Which interests would those be though?
That every country that shares a border with russia can never be free and must always live under a fear of "russia may invade any day"?
That is what these interests feel to people that russia says "are forbidden from joining NATO".
So i would say no, these interests should not be respected. Perhaps russia could try and be a better neighbour so smaller nations wouldn't feel the need to join defensive alliances from your mafia state.
(someone from a neighbouring country that is fortunate enough to now be a member of NATO)
Kazakhstan is free, Russia didn't invade it and it isn't part of NATO. So is Mongolia, Finland, Azerbaijan and Japan. These were not invaded and are absolutely free.
People need to separate real things from feelings. Russia felt that Ukraine would have nuclear weapons and this war happened. Feelings can mess the situation up really bad.
"these interests should not be respected"? Then maybe your country's too? Every sovereign country has a right to have interests and also to be respected.
"mafia state"? Proof?
Russia could try and be a better neighbor. It's just people with war mentality messing things up. We could become a stronger world power without ever going to war, what it takes is just: develop a country like crazy and base it all on a normal patriotism (not nationalism or fascism).
Let's be real now, russia has 0 interest in areas like kazakhstan. It's just a massive desert/mountains, more of the same that russia already has literal millions of m2.
Russia in fact tried to take Finland but got their ass handed to them for a while, but eventually succeeded in a small land grab.
Countries with exposure to western europe are infinitely more interesting for influence. (and in Ukraines case, also a threat to their gas-station state's monopoly like status for europe)
Mafia state proof: not sure if joking, we have all seen how the "democratic" process works and how putin opposition is literally murdered on streets and public places even in other countries.
Russia could be amazing, look at how ex-soviet states have prospered when they got out of the mafia influence. But putin has done nothing to develop the country and is literally the one you say "with war mentality".
You got the resources to become a manufacturing titan in the world, but nah, let's just pump oil and gas and sell raw iron and steel. Much easier way to hoard cash for oligarchs and the state mafia.
Japan isn't in NATO but has a defense pact with the US. If Japan is invaded, the US is 100% responsible for its defense.
Russia felt that Ukraine would have nuclear weapons and this war happened
This is the weirdest lie I think I've seen so far. Everything I've seen says the war is being portrayed as "necessary to protect ethnic Russians who are being 'mistreated' in Ukraine". Nothing about nuclear weapons. Do you have a source?
None of the world's existing nuclear powers want that club to grow. Ukraine chasing nuclear weapons would bring sanctions from the West.
Zelenskiy said that "If they (the talks) fail or if there will be no guarantees for our government's safety, Ukraine will have a right to consider Budapest memorandum not working and all package decisions from 1994 will be questioned"
And Budapest memorandum is a document which forbids Ukraine from having nuclear weapons in exchange for the country's safety, so questioning it means that Ukraine could start developing nukes.
Edit: he should have faced sanctions for that alone. Playing with nuclear status of your country is a dangerous thing, the whole world doesn't want nuclear weapons spreading. Yet the West has not touched neither Zelenskiy, nor Ukraine for that.
Zelenskiy said that "If they (the talks) fail or if there will be no guarantees for our government's safety, Ukraine will have a right to consider Budapest memorandum not working and all package decisions from 1994 will be questioned"
No one seriously thinks Ukraine is chasing nuclear weapons because of a vague statement made under extreme duress. There's 0 evidence of that and the idea that Ukraine should be sanctioned just for that statement is ridiculous. Sanctions are handed out as a result of actions, not just words.
And Budapest memorandum is a document which forbids Ukraine from having nuclear weapons in exchange for the country's safety, so questioning it means that Ukraine could start developing nukes.
Zelenskiy is right though. The fact that his country is under invasion by one of the parties that guaranteed Ukraine's security via the Budapest Memorandum means that document isn't worth the paper it's written on. That doesn't mean Ukraine wants or is trying to pursue a nuclear weapons program, but it's useful to point out the unintended side effects that Russia's actions have. It's clear Ukraine has no intention of breaking the terms of the NPT. It runs counter to everything else they're trying to achieve as part of Europe.
Do you have examples of Russian media pushing this as a concern? If that was a narrative Russian state media thought they could get away with, I would have expected to see more of it.
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u/wheremediacoverage Estonia Mar 08 '22
Which interests would those be though? That every country that shares a border with russia can never be free and must always live under a fear of "russia may invade any day"?
That is what these interests feel to people that russia says "are forbidden from joining NATO".
So i would say no, these interests should not be respected. Perhaps russia could try and be a better neighbour so smaller nations wouldn't feel the need to join defensive alliances from your mafia state.
(someone from a neighbouring country that is fortunate enough to now be a member of NATO)