Putin has publicly stated that he wants Russia to return to its former glory days. He has said that the collapse of the USSR was a tragedy.
“First and foremost it is worth acknowledging that the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.........." (Putin April 2005)
I am aware of this, and he also said there was no going back; so this out-of-context quote isn't persuasive. The USSR failed as a state, and yes, when your government utterly fails to the point that it's dissolved, that's a tragedy. Just like if the US federal government fell apart tomorrow, it would be a tragedy, even if half the country became great, and the other half fell apart- it is still a tragedy that half fell apart. Jesus said he saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning; his being cast out of heaven was necessary, but his rebellion and fall are a tragedy.
We don't see nations begging to join the Russian federation.
Populism is on the rise. I don't want to join the Russian federation either, I'm not Russian. But the people in the Donbas and Crimea are, and they obviously didn't want to be yoked to the unstable government in Kyiv anymore.
. We do see nations wanting to join the EU.
The last country to join the EU was Croatia in 2013. The UK left in 2020. People want their national sovereignty back, and to not be shackled to international and intra-national organizations-
the world as it is supposed to be.
What people fear about Russia is its nuclear arsenal.
Yes, and rightly so. They would be stupid not to. It's kinda like being afraid of jumping out of an airplane without a parachute.
I doubt that even Putin seriously considers using nukes. It's a bluff, hoping to deter the West from resisting Russia's ambitions.
I have no doubt that we will see a serious escalation if NATO keeps pumping military hardware and "volunteers" into Ukraine to the point that they are able start pushing troops anywhere near Crimea, or into the Donbas. And I don't think he is afraid to do something dramatic to try and get us to stop. Zelensky's regime already considers itself to be de-facto part of NATO. Putin sees his country as fighting NATO. The only people that think otherwise is the leaders of NATO. And we can deny we are at war with Russia, but de-facto we are, whether we admit it or not, and nobody will care about the current legal-status of an alliance, or the lack of a formal declaration of war when the conflict escalates outside of Ukraine (if it hasn't already).
It needs to stop right now. It should not have even gotten this far.
No modern military power need fear Russia now.
Examples? The much vaunted Armata tanks and IFV are not to be seen. Russian trucks suffered punctures and were unable to supply ammunition and bring troops to the front. They were supposed to have military grade tyres. They had cheap Chinese tyres that could not handle the conditions. The money for Michelin tyres mysteriously disappeared. Their only aircraft carrier has hardly ever put to sea. And so on and so forth.
You might have somewhat of a point on this one- the only things I would say is that while, yes, it is looking like Russia's conventional army is a "paper tiger", we
might not see their whole hand right now either.
But this is exactly why we shouldn't be involved. We (NATO countries)
DON'T have to fear Russia's conventional military invading our borders.
What we absolutely DO need to be wary of is crossing the line in Ukraine to the point that Russia is willing to risk making unconventional escalations.