and so it's not all about this one guy - there are larger issues here, and we have to look at why the Russian people are supportive of their country's military action in Ukraine.
One third of the people living in Ukraine are ethnic Russians. That's got to matter to the people of Russia nextdoor.
Those ethnic Russians have been attacked by Ukrainian nationlists, beaten, and even killed. But none of you Russia-haters want to talk about that.
Zelensky has imprisoned political leaders, including ethnic Russian community leaders, who have tried to speak out, and has shut down media criticizing him, including ethnic Russian media.
Do you want an apartheid state? Because that's the inevitable consequence of your views, whether you choose to be in denial of those consequences or not.
And it's certainly gotten Putin triggered, even if you want to blind yourself to the history of it all.
Remember that no country suffered more war dead from fighting Hitler than the Russians did. Americans may think they Rambo'd through Europe while Russians held their coast or else snoozed it out, but that's just not the reality, no matter how many Hollywood movies have told you otherwise.
Ukrainian nationalists fought with the Nazis. And when I say they fought with the Nazis, I also mean that they committed atrocities along with the Nazis, motivated by Nazi ideology they'd embraced by seeing the 3rd Reich as friends and allies of their national cause.
There's a lot going on in this war that's very near and dear to the hearts of Russians. You just don't care to see what people might actually feel, as opposed to your whimsical caricatures of them.
www.atlanticcouncil.org
