[krige]

Extremely easy to convince population that state X is an evil, looming threat if state X is actually doing evil, looming, and threatening things for decades on no end.

Russia could have stopped at any moment. Can still stop at any moment. They could have single-handedly undermined Europe's trust in the States, years before the orange-in-charge did, merely by not starting an invasion. Their choice. Their FA, now they FO.

[lovegrenoble]

>> if state X is actually doing evil, looming, and threatening things for decades on no end.

This sounds like a description of the United States to me...

[krige]

Ah, the good ol "And you are lynching N-----s!" defense. Supremely topical for discussing Russia's dickery.

[mrguyorama]

How does the US being shitty justify a Russian invasion of their sovereign neighbor?

[OKRainbowKid]

Whataboutism and deflection, the favorite tool of Kremlin apologists.

[justsomehnguy]

Everyone knows they are evil. Not that many states out there fly to other side of the planet to bomb someone irrelevant or outright kidnap president of the country they are not even have a boarder with.