Russia Painting Itself Into a Corner

Forget Ukraine, Russia. You blew it!

Amassing 150 thousand soldier on the border of the Ukraine may get Russia concessions from the West in the short term. But long term this is an absolutely idiotic strategy. In my previous story, I talked about the role the West played in stoking this conflict: Western Blame For Escalating Tensions in Ukraine.

However, while the West has not made the smartest decisions in dealing with Russia, there is nobody causing as much problems for Russia as Russia itself. If Putin did not want Ukraine to join NATO, you can bet they have become very eager to do so after seeing an enormous invasion force amass on the border.

Putin forgets that this isn’t Soviet times. You cannot strong-arm people into liking you. The citizens of Ukraine are not going to become positively predisposed towards Russia after this. Quite the contrary, they are going to be ever more intent on joining the West. Politicians positive towards the West are going to be more successful in elections.

American President Joe Biden has showed a lot more goodwill towards Russia lately, making it clear that Ukraine will not be accepted into NATO in the near future. Russian demands outlined in the Guardian are completely unlikely to be met:

The demands, spelled out by Moscow in full for the first time, were handed over to the US this week. They include a demand that Nato remove any troops or weapons deployed to countries that entered the…