I came to some very similar conclusions, and I started from the position that while NATO is definitely guilty of escalating and Ukraine did have a nazi problem, invasion was unjustified and Russia should be condemned. However, after several months of witnessing the west completely tear off the mask of liberal civility to the point where people are openly pushing racist rhetoric and calling for the mass suffering and death of Russians and the balkanization of their country, I just want to see them humbled.
I was even willing to write off the more disgusting SLS material as just terminally online edgelords, but the moment it really hit me was back in March or so iirc when an Ukrainian cultural org of sorts posted on social media a whole bunch of hogwash about how Ukrainians are civilized european farmers while Russians are asiatic mongoloid savages. That was when I really processed what Ukraine stands for and what the west is cheering on, and I truly think there is no way the world will be in a better state if Ukraine wins this conflict. The rotten mass that is the west needs to crumble for humanity to progress and, even with all their very real flaws, Russia is doing their part in giving them a bloody nose.
I’m not Russian and could very well be misinformed on this, but to my knowledge, Putin had been fairly friendly towards NATO and actually tried to cooperate and coexist up until the late 00s. In addition to that, NATO’s eastwards expansion after the Cold War is something that NATO’s own analysts warned against on the grounds that it would constitute a real security threat towards Russia.
I don’t think anyone here actually wished for war, but the reality is that NATO, a deFeNsiVe orGanIzaTIon with a proven track record of attacking countries on flimsy or just flat-out made-up accusations, actively chose to continue expanding towards Russia’s borders, all the while knowing it would constitute a real threat. I know mainstream media likes to paint Putin as a lunatic who woke up one morning and randomly decided to invade his neighbor because cancer or legacy or something, but keeping in mind NATO’s post Cold War track record, what exactly would you consider to have been a better option? Just let Russia get surrounded and hope that the explicitly anti-Russia alliance will be a merciful master?
Not trying to defend Putin or anything, he’s obviously not a socialist or any sort of anti-imperialist ally, but on the matter of this war, I can’t really blame him for doing a rational geopolitk moment. He is bad, but NATO is worse, not on moral grounds but on material, actual capacity to oppose global socialism and keep the world firmly under imperialist oppression grounds. Even if NATO magically disappeared tomorrow, Putin’s Russia would not be able to magically pull the result of decades of consolidated hegemonic power out of its ass. There are no good sides to the conflict for us to give our support to, but, once again, I honestly think that a Ukraine/NATO victory would be a worse outcome materially.