I'm a normal person who knows just enough to know the mainstream version is leading me to the wrong conclusion, so I go and do more research. I have the common sense to know something big doesn't just happen in 1 day, there's always a buildup. It helps to be multi-lingual, multi-literate to break through the wall of information control, but it's not a requirement. And honestly it doesn't take very much digging before the kind of information surfaces that will call into doubt the stories that are being pushed in the MSM. The information is in plain sight, although some of it is cloaked in jargons and doublespeak.

A cursory dig into the situation in Ukraine showed me the current situation can be traced back to 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, and the (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Revolution) Orange Revolution, in which the losing candidate accused the winner of election fraud, and wins in the rerun. That's the start of Ukraine's drift from being a neutral state between big powers. The key is the people involved. That candidate, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Yushchenko#Family_and_personal_life) Viktor Yushchenko 6 years before had married a (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kateryna_Yushchenko) US state dept. worker who was sent to run an US-funded NGO in the newly independent Ukraine. This planted the seed that was later followed up by the (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euromaidan) 2014 Euromaidan which installed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petro_Poroshenko) Petro Poroshenko, whereby the real trouble started. A lot of it and more is covered in the (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbj1AR_aAcE) John Mearsheimer video from Feb 21, just 3 days before the start of the war. What he did not say was how much Ukrainian economy, already bad from 20 years of mismanagement & outside influences, crashed following Poroshenko's entering into office, how he gave key govt. jobs to foreigners (Americans) and together they hollowed out the country, leading to a 10% drop in GDP in 2015, 5 million workers losing their job, the country being called "The Womb of Europe," etc., allowing neo-nazism to take root in that misery.

A lot has happened in the 8 years since which brings the current situation into focus, and goes to explain why Russia, faced with existing sanctions since 2014 (warfare by economic means) and the mother of all sanctions after, still sent troops in. The question one asks is, "Why, what is at stake for them?" The Minsk II was the last chance for peace, but alas... If you do some research it becomes plain as day. Knowing all this and more, the "Crazy Putin" theory doesn't hold any water.

Domestically, the ones at the top of the government (of both dem and rep) are loving it. They got two sibling countries fighting each other, capital leaving Europe back to US, and you folks have had your attention diverted from real issues at home like the wealth inequity, homelessness, crumbling infrastructure, etc. etc. chest-pumping, red in the eyes, thinking that the world is as simple as good guy and bad guy.

Instead we get half-baked conspiracy theories about how Ukraine's drift towards the west is really orchestrated by the US because Yushchenko is married to an American NGO worker, a non-sequitur about how "a lot" that happened in the last 8 years supposedly explains why Russia sent troops in, followed by the utter horseshit that the US government loves this war. And you didn't fail to bring up the conspiracy theorists' gold standard: "do some research."

It ends the same way, as the Afghans before him, and the Kurds before that, so on.

War is ugly business, people caught up in it that doesn't get a choice. To be for peace one has to know why it's happening and what let to it.

I understand not everyone can or wants to break through the information control. I did little other than post some information available anywhere.

It is what it is. A few will be thoughtful and engage the thinking cap.