In April 1997 Mikhail Gorbachev (recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize) explained to the U.S. Congress that Russia will never allow the West & NATO to expand toward Ukraine because of MILITARY security concerns.
In 2010 Stephen F. Cohan Russian Expert, NYU history professor, speaks to the Carnegie Council and explains that Russia was promised by the U.S. that NATO would NOT ADVANCE on Russian’s borders.
George W. Bush Sr. administration promised Russia that in return for a united Germany in NATO that NATO WOULD NOT EXPAND EASTWARD!
2015 John J. Mearsheimer, prominent American scholar of international relations best known for his theory of offensive realism, spoke about how the U.S. is purposely “baiting the Ukraine” to take a hard line with Russia and promising Ukraine admission into NATO if they challenge Russia.
However Mearsheimer claims that if Ukraine does that the Ukraine would “get wreaked”!
And Mearsheimer suggest that the ONLY WAY out of destruction of Ukraine is that an agreement with all parties that Ukraine would become a neutral country in the area and thereby getting the Ukraine out of the middle of the East/West power game.
Russia has been clear for three decades, “NO NATO ON OUR BOARDERS” and now in 2022 we are surprised about Russia getting fed up with not being listened to?
PEOPLE ARE SURPRISED?
Give Tubularsock a fucking break!
Tubularsock 
It sounds so simple…. you have to wonder what else is behind this?
Leslie
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Leslie, Tubularsock once again agrees that it always comes down to “what’s behind the curtain”.
Well we can rest assured that it is not an undying love for the Ukrainian people.
But Russia has been trying to pass a lot of gas recently.
Thanks for your comment.
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As for passing of gas the Russians have been doing a fair bit of that…
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FREE VLADAMIR PUTIN ! FREE VLADAMIR PUTIN!
Poor Vlad..languishing in his warm dacha, so upset with what”s going on in Ukraine that he can’t bear to have another serving of caviar and vodka.
His quarters are luxurious, and his carpet thick and lush except for a few spots that are worn and threadbare. Those are the areas over the years where he has rolled on the floor and thrown tantrums.”Give me my Soviet Empire..”he was heard to cry. And when his advisors and military couldn’t bring back the Iron Curtain he began to roll, all the while sobbing and stamping and shouting. Along about 2014 he began to call for “give me back my Ukraine…” And he rolled again.But he stopped his crying when a little piece of it came back.
And now Vlad is at it again. Especially since the Ukrainians have been so ungrateful as to greet his tanks with Molotov Cocktails instead of flowers. But as he snotted and cried and carried on this tantrum around he suddenly remembered he is not alone. In 2016 he met another who was noted for tantrums too, his new friend Donald. And Donald has already praised him for being a genius in Ukraine.And Donald knows genius, he once had an uncle who taught at MIT.
So hold on Vlad…be steadfast. And if your troops are still in Ukraine in 2024, as they likely will be, maybe your new friend can be back in office again. And the two of you can figure out how to continue to make dictatorships look like a democracy..
FREE VLADAMIR PUTIN!
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Now Batt, Tubularsock has no argument with your little bed time story about Vald. It was interesting to Tubularsock that you seem to know many details about Vlad’s habits and Vlad’s dacha.
Is that an admission of your early CIA association?
And your seeming dissing of Donnie and his uncle seems a little mean spirited when Donnie has done so much for our nation by helping to get a walking deadman elected President to replace him.
And Tubularsock does feel that it was rather rude of the Ukrainians to be so hostile toward their Russian neighbors when they dropped by to visit. But it seems that hospitality isn’t as prevalent as it once was in our world.
All in all, Tubularsock was very happy to read your insights however the entire point that Tubularsock was attempting to make in this post was there was a peaceful way to have handled this entire issue.
And that way was for the U.S. for a change to LISTEN rather than bully and by not doing that have created this war which will come back and bite us.
And here’s hoping that the first nuclear strike will hit Washington, D.C. while there is a joint session of Congress underway.
Hey, Tubularsock can dream …………
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You really live in the USA?
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Dan, Tubularsock welcomes your question/comment.
Yes, Tubularsock does live in the U.S.of A. but in doing so has always had difficulty between our stated beliefs and noble aspirations and the reality that we are the largest terrorist group in the world today.
Rather disheartening …….
Yet, Tubularsock is a realist after all so it will always be a fight uphill.
The falsehood that we are a democracy has been a trick from 1776. But one has to study U.S. history honestly to see much of it is just a fraud.
Sad but true.
Thanks for you comment. It was pretty funny.
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I know quite well the history and democracy type “Federal Reserve” from the USA … that’s why I’m surprised that they haven’t arrested you … yet!? 😀
Beyond of joke, I admire your courage … where I live, I wouldn’t have the courage to say what you write, because American propaganda is “wild” right now … very few people have the courage to say that in Ukraine, it’s not a battle for freedom and democracy, because Ukraine is a failed state, with a huge foreign debt (unsustainable) and a record level of corruption, in Europe … in these conditions, cannot talk about freedom and democracy, which are the attributes of a functional state (everything there is a theater, and the President a very good actor … unfortunately, the scene is bloody)!
The real fight is for a monopolar or multipolar future, in the next century! What would be the best option for the future of humanity?!
Of course, Tubularsock already knows these things and I admire him, for having the courage to say them, even if no one listens in the United States (if he really lives in the USA!? 😀 ).
I wish you good health, wherever you are!
P.S. Sorry for the incorrect use of English (is not part of my education … I learned something, just from teacher “Hollywood” 😀 ) … but if you had to write in Romanian, how do you think it would sound?! 😀
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Dan, let Tubularsock dispel this entire idea you have that there is something “wrong” about your use of English.
