British historian: The two mistakes that caused the Ukraine war

 

The American Wall Street Journal published an article on the views of the veteran historian specializing in Russia’s history, Robert Service, who predicted in 2021 Russia’s war on Ukraine, in which he says that there are two mistakes that caused this, and that the war is a tragedy for both Ukraine and Russia, and called for the president’s removal Russian Vladimir Putin from power. In the article written by Tunku Varadarajan, Service says that Russia's war on Ukraine resulted from two major strategic mistakes. The first came on November 10, when the United States and Ukraine signed the Strategic Partnership Charter, which confirmed America's support for Kyiv's right to pursue membership in NATO. NATO (NATO). Read also list of 4 items list 1 of 4 US senator calls for Putin's assassination, Russia denounces list 2 of 4 Putin threatened to press the button .. This is how Russia modified its "nuclear doctrine" with the Ukraine war list 3 of 4 Watch - Ukraine's Foreign Minister: Don't let Putin turn Ukraine into another Syria list 4 of 4 American fears of Putin's reaction to the expansion of sanctions end of list He explained that this agreement made it more likely than ever that Ukraine would eventually join NATO, an intolerable prospect for Putin. shameful mismanagement Service also described this agreement as shameful mismanagement by the West, which gave Ukraine encouragement on the question of NATO, and nothing was given to the Ukrainians to prepare for Russia's response. Serves notes that Ukraine is one of the hot spots in Vladimir Putin's "mental world", and the West has known that since at least 2007 when Putin gave a speech at the Munich Conference on Security Policy, he was angry at the idea of ​​Ukraine joining NATO, which is the idea Which Putin described in 2012 as non-negotiable. This is a modal window. We're having an unexpected problem, check and try again soon Error Code: MEDIA_ERR_UNKNOWN Session ID: 2022-03-05:249eecd7c470618d2cc6b937 Trigger element ID: vjs_video_3 In July 2021, Servis wrote an article predicting the war, summarizing the matter by saying, "Ukrainians and Russians are one people, Putin has said this many times before, but not as angry, forcefully and emotionally as now." Putin despises the West The second strategic mistake - according to Service - was Putin's underestimation of his competitors, he despises the West and sees it as decadent and politically and culturally anarchy, and that its leaders were "of poor quality and inexperienced compared to him." According to Putin’s estimates, the war was an “easy job” not only for Ukraine but for the West as well. He spent 4 years eclipsing Donald Trump, and he believed that the retirement of German Chancellor Angela Merkel had left the West rudderless, setting the scene for “surprise.” which he obtained when he launched a war on Ukraine, when he found that he had unwittingly united the West, and that what he had done was the opposite of what he wanted.” Servis describes the Russian president as reckless and mediocre, and ridiculed the idea that he had a kind of genius, especially as he underestimated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he met in Paris in December 2019, 6 months after the latter took office, and said that he Hardening as usual in his discussions of Zelensky, Putin came out visibly "trembling". anti-communist The key to understanding Putin, Service says, is his firm belief that Russia is a "global superpower" and that its sphere of influence should extend to as many former Soviet republics as possible, none of them more important than Ukraine. This is a modal window. We're having an unexpected problem, check and try again soon Error Code: MEDIA_ERR_UNKNOWN Session ID: 2022-03-05:769c178710aef2fc4f240cc Player Item ID: vjs_video_665 The historian describes Putin as not a communist, but rather an anti-communist, and considers the Soviet period as a "break" with the path to greatness that Russia should have taken. Putin believes in “Eternal Russia” and views Lenin with “cynicism and hatred” for stopping Russian expansion, while he might say “sometimes interesting things about Stalin, never saying anything positive about Lenin, despising democracy, and believing in the leadership’s right to impose authority.” The state over society, and from Putin's point of view this is beneficial to citizens because it brings stability and predictability to their lives, and he also believes in the importance of the secret police as an aid to the government." As Russia's war on Ukraine continues into its second week, Service has not hidden his pessimism, and says that the situation is moving towards a long-term war that will end with Ukraine's subjugation, "Putin will win the war after he destroys Ukraine and its people, but he will not win peace. of outrage unleashed in Ukraine." The solution is to isolate Putin Service says that Putin must be removed from power, this is the only way to end the suffering of Ukraine and Russia, noting that this can take place with a "palace coup", which at the moment seems "very unlikely" but can become acceptable, or a mass uprising with demonstrations Streets as a result of the economic hardship imposed by the war and Western sanctions. The longer the war drags on, the more likely Russia will see protest movements, Service says, especially if the police themselves have elements in their ranks who sympathize with the people they are supposed to suppress. Service concludes that Russia's war on Ukraine is not a tragedy for Ukraine alone, it is a tragedy for Russia as well, and the Russian people do not deserve a ruler like Putin.