I don't think there's a sensible reading of the excellent article above from which one can conclude that Russia will, or can, "just leave Ukraine alone".
Russia perceives its security and/or freedom of action to be threatened by things that either Ukrainians want for themselves, or that 'the West' wants for Ukraine (or both), and so fin…
I don't think there's a sensible reading of the excellent article above from which one can conclude that Russia will, or can, "just leave Ukraine alone".
Russia perceives its security and/or freedom of action to be threatened by things that either Ukrainians want for themselves, or that 'the West' wants for Ukraine (or both), and so finds it impossible to resist interfering. No doubt the Russians would argue that they're only reacting to the provocations of the USA and NATO, and that if they were to keep their hands off then, unless they had a cast-iron assurance to do the same from their rivals, they'd be giving away something for nothing. (Even then, a genuinely independent drift by the Ukrainians towards the West might be unacceptable to Moscow and encourage intervention in some manner in Ukrainian politics.)
I don't think we should pretend that powerful states haven't been doing this since time immemorial. Putin's Russia is not unique in its behaviour - its Tsarist predecessor, the Austro-Hungarians, the French, the British - all have used a mixture of persuasion and coercion in Eastern Europe and elsewhere at various points in the past.
I don't think there's a sensible reading of the excellent article above from which one can conclude that Russia will, or can, "just leave Ukraine alone".
Russia perceives its security and/or freedom of action to be threatened by things that either Ukrainians want for themselves, or that 'the West' wants for Ukraine (or both), and so finds it impossible to resist interfering. No doubt the Russians would argue that they're only reacting to the provocations of the USA and NATO, and that if they were to keep their hands off then, unless they had a cast-iron assurance to do the same from their rivals, they'd be giving away something for nothing. (Even then, a genuinely independent drift by the Ukrainians towards the West might be unacceptable to Moscow and encourage intervention in some manner in Ukrainian politics.)
I don't think we should pretend that powerful states haven't been doing this since time immemorial. Putin's Russia is not unique in its behaviour - its Tsarist predecessor, the Austro-Hungarians, the French, the British - all have used a mixture of persuasion and coercion in Eastern Europe and elsewhere at various points in the past.