Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian military conflict on February 24, 2022, it has attracted the attention of all parties.
U.S. President Joe Biden issued a statement saying the U.S. was imposing "the most extensive sanctions ever imposed" on Russia, which would pay a heavy price for its actions in the long and short term.
According to Russian media reports, EU member states intend to close their airspace to Russian aircraft, and then, the United States and the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada issued a joint statement, announcing that several major Banks in Russia are prohibited from using the SWIFT system, and sanctions will be implemented in the next few days.
The move, known as a "financial nuclear bomb" dropped on Russia, will have a greater impact on Russia's economy once ties between Russian financial institutions and the global banking system are severed.
In addition, the United States has also imposed export controls on more than half of Russia's high-tech products in order to weaken its industrial and economic strength in the long run.
Russia seems to have long been aware of the sanctions imposed by Western countries and has made full preparations.
Putin concluded his televised speech on February 24: "The prosperity and survival of a country and a nation have always stemmed from its deep roots, namely culture and values, the experience and traditions of its ancestors, its ability to adapt quickly to the changing external environment, and its social cohesion and determination to move forward." ”
Many friends are curious about the Sudden escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian military, why would Russia prefer to be sanctioned and go to war with Ukraine?
The outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War has many reasons, the so-called "frozen three feet is not a day's cold", but the most core reason is undoubtedly Ukraine's fanfare to join NATO, completely angering Russia, so that Russia would rather be subject to economic sanctions than launch a war.
Many students do not understand that since Ukraine is a sovereign country and has the freedom to join which organization it is free to join, how can there be war against Ukraine because Ukraine wants to join NATO?
I believe that most people with good intentions are against war, because war is bound to cause suffering to ordinary people, and we do not want such a human tragedy.
But there are some things that we can't decide, nor can Russia decide, and if you really understand the causes and consequences of this war, you may understand that even if Russia takes the initiative, it is actually a last resort.
As Putin said earlier: "NATO told us in the 90s that it would not move an inch east. We were deceived, they brazenly deceived us, NATO expanded eastward five times. ”
The so-called "NATO" organization, known as the "North Atlantic Treaty Organization", is an international military bloc organization jointly established by North America and European countries after the end of World War II.
After the end of World War II, relations between the United States and the Soviet Union began to deteriorate gradually as a result of the defeat of the common enemy fascist state and the loss of the foundation of their wartime alliance.
In particular, the United States, which basically did not suffer any losses on its own soil in the war, began to actively seek world hegemony by virtue of its strong economic strength, so it established a global strategy of world hegemony.
In 1946, U.S. President Harry S. Truman publicly declared: "America is a powerful nation today, and no country is more powerful than it... This means that if we have such power, we have to take up the burden of leadership and take responsibility. ”
Although the United States has become the most powerful country, in the process of its hegemony, it has encountered almost the same powerful Soviet Union, and in order to seek world hegemony, the United States has begun to actively pursue anti-Soviet policies.
On March 12, 1947, Truman delivered a speech to Congress and publicly declared that the United States would confront the Soviet Union and communism in all parts of the world, marking the official beginning of the "Cold War."
In the two world wars, the United States fully realized that behind the scenes to manipulate everything in order to maximize its own interests, to this end, the United States implemented the Marshall Plan, so that the Western European countries that were hit hard in World War II quickly recovered, of course, the United States aid is conditional, that is, to strengthen the control of Western Europe.
In 1948, the United States took advantage of the "Berlin Crisis" to create tensions, render the atmosphere of war, and plan to establish a military bloc against the Soviet Union.
In this context, in 1949, the United States instigated Britain, France, Italy and other 12 Western countries to sign the North Atlantic Treaty, referred to as NATO.
NATO's ostensible purpose is "collective defence", one of which is that if any one of the States parties is violated, it is treated as if all States parties are attacked, and all other States parties shall assist that State.
In fact, it was a political tool for the United States to contain the Soviet Union and control Western Europe.
In 1955, in order to oppose NATO, the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Hungary and the GDR signed the Warsaw Pact, forming the Warsaw Pact, or warsaw pact for short.
At this point, NATO and the Warsaw Pact were established successively, and various countries in Europe formed a comprehensive confrontation, marking the formal formation of the pattern of hegemony between the United States and the Soviet Union.
It should be said that NATO and the Warsaw Pact are both products of the Cold War period, in 1991, the Soviet Union announced the disintegration, the Warsaw Pact was forced to dissolve, the United States has won the Cold War victory.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia, as the largest successor to the Soviet Union, pursued a policy of "one-sided" foreign compromise with the West after independence in order to cater to the West and obtain economic assistance from the West.
As the biggest imaginary enemy of the United States, the Soviet Union has ceased to exist, and it is reasonable to say that the value of NATO's existence is not great, but the United States does not intend to let go of this, on the contrary, the United States also wants to use this opportunity to expand and strive to attract Eastern European countries to join NATO, which can further weaken Russia's strength and curb Russia's re-emergence.
In this context, Poland and other Eastern European countries successively submitted requests to join NATO in 1992, and NATO did not agree to it at that time in order to avoid irritating Russia.
Russian President Boris Yeltsin expressed "understanding" during a visit to Poland in 1993 and even said shortly afterwards: "Former Warsaw Pact members can only be allowed to join at the same time as Russia joins NATO." ”
Is this too much to ask? It is not too much to say that Russia is even willing to compromise and join NATO in order to integrate into Western society at this time.
