The Russian plan for Ukraine

Aug 21, 2025

The russian plan for Ukraine

It’s not complicated.
It’s not new.

Step 1: Erase Ukrainian identity.
Ban the language. Destroy the culture. Silence the history.

Step 2: Replace it with a russian one.
Force propaganda into schools, rewrite textbooks, glorify Moscow.

Step 3: Reeducate and brainwash.
Children stolen, families broken, loyalty drilled in at gunpoint.

Step 4: Redeploy.
Turn the conquered into tools for future wars.

We’ve seen this before.

Just 35 years ago, Soviet troops — including Ukrainians — sat in East Germany as part of Moscow’s imperial machine.
In the 1990s, Chechens fought for independence. Today, after decades of repression, indoctrination, and terror, many are forced to fight in russia’s wars — including against Ukraine.
Since 2014, Ukrainians in occupied Crimea and Donbas have been conscripted and thrown into “meat assaults” against their own country.

The Kremlin’s formula never changes: conquer, erase, reprogram, redeploy.

And if the world lets it succeed in Ukraine, it will repeat the cycle — again and again.

……….,

Lavrov just said that Moscow “agrees” Ukraine’s security guarantees should come from the U.S., the U.K., France, China — and russia.

Let’s be clear: the only “guarantees” Ukraine has ever received from russia are invasions, occupation, and genocide.

There is no security guarantee from russia that Ukraine could trust — except one: the dissolution of the russian empire.

………….

After a short pause, India’s state-owned refineries are back to buying russian oil.

Indian Oil Corp. and Bharat Petroleum have just purchased multiple cargoes of russian Urals crude, set to load in September and October. Deeper discounts likely sweetened the deal.

But there’s more than economics at play. With relations between India and the U.S. deteriorating, New Delhi appears to be tilting further toward Moscow and Beijing. Modi recently called Putin a “friend” and is preparing his first visit to China in seven years.

The timing is striking: just weeks ago, India’s four state-run refiners halted russian purchases after Trump slammed New Delhi’s oil trade with Moscow and threatened sanctions.

Now, they’re back in — with bigger shipments.

Sources: Bloomberg, Live Ukraine

………..

I’m not surprised by MAGA anymore. But at some point, even the most die-hard Trump supporters should recognize that something is wrong with this idiocy:

“We should offer Russia to be fully brought into the West. Open up trade with them. Make them a part of the Visa Waiver Program in America. Offer them NATO membership. Maybe if we stop treating them like garbage they’ll actually become our friend. Why has no one even tried this method before?”

……….

The West keeps proving Putin right.

A friend wrote me after my last post agreeing that land-for-peace is unacceptable. But let’s not pretend the “liberal international order” has been holding the line.

When russia invaded Crimea in 2014, Obama refused to arm Ukraine. Europe rewarded Putin with Nord Stream II. NATO members pledged 2% of GDP on defense — yet by 2022, only 7 of 30 kept their word. Today, even NATO’s own host, Belgium, still spends less.

This isn’t strategy. It’s weakness. And weakness invites aggression. Putin saw it in 2014. He saw it again in 2022. And unless things change, he’ll see it again tomorrow.

Now NATO talks about 5% spending by 2035. But why should anyone believe it? Empty pledges won’t stop missiles. Empty promises won’t bring security. That’s why Senate Resolution 346 calls out NATO’s failures and demands accountability.

Here’s the bottom line: land-for-peace rewards aggression. But so do weak policies, fake pledges, and broken promises.

Ukraine is fighting with full resolve. Will NATO ever match it?

…………..

What is the “root cause” of russia’s aggression against Ukraine?

No, it’s not NATO expansion, “demilitarization,” “denazification,” “defense of russian-speaking minorities,” or Putin’s personal insecurities. It’s older and deeper: russian imperialism — sustained by a culture that has long justified domination of its neighbors.

1) History, not NATO, explains the aggression.

For centuries, russian states have waged repeated wars and campaigns against Ukrainian lands; this is a long pattern, not a 21st‑century reaction to NATO.

2) Cause → effect runs the other way.

Ukrainians didn’t “provoke” russia by loving NATO; russia’s aggression pushed Ukrainians toward NATO. In the 2009–2012 period, support for NATO in Ukraine was very low (majorities opposed or only ~13% seeing NATO as the best option). After russia’s 2014 seizure of Crimea, support rose into the majority; one 2015 poll showed ~54% backing membership. By 2023–2025, support reached historic highs (≈89% in 2023; ≈84% in Jan 2025).

The same pattern holds in Northern Europe: putin’s invasion shattered neutrality and led Finland (Apr 4, 2023) and Sweden (Mar 7, 2024) to join NATO. That expansion was a direct response to russian aggression.

3) The ideology behind the war.

This isn’t just “one man’s madness.” Russian imperial ideas — central to much state discourse and echoed in parts of the classic canon — have long framed neighboring peoples as backward and in need of “civilizing” conquest. Scholars have shown how Pushkin’s Prisoner of the Caucasus and related works romanticize subjugation; broader critiques detail imperialist assumptions across the canon. Even Dostoevsky’s Diary of a Writer advanced a messianic vision of the tsar and russian destiny. These are not the only strands in russian literature, but they are real and influential.

Bottom line.

Putin didn’t create russian imperialism; russian imperialism created Putin. That’s why blaming NATO flips cause and effect. russia’s wars drive nations toward NATO — not the other way around — and the motivational core is imperial ideology, reinforced over generations.