Not an answer.Probably not since the Cold War, although there's obviously been some lingering resentment and hostility towards Russia over what happened in the past. That may not constitute a "threat," per se, but it's not exactly friendly either.
Not clear what you're alluding to.No. That's not what I was saying at all. I don't think their concern is that they could be conquered. With their nuclear ace in the hole, that's simply not an option.
This isn't justifying Russia's seeming paranoia.My main point here is that, sometimes, when looking under the hood of US foreign policy and our various activities around the world, our national leaders don't come off looking like the "nice people" that many people believe them to be. From the other side of the hill, they might see these "nice people" as a potential threat. I mean, we're talking about people who spied on the personal cellphone of the German Chancellor, one of our allies. They do engage in a great deal of mischief, so it stands to reason that a rival power might look at that and think "These people are out of control."
That doesn't mean there's any plan to conquer Russia.
The better explanation is that it's feigned in order
to justify invasions. And many are buying its
plausibility. It appears that you do.
And yet, your posts continually offer ostensiblyNo, not exculpating them. If I'm ever called to jury duty when Russia is brought in to the World Court for invading Ukraine, I would vote "guilty." They did do that; Purin and his government are as guilty as a cat in a goldfish bowl.
plausible legitimate reasons for Russia's invasions.
Your posts are full of conflicted agendas.But it doesn't appear that Putin will be arrested and taken to court any time soon. Any hope of any kind of cooperative relationship with Russia is now doomed; we'll be entering a new era with a new kind of cold war. I'm not taking their side in this, but it's more of a lamentation, a sense of regret that it's come to this. It didn't have to be this way. We could have lived and coexisted with each other in peace, but, for whatever reason...we have what we have now.
Fortunately, we're not really at war just yet. Hopefully, it won't get to that point. I don't see how I can be faulted for acknowledging the reality of the situation and exhorting my fellow Allies to learn from some of the mistakes made in the past. If anything, I'm just saying that we should look at this strategically. Sure, Russia is guilty, but from a strategic perspective, that's immaterial. That is, unless we're presuming to act as some form of global law enforcement agency, which is a completely different discussion altogether.