from where i stand this article appears to be a neutral realistic description of how we got into our current ukraine scenario;

Today, the dangers of military escalation are beyond description.

What is now happening in Ukraine has serious geopolitical implications. It could lead us into a World War III scenario.

It is important that a peace process be initiated with a view to preventing escalation. 

Global Research condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A Bilateral Peace Agreement is required.

---

Ever since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the western public has been carpet bombed with the claim that Russian president Vladimir Putin is some sort of unhinged madman. This notion is being feverishly spread by the establishment and those in its pay: the political class, the media and the commentariat, career diplomats and technocrats as well as those connected to the security and intelligence communities.

The most remarkable thing about the Mad Vlad claim is that it is obviously false.

Whatever Vladimir Putin may be, he is certainly no madman. This much should be obvious to everyone with eyes to see.

A former KGB operative, Vladimir Putin is a wily person of demonstrated ability. After all, he managed to bring control and order to a vast country which was largely in disarray when he took over at the age of 48. He adroitly managed to keep himself in power for over two decades while navigating and overcoming a number of crises and challenges along the way. Through it all, he has shown himself to be intelligent, steel-willed, calculating, shrewd, self-controlled, determined and patient.

These are hardly the qualities of a lunatic.

We have dealt with Putin for 22 years and during that whole time no one seriously suggested or maintained that he was crazy. Quite to the contrary, for almost a decade after his ascent he was viewed as a capable man of considerable talents.

For years the Western establishment considered Putin a “man with whom we could do business.” He was seen as “liberal, humane, and decent European.” He was described as a person of “’alert, controlled poise’ and ‘well-briefed acuity,’ who was open to anything, even Russia joining NATO.”

And yet less than a week ago, on the day he invaded Ukraine, Vladimir Putin was nearly unanimously declared – contrary to all evidence of the past twenty years – a “madman” by members of the Western establishment.........read more........