Quote Originally Posted by applepie2 View Post
I certainly don’t think the West were innocent when the US and UK invaded Iraq (though France questioned that decision), and actions in Libya, Afghanistan and Syria were also highly questionable.

But fear of Nato is no justification for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and it looks much more like imperial ambitions. If Russia was genuinely concerned about the treatment of Russian speakers in Ukraine, there are diplomatic and moral pressures that can be applied. Try to win the argument and appeal to the Ukrainian government’s better nature, not use force and the threat of force.
I just feel the need to point out here that many languages are spoken in Ukraine, but Russian is the first language in about half the country.

This absolutely does not mean that these people feel oppressed by Zelensky, or wanted to be invaded by Russia.

Anecdotally, I have good friends in Ukraine (Dnipro) whose first language is Russian. One volunteered to fight against Russia and is now in a hospital bed with a mashed up leg, and the other is helping Ukraine's international legion with logistics. They are both now learning Ukranian.

More objectively, President Zelensky's first language is Russian, (although he chooses to speak Ukrainian in public now for obvious reasons) and it would be rather silly to oppress himself.

Although in the parallel dimension of Kremlin propaganda he's a Jewish Nazi, so let's also call him an anti Russian-speaker Russian-speaker. Anything goes at this point.

Also, if you look at the map for the last presidential elections, you will see that Zelensky was very popular in Russian speaking areas, and was seen as being one of the first politicians to represent the whole of Ukraine regardless of linguistic differences.