You do (I do, too). The government of Ukraine doesn’t really want that to happen (look at the video posted above), apparently.
But that‘s not what people signed up for when they came to live in the Soviet Union, was it?
In both France and Germany, only about half the population considers themself as Christian.
NATO is a defensive alliance. Claiming to be “threatened” by another country joining a defensive alliance is just cheap war propaganda.
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que?
(I don’t understand this comment, sorry, maybe I’m stupid, pls help me 
)
Good point. When Poland joined the NATO and then the EU, much of it was motivated by the fear of Russia wanting to be “friends” again. Russia absolutely doesn’t want their neighboring countries to get out of their sphere of influence, like it happened with Poland.
Although I have to say that “friendship” in the EU version is not all rosy. The EU is increasingly betting on integration and unification, to the point that you have to ask if the independence of member states is not in danger in the long term.
Fixed it for you.( Sorry for being an ass but am pretty sure that’s how Russia sees it)
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I think Putin is mainly afraid of the EU, rather than NATO.
The EU is based on principles opposite to the ones expressed by the Russian government, principles that might resonate much more with the Russian people than what Putin is offering them (limited freedom of speech, criminalised opposition leaders and journalists, oppression of anything that is not “the norm”, like homosexuality, etc.).
For years Putin has been funding euro-skeptic parties, spread fake news to influence votes like Brexit, etc… all with the intent of making the EU project fail from the inside. He has failed, and more and more countries prefer the freedom offered by the weest than the authoritarian methods of Russia. Putin seems unable to tolerate that even Ukraine (a country that he clearly does not recognise as independent, given what he said the other day) wants to to join the block.
I find this quote of Isaac Asimov fitting: “Violence is the last resort of the incompetent”.
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Yet he said he asked Clinton in 2000 how he would see Russia joining NATO…
The only thing that is threatened is Russian imperialism.
Russia itself is not threatened.
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Have you seen this video?
Well, there are some rules to join the club, like respecting ideals of democracy and human rights.
But some countries want to join, get money from the EU taxpayers and all other benefits (not least some form of protection from Russia) but then keep doing whatever they want, even when that goes against the above rules of the club.
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NATO has a nuclear arsenal.
I guess this also fits to the latest actions of Justin Trudeau in Canada, right? Blocking money accounts, confiscating donations, pacifying protesters.
Dude, stop this one-sided rhetoric. Do you think the EU lets other countries join out of the goodness of their heart? It’s a give and take deal for both sides. Yes, the new joiners get some funds to pimp up their infrastructure. But the existing EU states get an influx of cheap labor, which has been born, raised and educated in new joiner states. Their companies get access to the markets of the new joiners, where they can sell products without duties and compete against local fledgeling companies. So you can’t just say that the only deal that is there is “we give you money and you adopt our laws”.
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I think Trudeau exaggerated by blocking the accounts. But Putin is sending tanks. What are we talking about?
Dude, of course there are economic interests involved (those very interests that today make it more difficult for countries to go to war with each other than in the past). But what I think is that it is the new joiners who decide to apply and not the EU forcing them to. Maybe I am wrong.
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Remember the great patriotic war: Stalin was caught asleep at the wheel, a pact was broken by Hitler, the “wolf” was on the doorstep and 20m+ Soviets died.
If you look at it through this lens it is understandable Russia should be paranoid about security and untrusting of others, even if they do have a nuclear deterrent. Surely Putin does not want his legacy to be the weak leader that let that situation come into play again?
And that’s before you look at USA’s track record “do what I say not what I do” and recently “America first”. He would have to be a fool to trust America or NATO
Then there is the threat of revolution from within: If Russian citizens see their neighbours in Ukraine and Belarus thriving in a democracy they might want the same… the whole autocratic set up in Russia is surely then under threat
Not saying what’s happening can be justified, but Im note sure the EU or NATO have acted in the smartest way
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Just wanted to point out that violence and oppression comes in many forms, not always with tanks and evil generals.
If you’re a poor post-communist country, with Russia behind your back, and all neighbors are joining, you’d be hard-pressed not to join. Plus, the EU today is a bit different than the EU 20 years ago. And it’s not so easy to leave, as the Brexit shows.
+1 on that. The EU should be tearing down economic walls between countries, by removing duties and facilitating movement of labor, goods & services. Basically a trade union would be enough. Do we really need this parliament, these institutions, regulations?
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I could understand that Putin would be distrustful of the Americans. But the European states haven’t really being expanding their militaries of invading anyone recently.
If Russia should fear something, it’s their own demographics, the push for green energy, and maybe China. Do Russians really want to side with the Chinese?
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Both Ukraine and Russia were part of the same country. Most people living in Donetsk, Luhansk or Crimea did not emigrate from one country to another. If anything, they were already there or moved there “domestically”, within the Soviet Union.
Pro-Russians in Eastern Ukraine just happened to be located on the “wrong” side of the border - not necessarily cause they chose to live in Ukraine (though in the Ukraine independence referendum many did). I would therefore not quite agree that they’ve made a “pledge” to Ukraine, as you say.
The irony therein is that the EU itself isn’t very democratic.
While it propagates democratic ideals for member states, it’s hollowing out democracy itself.
wait, what?! 