Tubularsock understood everything you wrote without any trouble so drop your idea that your English is not perfect! It is excellent. And teacher Hollywood was very good as well but Tubularsock would have expected more dialog like, “this town ain’t big enough for the both of us” and “hey partner where you all headed today, dry gulch?”
Acum Tubularsock este un pic ruginit cu româna sa și cu orice altă limbă cunoscută de omenire. Deci Tubularsock va rămâne cu limba engleză.
As for “courage” in Tubularsock’s writing there is little to worry about here from the government and people who disagree can always challenge Tubularsock’s position so real “courage” is not really involved.
What is involved is that Tubularsock has to deal with fucking stupid Americans who can be so concerned about the “The People of Ukraine” and what Russia is doing but don’t seem to not notice what our government has been doing to innocent people for the past 50+ years. Fucking stupid!
Of course the “free press” is only good at freely not covering what their corporate owners don’t want exposed and discussed.
The information is out there but one has to hunt it down. Americans in general aren’t great readers.
You are absolutely correct in your evaluation of the situation in Ukraine and it is sad and heartbreaking that just regular citizens are the ones that always get the brunt of the death and destruction. But so it goes ………..
As for living in the U.S. Tubularsock can prove it to you. Go back to the heading of this blog and press THE BUNKER TOUR. That should clear it up.
Tu, de asemenea, să fie în condiții de siguranță și sănătos și să păstreze aparatul de fotografiat la gata. PACE.
P.S. Sorry for any incorrect Romanian it wasn’t part of my education but Tubularsock learned it all from Tubularsock’s teacher Google.
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It’s true … we broke our word … it’s also true that Biden maybe compromised by his sons (and his) dealings there. Ukraine could be ‘the big guys’ laundromat. Putin doesn’t have to machine gun citizens and bomb homes and hospitals… we need to pray a lot! He is a maniac. I bet Trump could talk to him and fix everything.
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Mary Anne, Tubularsock thanks you for taking the time to comment and express your views on this crazy state of affairs.
“we broke our word” ….. true but no surprise there. Ask the Indigenous Peoples of North America!
And yes, there is the Buydone’s Ukrainian-Cash-Cow to consider. But that’s just business as usual.
And you are correct that “Putin doesn’t have to machine gun citizens and bomb homes and hospitals” THAT’S TRADITIONALLY OUR JOB!
Damn Putin!
Tubularsock must say that Vlad is definitely not one of Tubularsock’s favorite guys but when he acts like “WE” do all around the world …….. HE’S the madman?
Tubularsock does agree that prayer may be handy in this situation as well as a little self reflection.
We are what we create ………… kind of scary isn’t it.
As for the Dump, he doesn’t even know where the Ukraine is on a world map. But he’d sure as hell stick his name on a hotel in downtown Kyiv if the price was right.
Tubularsock has heard that property values have declined in recent days in Kyiv. A grand opportunity for BlackRock and Trump to make a “killing”!
Cheers MA …… Tubularsock loves your blog.
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Tube: Just as two wrongs don’t make a right, neither do scores of wrongs make a right. Since its inception in 1607 America has committed plenty of wrongs. But, last time I looked, Americans are part of the human race, a species famous for its ability for cruelty, injustice, intolerance, and selfishness. Take a world globe, spin it, and put your finger wherever it lands. And that place, and the peoples in it, for all their rhetoric about their past and values, will, under close examination, have sordidness & ugliness somewhere along the line. Whatever shortcomings Ukraine may have, whatever justification Putin has, or thinks he has, on his side, nothing justifies the suffering the Ukrainian people are going through now. Putin wanted security? He’ll have less of it now, and could even by overthrown by his own power mongers. Of all the great philosophies in the world, of all the great pundits and gurus who have uttered wise sayings, the greatest of all may have come from a repeated felon who ran afoul of the law before and after he was beaten by the police. “Can’t we all get along..” said Rodney King. Well.. can’t we?
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Batt, well said.
Tubularsock does agree that “cruelty, injustice, intolerance, and selfishness” shine brightly in our world. And it is a tragedy that we are all still participating in it to some degree or an other.
In truth, Tubularsock doesn’t really give a shit what Vlad does. All that will transform into some result in the future.
Tubularsock’s concern is the TOTAL complicity of the U.S. in helping to create this mess and its total lack of caring for the Ukrainian people by setting them up for the kill!
To Tubularsock THAT is the tragedy. And the fact that we do it all the time all over the world!
The fucking hypocrisy is down right sickening!
Tubularsock doesn’t recall much of a MORAL outpouring from American news outlets when Obummer continued to sell cluster bombs to the Saudis so they could bomb woman and children in Yemen. Or Obummer’s weekly meetings to pick who he approved to drone to death.
That fucker should be held for war crimes as well as Clinton, Bush, Trump and Buydone.
But instead WE AMERICAN’S condemn Vlad for a war WE CREATED!
Sure Tubularsock understands ……….. It’s the American Way!
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Tube:
However much percent of the blame we assign America and Putin for the tragedy in Ukraine, the Ukrainian people are getting 100% of the damage and suffering.
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Ahhh, so very true Batt.
Ask Syria, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Yemen, Iraq TO NAME ONLY A FEW!
The people always get 100% of the damage and suffering!
And just think of the sacrifice Buydone is having to go through without having Hunter being on the ground in Ukraine to watch their investments.
Hypocrisy abound!
Thanks for your comment.
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