Who is the real bad guy?

 Is it the USA, Russia or Ukraine? Or perhaps all the above?

Since the current Russia/Ukraine "crisis" kicked off (it seems like 10 years ago!), I have had some doubts about the whole propaganda issue going on around it. I don't want to take the side of either Russia or Ukraine, so I won't.

However, there a few points that need to be taken into account here; well 2 points to begin with. The whole shouting match seems to have kicked off when Russia was found to have circa 100,000 troops in the area of the Russian/Ukraine border. My first reaction was "So what?" Isn't the area concerned within Russia? And, doesn't Russia have the right to move their troops hither and thither within their own country? If these troops were not on the Ukraine border, they might be on the border of Finland, China, Mongolia or Kazakhstan. What would be said about the any of those circumstances? Probably nothing, although that would depend on where you were finding your news/commentaries sources.

Anyway, 100,000 (said now to be 150,000 as of today). In Russia. But wait; Russia announced some time ago that they have scheduled military exercises with their best mates Belarus and those exercises are currently ongoing. Did the Russian troops involved in that come from the Ukraine border? If so, the current number on the Ukraine border should surely have decreased, rather than increased? Never mind. What about Ukraine troops? How many of them are there and where are they? There are different figures available, mostly out of date but it is probably safe to assume around 160,000. One has to assume the Ukrainians have the home game advantage, while the Russian forces are probably made up of troops far from home.
And, as I prepare to post this, there is news that Russia is sending some of the troops on the Ukraine border back home. I have been saying since this nonsense began that I thought Russia wasn't going to invade anyone. Putin is doing this purely to rattle the chains of the West to what he could provoke. I would say he has managed the West and our politicians perfectly well. Biden has been spouting traditional USA war mongering rhetoric and Johnson has been slavishly requesting updates on "What do you want me to say next, Joe". As for the US pushing the "False Flag" litany; well, who better to identify one of those operations than the US? Over the years, they have become masters of that underhand game.