb 22 15:44 |
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Bromptonaut |
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22 Feb 22 15:51 |
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sooty123 |
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22 Feb 22 16:46 |
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22 Feb 22 13:55 |
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The Ukraine - Next Up Kaliningra.. new |
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22 Feb 22 17:06 |
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sooty123 |
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24 Feb 22 06:23 |
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Bromptonaut |
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24 Feb 22 06:36 |
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sooty123 |
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24 Feb 22 06:59 |
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Zero |
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24 Feb 22 09:16 |
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The Ukraine - Next Up Kaliningrad? new |
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Zero |
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24 Feb 22 09:17 |
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Zero |
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24 Feb 22 11:16 |
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Lygonos |
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24 Feb 22 11:25 |
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24 Feb 22 11:54 |
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Robin O'Reliant |
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24 Feb 22 13:45 |
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CGNorwich |
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24 Feb 22 13:50 |
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24 Feb 22 15:53 |
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tyrednemotional |
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24 Feb 22 22:51 |
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Bobby |
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24 Feb 22 18:39 |
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The Ukraine - Next Up Kaliningrad? new |
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Zero |
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24 Feb 22 19:02 |
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24 Feb 22 13:53 |
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24 Feb 22 15:46 |
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zippy |
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24 Feb 22 17:15 |
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24 Feb 22 17:17 |
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24 Feb 22 17:52 |
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24 Feb 22 18:20 |
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24 Feb 22 18:42 |
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24 Feb 22 18:00 |
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Manatee |
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24 Feb 22 19:49 |
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