General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Russia is not our Adversary [View all]cemaphonic
(4,138 posts)Every single one was installed through wartime invasion/occupation, maintained through brutal totalitarian police state tactics, and when that wasn't enough, literal invasions. The moment the Soviet Union released its grip, (due to its own instability) they overturned their puppet governments and ran as fast as they could into the economic and security arrangements of Western Europe and the US.
As for #1, obviously they want a Black Sea port. Doesn't justify them reneging on their treaty with Ukraine, or belligerently violating post-WWII norms of respecting other nations territorial integrity to get one. Austria has had a longstanding desire for a seaport too. Do you think the world would be cool with them annexing Slovenia to get Trieste? And your "solution" for the Crimea sounds a whole lot more like the Nazi "solution" to the Danzig exclave situation, or the Soviet justification that they needed to occupy the Baltic States to protect Kaliningrad, than anything like the Suez or Panama Canals.