The Word for the Day, and the Foreseeable Future IS: Encroachment ...
You want to STOP the War between Ukraine and Russia? STOP the Encroachment into Russian Territory by the European Union as well as NATO!
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines the word Encroachment or Encroach as a Verb having to enter by gradual steps or by stealth into the possessions or rights of another OR: to advance beyond the usual or proper limits …
And for the purposes of today’s newsletter/post, I forget, off the top of my head, what Substack is exactly calling it these days or not, but we’ll stick with that so as to keep it simple stupid, as they say, and leave it at that. But for the purposes of today’s deep, cleansing and eye-opening dive into all things Ukraine-Russia War I wish to bring to your and my attention something that’s largely gone unnoticeable about this whole thing, and that is this: The ONLY Reason Russia went to War with Ukraine in the first place was to STOP the encroachment by the European Union as well as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO further into Russian Territory. And that’s all, really, in a nutshell. Russian President Vladimir Putin cares not a wit or a whim about Ukraine, Zelenskyy or the Ukrainian People! Not one. He only cares about himself, his countrymen and the Russian People in general all over the world.
All of this crap about oh, oh, oh Russia wants to take over Ukraine! Putin wants to bring the old Soviet Union back with the hostile takeover of Ukraine is for crap! Absolute garbage my friends! He does not. He and Mr. Lavrov only asked for the ability to put one Russian Military Base and some Naval Forces near the Black Sea in the Donbas Region of Ukraine. And the Polish Defense Shield removed. One part was done while the Crimea Region of Ukraine was reluctantly adopted into the folds of Russia.
Remember then U. S. President Barack Obama’s hot mic moment with Dmitry Medvedev, former President of Russia, from 2012?
The Polish Defense Shield was what Obama and Medvedev were talking about, primarily then. Such, has, since World War 2 ended been a very sore subject for Russia and her People who simply just want to live their lives and be left in peace. Who the hell really and truly wants WAR anyway?! Name me one country or one elected leader of a country who goes around screaming and shouting to the tops of their lungs WAR, WAR and MORE WAR? I’ll wait….
Since NATO was formed on 04 April 1949 all they have done and all that they will continue to do, along with the European Union, is to continue to encroach on Russia. That was until Vladimir Putin came along.
Since the 1990s and the days of then U. S. President Bill Clinton NATO has continued to expand Westward further and further into Sovereign Russian Territory. Russian Leaders since Gorbachev have done nothing but appease and appease NATO and the West for the sake of wanting to fit in and be a part of the Cool Kids Club or to silence critics when it came to freedoms that are supposedly few and far between in Mother Russia. And look what it has gotten them for their troubles?
History tells us that Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was the last leader of the United Soviet Socialist Republic of Russia or U. S. S. R. for short! And he was from 1985 until 1991 when the old Soviet Union Collapsed. And that was done in such a way as to invoke encroaching as well. Folks say who wants to live in a world of socialism much less communism, right?! And, yeah, you’d be right, but folks living under one of the two of those ways of life complained very little in so long as the busses and trains ran on time, right?
Put another way …
Ronald Reagan was the salt of the earth as far as I’m concerned. Others can have their pro or their con arguments about him, but the man I knew and loved and called, “Papa” was a dear and tender-hearted soul.
Ronald Wilson Reagan had but one fatal flaw though! And that was he trusted the people around him, including his Wife and former, my Nana, First Lady Nancy Davis Reagan entirely too much! That to was Gorbachev's fatal flaw. Both men put too much in their People and a fella by the Name of Pope John Paul, II. to bring home the bacon.
The Soviet Union no more needed breaking up than the Beatles did! And yet these three men got the wild hair up their butts, along with then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to do exactly that. And it was done in the most remarkable of ways to … without having fired one single shot from a military issued weapon or cannon! Unbelievable?
At the time it was the end of the beginning of the Cold War. A cold war that had lasted for as long as the end of World War 2 between the East and the West. It was hailed as the greatest move of International Peace and Modern-Day Diplomacy the likes that had not been seen for the last fifty years.
Former American Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy would only dare to dream … or would they!?
Nikita Khrushchev and the old USSR Leaders churned in their graves.
And what’s this monumental achievement landed the world since? What condition, overall, has it put the European Continent in?
Further encroachment. Proxy Warfare. A new cold war without having to fire a shot. The flooding of the zone for the sake of money, power and a Nobel Peace Prize.
Ukraine and its so-called Leaders are willing participants in this proxy war against Russia so, technically, Europe and the West doesn’t have to actually look like they’re fighting against the Russians. Its the Ukrainians that are doing that for them and the World's New Churchill in Volodymyr Zelenskyy soaks in the adulation and the world’s blank checks all Russia is asking, under its Current Leader Vladimir Putin, to just stop encroaching on our country! All we wanted was a place to put a military base to safeguard you and us, Ukraine, in the long run, but instead all we get is WAR and trouble.
And folks have the temerity to wonder allowed why the Current U. S. President and U. S. Vice President strongly urge and wish for Ukraine to want PEACE between Russia and themselves?! God forbid and perish the thought.
YOU WANT AN END TO WAR BETWEEN UKRAINE AND RUSSIA? STOP THE ENCROACHMENT INTO RUSSIAN TERRITORY. ITS THAT SIMPLE.
DEO VINDICE ET SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!!!
Thank you for clarifying the reason that Russia sent in brigades of tanks and slaughter thousands of Ukrainians besides raping their women and kidnapping their children. Now I understand. I thought that because Putin was a great admirer of Peter the Great he wanted to re-create the Soviet Union, which you said did not need to be broken up. I’m sure the people of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan , and Tajikistan totally agree with you. (Did I miss someone? Maybe, Ukraine?)
Now, where exactly was Russia’s territory and encroached upon? Oh, perhaps you mean, when the people of Ukraine voted for a proponent of democracy, and indicated that they wished for a government which was more western oriented and more in favor of democracy, and, was afraid, for some reason, that Russia had territorial ambitions on it. Terrible that someone was afraid of a Russian dictator, wasn’t it?
A very powerful explanation that folks do not wish to confront