>The fundamental geostrategical priority for Russia is to maintain control (or at least good relations with, see Belarus) of the buffer regions around its densely populated regions.
Invading your neighbours is ok, if you'll just call it 'good relations'?
>That is why there are “tensions” when your neighbor begins discussions of entering NATO with a bit of USDS help.
Invading Ukraine was not a 'tension' and had nothing to do with NATO. Russia used another pretense.
Also even it had Crimea for thousand years before, it still won't matter - they've signed numerous international agreement s which stated that Crimea belongs to Ukraine.
>Russia, and the Russians in the region that was invaded, can justify its mis-deeds as protection of its sovereignty.
America, and thus Americans, cannot.
There were no Americans to protect in Iraq.
And there was no Russians to protect in Crimea, so stop whitewashing Kremlin lies.
There's a definition for that: "reverse cargo cult".
Russians are told to believe that Westerners build their planes from branches and dirt too - but Westerners pretend better.
Putin is angry because Yeltsin died from alcohol? What US has to do with it? Or with the fact that Putin's family died in the siege (which was USSR faut, by the way, since they've friended Hitler in 1939)?