A compound answer and the war in Ukraine

The question "why is there a war in Ukraine at this moment?" can be answered simply, but the answer must be compound.

"There is a war because Russia invaded Ukraine and much of the western world is assisting Ukraine in its resistance to that invasion."

If the second half of that compound wasn't true the war triggered by the first half would likely have been a short one. There would be a larger country called 'Russia' by now, and perhaps that larger country's leaders would allow the captured province to call itself 'Ukraine.'

Since both parts of the compound are true, we not only have a war we have a very particular war ... THIS war.

So if you want to push the question further, you ought really to push both parts further: why did Russia invade? and why did the western world react the way it has, with rare near-unanimity?

And those are both very good questions. To either of them a range of answers may be offered. I expect to come back to this in due course.

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