In this case it's hard for me to justify the forcing of republics that are largely Russian to belong to a union that has been turned decidedly anti-Russian including with a coup and NGOs and intelligence activity.
There has been a lot of bloodshed, including of civilians before the "war" started and much of it was from the side that is now aggrieved.
I understand the economic reasons for not wanting Russia to control so many resources and important trade routes, but in this case if there is a "more wrong" party in my opinion it is the meddlers from further off. This is only my opinion and I really think there isn't much of a "morally right" party in this sitution.
Let me also put it like this.
I don't necessarily control what bad people in other places do, but I expect my own society to not behave badly. To not overturn other societies and cause death and suffering and chaos for economic gain and then give me bullshit reasons and propaganda about "truth and justice and democracy". I believe if more people on all sides thought this way we would have less problems but as you say, here we are.
Justify the forcing of republics that are largely Russian to belong to a union that has been turned decidedly anti-Russian including with a coup and NGOs and intelligence activity.
The "coup" theory you're referring to is nonsense. Nobody in Ukraine (nor anyone else who understand the actual event chronology, and just how marginal and insignificant the events you're referring to were) puts any stock in it.
To many other cognitive distortions in your post for me to unpack. It's clear that your whole thought process is backwards -- starting from a moralistic position ("Western geopolitical elites bad; those who seem oppose what they want, good"), and building your "understanding" of recent history from that.
Which "republics that are largely Russian" are you talking about?
If you mean LNR & DNR, then that's just plainly not true. At most they were majority Russophone (depending on how you count "native language"), which is not at all the same thing.
You might also want to look up what ethnic Russian citizens in e.g. Moldova or Latvia think about the perspective of Russia "helping" them the way it "helped" ethnic Russians in Ukraine.
The citizens of Crimea and Donetsk are largely both ethnically and linguistically Russian. Luhansk it is less, but still around half or more. And they have generally voted largely in favor of Russian leaning candidates. Never mind the declarations of independence after the 2014 coup, the taking up of arms, and the subsequent military resistance to the Ukrainian state.
You are again conflating the linguistics and the politics with ethnicity. Most residents of Donbass self-identified as Ukrainian before Russia invaded in 2014, even those who predominantly speak Russian and voted for candidates like Yanukovich. And many people who voted for Yanuk back in 2012 are fighting back today. What most of them wanted was more language rights and a more Russian-centric foreign policy, not getting annexed by Russia.
Crimea is a different story, but if we go there we'll also have to talk about things like why Crimean Tatars aren't the majority of the population there anymore.
There has been a lot of bloodshed, including of civilians before the "war" started and much of it was from the side that is now aggrieved.
I understand the economic reasons for not wanting Russia to control so many resources and important trade routes, but in this case if there is a "more wrong" party in my opinion it is the meddlers from further off. This is only my opinion and I really think there isn't much of a "morally right" party in this sitution.
Let me also put it like this.
I don't necessarily control what bad people in other places do, but I expect my own society to not behave badly. To not overturn other societies and cause death and suffering and chaos for economic gain and then give me bullshit reasons and propaganda about "truth and justice and democracy". I believe if more people on all sides thought this way we would have less problems but as you say, here we are.