Originally Posted by
WideScreen
At the military level, that presumed NATO invasion was obviously fake news. NATO is not going to attack Russia without being attacked first, let alone, how to keep such plans secret in a Western society with free press and leaks And then, the Western side of Russia is "surrounded" by wealthy NATO countries, all closely bordering with Russia. And the freedom and wealth in those converted countries becomes visible to the Russians living near those NATO borders. These Russians simply start to get jealous and want that freedom and wealth too. The connection is easily made that a change of political system created the significant better living conditions for the converted NATO countries.
Which in turn would be a major existential threat to Russia with its current political system, based on suppression and military focus.
If the Russians aren't already "jealous" decades after life under USSR and then its collapse, when will they be? What better examples do they need than Poland, et al.? And, as has been mentioned several times already, if Putin wanted to stop that, the invasion of Ukraine is perhaps the most counterproductive step he could take (though I admit he's good at coming up with them).
The west should be doing it's level best to support the freedom, security and economies of loving former Communist nations. The Russian people need to make up their minds, are such thing worth fighting for?
As Captain Ramius said, "
A little revolution now and then is a healthy thing, don't you think?"