[Owen]

Has anyone rational actually thought about why Russia would want to deal with the millions of Muslim illegals all over Europe? Its failing economy? Why would Russia want Europe?

Russia has oil. Europe does not. Russia has natgas. Europe does not.

Then there are folks who imagine Russia wants a border buffer of land expanding outwards.

Why? Long range missiles eliminate the value of such a buffer.

Just get rational and consider the why question. Russia would not want the US for similar reasons. Only the poor flow into rich countries, and what value do they have?

Do you happen to know the destination of most of the Ukrainians who fled the war? I do. I looked for it.

It’s Russia.

[The Duke]

Maybe Russia doesn't want to buffer against missiles, maybe they want to buffer against uncontrolled miration?

Also, I guess more space for missiles to traverse does mean more time to recognize an attack and response.

[MalPearce]

What a load of Vranyo.

8 million Ukrainians including Russian Ukrainians fled west out of the area Russia invaded. That’s just the ones we know about, who had passports and id cards.

I know many hiked for days if not weeks, and spent months sleeping on camp beds in crowded dorms all the way from Poland to France.

Russia had less than 2 million voluntarily make the much shorter trip from south Ukraine to Rostov. The Kadyrovites had to force people onto coaches to get them over the border. The Zaporizhzhia Gauleiter just this last week admitted that he was given the choice between forcibly deporting moms with kids into Russia against their will... Or shooting them.

[BroJoeK]

Owen: "Has anyone rational actually thought about why Russia would want to deal with the millions of Muslim illegals all over Europe?
Its failing economy?
Why would Russia want Europe?
Russia has oil.
Europe does not.
Russia has natgas.
Europe does not."

If we listen to pro-Russians themselves, the reasons are clear and obvious -- Russians need a super-wide buffer zone in their "near abroad" against invading hordes of European LGBTQ activists, global warming extremists, transgendered child-mutilators, atheists destroying Russia's new-found religious piety, Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jewish Nazis, globalist-homosexual-financial overlords, the US CIA and maybe even NATO.

Obviously, with all those manifest threats, Vlad the Invader cannot stop with just Ukraine -- no, no, Russia's very national survival requires Vlad to permanently occupy every country once controlled by Vlad's KGB handlers in the Soviet Empire, for starters.

Then Vlad will tell us (or maybe not) if even that's barely enough of a "buffer zone" to make him feel comfy-safe and secure in his Moscow & Leningrad... I mean St. Petersburg, Dachas.

Somehow, I doubt if it will, but maybe that's just me.

</sarcasm>

One of Vlad's many luxury Dachas which require countries of "buffer zones" to protect: