[Sumac]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Well in that case Ukraine should definitely be allowed to join NATO and Putin can either piss off or be made to wish he had.

It is impossible, since according to own NATO's rules, country which have conflicts on its territory can not become part of NATO. Which supposedly was one of the main reasons for starting DNR LNR **** in the first place.

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

What is his deal anyhow? More territory? Childish pot stirring on the world stage or just dick waving?

One reason is that dwarf wants to boost up his ratings, which are extremely low due to the tanking economy and Russia effective fight against COVID (spoiler: it was not effective at all).
Another, he seemingly really thinks of himself as Russian Tsar who gathers old Russian territories - an idea existing, since they days of actual Russian Empire.

It doesn't make him a Communist, since late USSR, where Pitler is from, had very little in common with Communism. It does make him run-of-the-mill Imperialist, who believes that "territory is everything", and, "if your country is bigger than the rest, it is also more powerful and feared".

Which shows that oldman completely lost touch with reality and seemingly doesn't have a basic grasp on economy, modern technology and how relationship between modern countries work.

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

In 2014 Crimea was taken from Ukraine from Russia after the Ukrainian president was ousted. Now, it appears that this is a sequel. Do these people actually want to switch from Ukraine to Russia or is it a certain section of the Ukraine?

You mean separatist republics?

I think, originally locals, like in Crimea, were on board, since culturally they were more Russians, than Ukrainians. It doesn't help that Russian propaganda created a whole storm of "fake news" about atrocities of Ukrainian army and their version of Nazis groups, against Russian-speaking people of Ukraine including rape, crucifixion (!!) and ol'good genocide.

So people were scared and were willing to accept new pro-Russian separatist leadership. Thing is, 8 years later, it had become obvious that their life has not become better under quasi-Russian control. Those republics are ruled by ruthless and dumb gangs of mercenaries, whose leaders at each throats. Its basically low scale Mad Max in post-Soviet cities. It hadn't changed as well.

Local people, obviously has no power in their own "independent (ha-ha) republics", which are ultimately ordered around by Moscow enforcers. So, whatever, "documents" and "pleas" are coming from those republics are basically, what Moscow had ordered local governments to say.

So, to sum it up: locals has no say in their destiny and every time you hear from pro-Russian source that "people of Luhansk / Donetsk had chosen this and that", it is a lie and was down by orders from Moscow.

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

I am just trying to get a non-political insight. On the surface it appears Vladimir Putin bullying the Ukraine into being fully absorbed and the west is trying to use diplomacy to stop it though NATO may be an option.

NATO won't be an option, because, they won't get into conflict with nuclear power, because, of Ukraine.

Also, I don't think Pitler wants to get whole Ukraine: country is divided into Western and Eastern parts. Historically Western part is pro-West, it has its own culture, craving for independency and hatred for the Russians, who they consider usurpers and conquerors.

Eastern Ukraine, on contrary, is pro-Russian - they culture leans towards being more Russian-like and they predominantly speak Russian as their main language. However, after shitshow with separatists republics, even those people are not fans of Pitler's Russia.

If old dwarf will try to conquer Ukraine as a whole - he will end up with guerilla warfare and acts of terror of unprecedent scale, so maximum he can try is to conquer Eastern part of the country and now, even this looks like no easy task.

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

Is there a difference this time where the people wanted to be annexed before and these don't which is why the U.N. didn't act last time? Like I said, I don't want any political issues here, just clarification. It is hard to do that through news media.

The only reason separatist republics were not annexed is, because, they were more useful as separatist republics. Now, it might change.