Just a quick post: I spent 26 days in Ukraine in 2019, traveling from Kyiv to Lviv through central Ukraine (though I did also visit Odesa), and spoke continually with Russian-speaking and Ukrainian speaking citizens. This was my third trip to that nation. I also have been to Moscow on three separate occasions - and speak three Slavic languages proficiently. These trips allowed me to make contact with higher ranking officials as well as ordinary people who became good friends and now, immediate contacts, with what is happening "on the ground." You can certainly assure yourself that Ukraine has been viciously and brutally attacked without provocation by a madman who wished to leave a legacy of re-establishing the power of the collapsed Soviet Union. Ukraine was to be Putin's first incursion, followed by war taken into the now independent Baltic States. In his ambitions, he has achieved a spectacular failure that ultimately will cost him his career, and possibly his life. In the meantime, Ukraine continues to suffer as they resist his attacks and his failed objectives.

I remember seeing posters of German soldiers depicting them as monsters with fangs !
Similar is done with the Russians now !
I remember talking with an Australian ex B17 or Liberator pilot who was shot down on his first mission to Germany. He told me that "that was the best thing that happened to me in that war".
When he saw my (expected) reaction & surprise he said that being a flying officer he was put into an officers prison in Germany for the duration of the war & rather well looked after unlike the ordinary soldiers.
I am just so wary now of anything the media shows & portrays. There's no denying that soldiers get out of hand, that's what war does to people forced to put their life on the line by their leaders or the people they fight against.
Putin stunned the World & quite possibly surprised the Ukrainians & Russians in Ukraine also.

Indi,

I think the mass execution of civilians by Russian forces puts a dent in your argument.

shadowminister,
I'm fully aware of the atrocities by many of the Russian soldiers & I have no intention whatsoever to come across as condoning them.
I'm simply saying that thus far I haven't heard on the situation of Russian civilians living in Ukraine, they surely won't be handled with kids' gloves by the Ukrainians either. How many of those murdered or killed civilians could have been Russian at the hands of Ukrainians?
War brings out the worst & best in humans on both, the taunters & retaliators' sides & even more so from the manipulating instigators !
Remember how "hard" Biden said the Us would come down on Russia & the "severe" consequences Russia would face if they invaded Ukraine ?

mhaze

<< " The Russian assault has largely been confined to military and neo-Nazi targets. “ Mariupol?? >>

Yes, a neo-Nazi stronghold and as such a priority target. The Azov regiment is based in Mariupol and is responsible for much of the carnage that has occurred there.

<< Using the poverty line to compare countries displays either a desire to deceive or a lack of understanding. >>

It displays neither. I was pointing out the hypocrisy of describing Russia as an economic failure when wealth disparity in the West is equal to and in the case of the US exceeds that in Russia. Economies that have obscenely wealthy individuals who have accrued their wealth through exploiting and screwing a downtrodden and captive working class are failures. The US is one such economy. It's the main reason Trump got as far as he did.

<< My father-in-law, a lifelong Marxist visited Russia in 1995 and came back a firm supporter of Reaganism. >>

That was when Russia was being ‘led’ by Boris Yeltsin who was being walked all over by the US. The US was ruthlessly exploiting Russia’s vulnerability under Yeltsin and yes, Russia was in a bad state at that time. Putin came in at the end of that decade and turned things around. The US has been gunning for him ever since. It will not stop until it has removed Putin from power and reinstalled another Yeltsin-like puppet.

Fester
<< I think Biden a crook, but he doesn't have a 700 million dollar super yacht and 100 billion dollars stashed away. >>

I have no doubt that Putin is a wealthy man, but I have seen no evidence that he flaunts his wealth. Your claims are supposition only and need to be stated as such.

<< I suspect that Putin and his henchmen thought Ukraine easy pickings and were looking forward to looting its riches. >>

Putin had clearly defined reasons for entering Ukraine and seems to be on track in achieving them, though too early to know for sure. The Russian Government has no need or interest in anything from Ukraine, apart from destroying its military infrastructure and its neo-Nazi presence and as such reducing the threat they pose to Russia’s national security and to the ethnic Russians in the Donbass region.