Gorbachev set red lines about Nato expansion into Eastern Europe. The USA set the stage for it being an existential crisis.
Err, Gorbachev & NATO agreed terms in respect of East Germany reuniting with West Germany, nothing was agreed beyond that, because no one was expecting the whole Soviet Union would start falling apart soon after.
'I wish people wouldn't refer to 'NATO expansion' in light of the current Russian expansion plans, because unlike Russia, NATO never invaded the former Soviet republics in eastern Europe, as independent sovereign states they decided to join NATO as their best protection against Russian aggression. And, this year has proved they made the right choice.
USA are only willing to fight for Ukraine until the last dead Ukrainian. They'll bunker down in Poland and the Baltic states.
That's sadly because France & Germany vetoed Ukraine's NATO membership in 2008, so they haven't got the same level of protection that Poland and the Baltic states enjoy.
That people like RD2003 and TopCat, who are against imperialist war, get called appeasers or Putin apologists stinks. War is Hell.
Those two are complete clowns, they don't agree with the west supporting the Ukrainians in defending themselves against this Russian imperialist invasion, which basically implies they would be happy for Russia to do whatever they want, hence they come across as appeasers.
They bring nothing to the table beyond 'war is bad, therefore it needs to stop', proper student level of politics, they haven't not a single idea between them about how to end it, beyond it seems stopping support from the west, so Russia can bring it to an end quickly, and on their terms.
Yes it is, and in an ideal world Russia would never have started one, or at least would now give up on it and fuck off.
Sadly we don't live in some 'ideal student politics utopia', the Ukrainians are left with two choices - let Russia win, or fight back.'
I'm not allowed to post on the main war thread, so I'll answer this post from Cupid on there here.
First, the Soviet Union
did fall apart (or more accurately dismantled itself), which changed everything. Not least of it was that it eventually, and inevitably, brought Russian nationalism to the fore. Whatever was agreed with Gorbachev and co., NATO and the western powers knew very well that there would be a reaction from Russia if they continued pushing NATO eastwards. Now they've got it, and it's a mess. Ordinary Ukrainians and Russians suffer, while the dubious bunch of chancers in the Ukraine government and their allies in western governments go for glory and keep an eye on their place in history.
In doing that pushing, NATO and the west chose an unnecessary and eventually disastrous path when it didn't have to. So what that anti-Russian governments in the former eastern bloc applied to join NATO? In light of the fact that NATO knew very well that there would be a reaction from Russia, they could have been refused and new security arrangements that satisfied all concerned carved out. In particular, they could have done this when what was probably the most western-friendly government in Russian history was in power in the 1990s. (Although I'm not sure Russia even opposes
every former Warsaw Pact nation joining NATO.)
The fact that France and Germany refused Ukraine's application in 2008 only shows how much they were aware of the likely Russian response.
I for one do agree with Ukraine's right to defend itself. I also wish that Russia hadn't invaded. But I simply point out that the war to the bitter end that the UK and the US in particular are cheering Ukraine on to is extremely unlikely to achieve the outcome they desire, and carries the risk of disastrous escalation, and the spreading of the war to other countries. We have a Foreign Secretary who is not even fit to serve on a parish council pushing an half-baked ideologically-driven agenda, for instance. People like her are the real clowns, as well as armchair generals and war cheerleaders from a safe distance like Cupid Stunt (who actually talks of fellow posters on an obscure message board as appeasers, as if we actually have influence over things.) Armchair war is probably the ultimate in naivety and delusion. It's even worse than student politics. Cupid's final remarks, where he argues against stuff that only comes out of his own head, only confirms this.
*Edited late as put an additional sentence in wrong paragraph in an earlier edit.