"the west" has made some mistakes, but I strongly disagree that it shares "guilt and blame in equal proportion as Putin." There are no excuses to justify invading a sovereign country unprovoked. It is a clear breach of international humanitarian law. The IJC agrees:
UN international court of justice orders Russia to halt invasion of Ukraine | Ukraine | The Guardian
NATO, and in particular the US was willing to find a "middle ground" however Russia refused to accept the proposals of the US and NATO. Putin demanded too much and was not willing to enter serious negotiations. A combination of harsh economic sanctions and a war that is not going very well for Russia, has made them interested in sanctions.
Russia insist on her "red lines", but so does NATO. I have not seen any "red lines" from NATO that I strongly disagree with. I cannot say the same for Russia's "red lines".
I agree Putin has made a terrible mistake invading Ukraine, it's a disaster for both Countries. But to suggest it was "unprovoked" shows a degree of Geopolitical naivety in my opinion.
The US was very active in the Maidan Revolution and the ousting of President Yanukovych;
A transcript of the alleged conversation between Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the US ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt discussing the crisis in Ukraine.
www.bbc.com
They then pumped a lot of weapons into Ukraine and encouraged them to take a firm stance against Russia;
Ukraine is a key regional strategic partner that has undertaken significant efforts to reform its military and increase its interoperability with NATO. Our policy is centered on supporting Ukraine as it advances reforms to strengthen democratic institutions, fight corruption, and promote...
www.state.gov
.
The 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea and conflict in the Eastern region of Donbas not only breached commitments made by Russia as a signatory of the Budapest Memorandum twenty years earlier, but also tested the ability of the U.S. and U.K to guarantee peace in Ukraine and hold the aggressor...
www.mei.edu
The current mess was predicted, quite accurately IMO, by this Guy;
To me this is tragic example of a bunch of megalomaniac Politicians over playing their hands. Citizens around the World are paying a huge price for their egos, especially in Ukraine and Russia obviously, and may yet pay a greater price if things get Nuclear.
Putin overestimated how effective his Military was and underestimated the effect of sanctions. Ukraine thought being Pals with the west would save them from Russian attack, they should have learnt from the Georgian War that it wouldn't. And the US thought they could get away with meddling in Politics anywhere in the World when they should have known it wasn't going to go down well somewhere that close and that important to Russia.
Now the US is fighting this War down to the very last Ukrainian and I believe there are plenty in Washington who are not upset this is happening. To the contrary they probably see it as a brilliant chance to weaken their adversary and proof their Ukraine strategy is working just fine. And there is no sign of any regret with the course they have chosen, to the contrary Biden is accelerating the Militarisation of Ukraine to record levels;
The money is evenly split between military support and funds for economic, humanitarian and other needs.
theconversation.com
What we are seeing is the bitter embers from the Cold War being reignited by a bunch of incompetent Dinosaurs who cannot escape their Cold War mentality and find positive ways to move the World forward.
