> Indeed, and apologists of Russia often take this position: in their mind, Russia has no will and no ambitions, and only reacts to what the US is doing. Whatever they do is always the fault of americans and never a manifestation of their own will.
Thank you for that perspective, but isn't it similar to the mindset of north-atlantics? "Russia is acting totally unprovoked, we hoped for totally good neighborhood trade and whatnot"
> Here in Eastern Europe the perspective is a bit different: Russia is a failed state that never developed a free and open civil society
I've been to Eastern Europe and my experience with it makes me feel like this is a European chauvinism mentality bit and a patting thyselves on the back.
> Their dictators tend to develop imperialist delusions from time to time and that makes them a direct threat to their neighbors and that's why everyone is so keen on building international cooperation to set up an unified front against Russian invasions.
Eh, Russia is fighting against imperialism (at least from its perspective) and that "international cooperation" largely consists of countries that had historical struggles with Russia, as you say.
> The ground under my feet has seen Russian invasions, raping, pillaging every 1-2 generations for as long as Russians have existed.
I always chuckle when Europeans try to do some historical moral grandstanding. Yo, man, Europe is the source of the most of genocides and is the birthplace of fascism and nazism. The people that had lived on the ground under your feet had been doing the same to everyone around, including Russians, all while being awfully proud of themselves. Even more so when spoken of Baltic states, but whatever, by all accounts, the historical perception of Europeans is that of pompous brutal animals.
> I've been to Eastern Europe and my experience with it makes me feel like this is a European chauvinism mentality bit and a patting thyselves on the back.
Eastern european anti-Russian stance is chauvinism, but Russian imperialism worth defending? Niiice.
> I always chuckle when Europeans try to do some historical moral grandstanding. Yo, man, Europe is the source of the most of genocides and is the birthplace of fascism and nazism.
Really?
You may want to look into Golden Horde, Mongolians, Khmers, Chinese commies, Japanese empire, all sorts of shit in subsaharan Africa.. Not to mention pre-european Americas history.
> The people that had lived on the ground under your feet had been doing the same to everyone around, including Russians, all while being awfully proud of themselves.
If you want to play this game... Muscovites are a wee of a special crowd around here. Yes, people here are no saints. But some people take it a wee further. Everybody did wage war here and there. But not everybody went this far with „rape & pillage“ part.
And, despite victimhood card they love to play, modern Russia is mostly just a cruel expansion of duchy of Moscow. Rather than trying to defend from surrounding people. Unfortunately their tactics seem to work pretty well.
> Even more so when spoken of Baltic states
Alright, bring it on :) What are you going to throw at us? Nazi or Soviet war crimes where our local collaborators gave them a helping hand?
Thank you for that perspective, but isn't it similar to the mindset of north-atlantics? "Russia is acting totally unprovoked, we hoped for totally good neighborhood trade and whatnot"
> Here in Eastern Europe the perspective is a bit different: Russia is a failed state that never developed a free and open civil society
I've been to Eastern Europe and my experience with it makes me feel like this is a European chauvinism mentality bit and a patting thyselves on the back.
> Their dictators tend to develop imperialist delusions from time to time and that makes them a direct threat to their neighbors and that's why everyone is so keen on building international cooperation to set up an unified front against Russian invasions.
Eh, Russia is fighting against imperialism (at least from its perspective) and that "international cooperation" largely consists of countries that had historical struggles with Russia, as you say.
> The ground under my feet has seen Russian invasions, raping, pillaging every 1-2 generations for as long as Russians have existed.
I always chuckle when Europeans try to do some historical moral grandstanding. Yo, man, Europe is the source of the most of genocides and is the birthplace of fascism and nazism. The people that had lived on the ground under your feet had been doing the same to everyone around, including Russians, all while being awfully proud of themselves. Even more so when spoken of Baltic states, but whatever, by all accounts, the historical perception of Europeans is that of pompous brutal animals.