The corruption and indifference of our current political leaders in the Western Sphere doesn’t make saints of our enemies.
I don't think NATO provoked Putin but rather through its mishandling or overplaying provided him an excuse to do what he had always wanted to do. And now we are in such a disjointed state that we can't even agree on the basic reality of, regardless of the narrative, Putin is no friend of the West.
We have put ourselves in a conflict between Slavs without drawing out a desired outcome from our perspective. Made heroes out of mediocre people, moving the playing field beyond their capabilities and made enemies into saints.
All Western countries at the moment are utterly devoid of understanding of their own identities and are trying to glean it from outside. Every country works in its own best interest first, but it seems for some reason most Western countries are running on the best interest of some convoluted globalist agenda. That is the orientation which needs to be fixed along with a revival of traditions, values and culture - of each Western country to their own first - so that the direction can be reoriented towards it.
But no. Now we are going to spend the next few days fighting with each other about how it was NATOs fault or how it wasn't. And neither of those things solve our core problems. But hey, at least it will give more distraction while we hurdle to our mutual destruction.
A year or so ago I made an hour long episode on the entangled history of Ukraine and Russia, covering from the time of Kievan Rus to the nearest current times. I didn't have good recording equipment then but hope it's still a good listen:
The first half an hour of the interview is all you need to understand what Putin is trying to do. He is trying to create justifications and excuses for his real intentions. He was trying to create an oppressor and oppressed narrative to get people on his side.
Putin is not some sort of saviour of the Christian faith. That doesn't mean Ukraine isn't without heavy corruption and that we should go fighting for them. Simply that, we are discontent with our governments and we should deal with them rather than trying to eulogise Putin as some sort of ally, which he isn't. Oh ya he says stuff against the woke and the corruption in our governments, why you think? Because he loves us or because he is trying to play everyone. Come on. Our problems are our own and we need to solve them ourselves. Focus on that.
Consider this also:
The blasphemy laws of Russia, imprisoned and tortured for burning Quran. A 19 year old Russian boy, imprisoned by Russian authorities under Putin's law to prosecute such so-called crimes. He has been transferred to Chechnya Russia, handed over to their Sharia courts. Yes, you heard that right.