Of course, this is impossible, because NATO was established to contain the Soviet Union, and although the Soviet Union is gone, the United States still regards Russia as an imaginary enemy.
U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry said: "Russia may become a totalitarian, militaristic, and imperialist country hostile to the West after the turmoil." ”
This is the usual trick of the United States, even if you are not an enemy, I will assume you as an enemy, thus leaving an excuse for myself to establish hegemonic politics.
In 1996, NATO published the "Study Report on the Eastward Expansion Plan" to begin eastward expansion.
In order to balance Russia, the heads of state of the United States and Russia met in Helsinki in March 1997, although there are still differences in the three Baltic countries to join NATO, but Russia is no longer so determined, and four months later, NATO decided to admit Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary to join NATO for the first time, which is nato's first eastward expansion.
Of course, as compensation, Russia was agreed to join the WTO, the Paris Club, the OECD, and the G7.
On November 21, 2002, NATO decided to admit Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria to NATO in one go, thus bringing the total number of members of the organization to 26, which is the second round of NATO's eastward expansion.
In 2009, NATO accepted two countries, Croatia and Albania, and nato's membership became 28, which is nato's third round of eastward expansion.
In addition, NATO accepted Montenegro in 2017 and North Macedonia in 2020, thus completing five rounds of eastward expansion.
It can be said that NATO's eastward expansion has been close to the hinterland of Russia, which makes the Russians feel uneasy, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact was dissolved, NATO should no longer exist in the military organization, but aggressively developed to Russia's doorstep, which is a serious military threat.
In fact, Russia has a certain say in NATO affairs, which was explicitly committed to the Basic Document on Relations, Cooperation and Security between the Russian Federation and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization signed by NATO and Russia in 1997, in exchange for Russia's acquiescence to NATO's eastward expansion.
However, after several rounds of eastward expansion, NATO membership increased to 30 and advanced more than 1,000 kilometers eastward, which greatly changed the geopolitical security pattern of Europe.
At this time, Ukraine, which is strategically located in Central and Eastern Europe, will also be accepted by NATO, which is unacceptable to Russia.
Long before the third round of eastward expansion, NATO had already listed Ukraine as a "NATO candidate", but due to the outbreak of the south Ossetia incident in Georgia in 2008 and the political civil unrest in Ukraine, Ukraine's plan to join NATO was stranded.
Why is Ukraine's accession to NATO firmly blocked by Russia?
Ukraine is the largest country in Europe in terms of territory outside Russia, the first of the 15 republics of the former Soviet Union, and the second largest republic after Russia.
Ukraine has fertile land, is the world's third largest food exporter, and has always had the reputation of "The Granary of Europe", in addition to the fact that Ukraine's geographical location is very important as the geopolitical intersection of NATO and Russia.
Because of this, NATO continues to infiltrate Ukraine, and even through Ukraine to prevent Russia's revival, once Ukraine joins NATO, then Russia's situation will be more embarrassing.
Before 2014, Russia's requirements were not high, as long as Ukraine remained neutral, ukraine did oscillate between pro-Russian and pro-Western, but in 2014, a color revolution broke out in Ukraine, pro-Russian President Yanukovych stepped down, and the pro-Western Poroshenko was elected president of Ukraine, making Ukraine's situation more difficult.
Immediately after the outbreak of the Crimean War, the Crimean Peninsula, which had been ceded to Ukraine since the time of Khrushchev, was taken back by Russia.
In fact, Ukraine, as the junction of great powers and powers, could have met the source and gained the common support of both sides, which is the best choice in line with Ukraine's own security interests.
But ukraine's political elite, for the sake of its own interests, completely disregarded the independent integrity of the country's territorial sovereignty and chose to completely turn to the Western countries led by the United States.
President of Ukraine Zelenskiy
As Putin once said: "Neighbors cannot be chosen, and being neighbors with such a powerful country as Russia has no need to act as a pawn for the West to suppress Russia." ”
Today, a military conflict between Russia and Ukraine has broken out, and the NATO side has been unable to sit still and has begun to impose military sanctions on Russia, which is obviously a measure that NATO has long prepared.
Ukraine is not currently a member of NATO and is not involved in the so-called Mutual Defense Policy, and it is clear that NATO's actions once again prove that NATO existed in the past to contain the Soviet Union and today to all countries that could prevent the United States from continuing to pursue hegemonism.
If such a military organization develops to the doorstep of Russia, can Russians still sleep at night?
In order to solve the problem of NATO's eastward expansion, Russia has been trying to communicate with the West, and before that, Russia submitted a list of security recommendations to the United States and NATO, which clearly stated that NATO must stop its eastward expansion and did not allow Ukraine to join NATO, but what was obtained was indifference.
It should be said that NATO is not even willing to perfunctory on the issue of eastward expansion, and before that, NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg also vowed that NATO has never made similar commitments.
However, the media soon found the original NATO commitment, according to the "Reference News" report, Russia's previously mentioned "1991 NATO said it will not expand eastward document was found", the British National Archives was accidentally found.
According to the document, at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO promised the Soviet Union that NATO should not gain advantage from Eastern Europe, which the Red Army had withdrawn, and that NATO should not expand eastward formally or informally.
Ignoring previous commitments, NATO has expanded eastward over the past 20 years, even trying to get Ukraine to join NATO.
NATO is not an ordinary political and economic organization, but a military organization that exists outright for the purpose of targeting Russia, and expands without a bottom line, which is the root cause of the problem of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
If the NATO organization headed by the United States does not wake up and provoke arbitrarily, it will inevitably suffer its own evil consequences.