Ukraine

I don't disagree why Euromaidan happen and what Yanokovich did. I agree with you on that. All I'm saying is that while all that was happening, there was also external pressure to help Ukraine split from it's remaining Soviet ties. All I'm saying is that there was just enough of that to allow Russia to use it as an excuse for their behavior. Just like how in US during 2016 elections people were claiming that Hilary Clinton was being helped by the Russians. Then they said the same about Trump. And now that the dust is mostly settled we saw that "russian bots" were on both sides just trying to create chaos. I'm not claiming that the results of that election were affected by Russia in a meaningful way, but because they were present, they became a useful scapegoat. So, when it comes to Ukraine, all I'm saying is that I don't think EU or NATO actually care if Ukraine joins, but they knew that it would weaken the CIS if Ukraine joined them, or if the war broke out.

Regarding Crimea, I'm sure that Putin and Yanukovich wanted to make Crimea Russian as a way to create a foothold. I think the whole "we'll join EU" thing was never going to happen and Crimea was going to also be an excuse for not doing that.

I want to clarify what I mean regarding NATO and Russia and "provocation". I'm not saying that the Putin was provoked. Putin was going to do everything in his power to keep Ukraine out of EU/NATO. All I'm saying is I think the Europeans knew that this will probably happen and didn't care.

Ukraine and all the other Baltic nations should do what they want and if they want to join EU/NATO, that's great. Putin is a piece of shit. But I feel like the support from the EU in this war has not been enough. And that lack of support makes me think that they don't really care about "helping Ukraine" and they just want to keep Russia tied up in this war. Because they know Putin will keep this thing going until he physically can't.