Comment by Borrible

Personally I prefer geostrategic determinism over kitchen sink sociology.

"From the Russian point of view, creating a sphere of influence that would return Russia to its relatively defensible imperial boundaries is imperative."

https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/geopolitics-russia-pe...

[https://web.archive.org/web/20220301131639/https://12ft.io/p...]

But what is really interesting is, everybody knew that. But nonetheless let it happen, for one reason or another.