Originally Posted by
jackal2
French President Emmanuel Macron: "One of the essential points we must address - as President Putin has always said - is the fear that NATO comes right up to its doors, and the deployment of weapons that could threaten Russia".
I don't always agree with Macron (to say the least!) but he's right about this. As Sachs says in the interview above: "Much of this war has been about NATO enlargement from the beginning".
In no way does that mean Putin's actions in the Ukraine are justified or strategically intelligent. On the contrary, having once been a very astute player of the international political game, Putin has made a huge mistake invading Ukraine, handing a massive PR and strategic advantage to the NATO and the West, and putting ally China in a position they didn't need.