You’ll be aware of the current attack on all sides against Nigel Farage’s opinions of the cause of Russian aggression. The truth is far from what you’ll hear from politicians and media trying to discredit him.
To give you a better informed view here’s what a highly respected journalist and writer Simon Jenkins wrote in the Guardian (yes, that’s not a mistake).
“An appeaser, a disgrace, an apologist for Putin, an insult to Ukraine. Farage has been called lots of things since saying NATO and the EU bore some responsibility for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Yet his argument that the West provoked Moscow by extending membership to countries bordering Russia is by no means crazy.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 Russians told us explicitly: “You have won but don’t push Moscow too far”. Moscow’s then leader Gorbachev pleaded with NATO not to extend its membership to nations on his border – a request that was verbally agreed by the US and others.
Within a decade NATO was negotiating with potential new members in the Baltic and Black Sea.
It’s ludicrous to suggest Nigel’s views are outlandish. And wherever you come down on the issue, the Reform Party leader is clearly arguing for peace. Heaping insults on him helps no one”. With thanks to Simon Jenkins.
Russia has historically been invaded from all sides, starting with Gengis Khan’s hordes, Japan (briefly), Poland three times, Sweden, Napoleon and Nazi Germany. That’s why they ruthlessly formed a belt of “Soviet States” around them after WW2, believing it would slow down further invasions. Putin is very well aware that ordinary Russians still believe themselves to be under threat from European nations and has exploited that fear to try to re-instate a border between Russia and the EU/NATO, with Ukraine being the unfortunate first. Nigel Farage is the first and only politician to speak the truth about the Ukrainian conflict, he should be applauded not reviled