[KenHorse]

Originally Posted by bill_daniels

Does he? Or does he simply want a buffer of client states between Russia and NATO, the same NATO, that apparently kept snubbing Russia after the Cold War ended. Keep in mind, it is NATO that keeps doing the expansion eastward. It seems reasonable that, after the US successfully regime changed the Ukraine in 2014 , the Maidan coup, and the more recently overtures between the Ukraine and NATO for the Ukraine to become a member of NATO.....I can see how Russia would feel threatened, AND pissed off.

I didn't take everything Putin had to say as gospel, I'm sure he, a trained propagandist, spun a story for us, but I believe much of that story was birthed in truth. It made sense. He explains that with 1,000 km's of border with China, they kind of have to get along. Checks out. Shit, he gave a contemporaneous half hour history lesson, complete with names, places, and dates. I'm sure that would be easy to fact check, and I haven't seen anyone pick that apart.

Only our prior presidents, Bush and Clinton, can confirm or deny that they talked peace and friendship, only to be rebuffed by our "security services." And frankly, I don't trust word of Bush or Clinton more than I trust Putin.

In the past, he's lamented about the fall of the Soviet Union and expressed desire to see it again