I fully understand Russia's viewpoint. NATO (just gonna use this generically as a filler for US/EU/NATO) is, in my view, fully the instigator and the cause of this war. Or most of the cause. Just as it would be silly, imo, to place blame on Kim and the socialists in the DPRK for "starting" the war in Korea, it would also be silly to place all the blame on Putin. People/countries all have breaking points. It's just simple reality.

But resting heavily on my DPRK analogy, I would say that is a clearcut example of a time to uncritically support the North in the Korea war against the imperialist US and its puppets in South Korea. My reason why is pretty simple: the people of all of the Korean Peninsula wished to have a united socialist government and the US enlisted fascists in the south to end that dream of the people there. If Kim had succeeded in defeating the Americans and the southern government it would've been a huge advancement for socialism across the globe. Unfortunately, things didn't quite go that way.

I laid out the above to show that I'm not ideologically opposed to war and conflict as long as it aligns with a greater socialist or leftist of some sort movement supported by the people.

Putin does not represent such a movement. He doesn't seek to reinstate the USSR. He's a capitalist who has enriched himself personally off the backs of his countrymen the same as many other leaders do worldwide. So although I understand from one point of view that NATO puts pressure on Russia and seeks to rob it further of its wealth and resources, which Putin and presumably all Russians are opposed to, I don't see the war in Ukraine as advancing any sort of socialist movement. If Putin were a committed communist seeking to be like a second Stalin or something, I would absolutely support any and all actions to take the territory of Ukraine assuming the end goal would be annexation and then bringing it into a greater union. But as it stands, what do the people of Ukraine gain from this war? Will Putin bring any liberation to them? Will he improve their lives in any meaningful way?

None of this means I support Ukraine btw. In my personal opinion, after learning the history there in the past 100 years, Ukraine should never have been created and it is currently serving the purpose its designers always hoped it would. Being a reactionary thorn in Russia's side. My problem is... as I've said, Putin sucks basically. He's a reactionary himself. A different flavor, I suppose, but a reactionary is a reactionary in the end and a capitalist country is a capitalist country. I want the bloodshed to end there. I don't want to hear or read about disabled men, young boys, or old men being forcefully sent as fodder to die in a struggle between these capitalist nations. I do understand the counterpoints that NATO will always seek to reopen this war even if a peace agreement is reached. The situation is bleak, and I can only rely on my own principles that I hold (hopefully explained clearly here) to guide me to what I see as the correct resolution at the moment.