Yeah, much like the insurgency in Kashmir, relatively small compared to the population, basically just some terrorist attacks, which would have been countered by Ukrainian law enforcement. There was no reason for Russia to get 'sucked in' unless it wanted to insert itself there for gain.
Lol, we have killed 50,000 terrorists in Kashmir.
When you say 'residents in the Donbass' you're talking about a collection of terrorists small in comparison to the population there. How many Russian agents were already embedded among them is also unclear. Khalistan and Kashmir are part cross-border and part internal, just as no insurgency in Ukraine could have survived without a cross-border element - they can't pull weapons out of their ar5se.
There were 7-7.5 million people living in Donetsk and Luhansk. The Donbas region only has 2.7 million people. It was the deciding factor during elections.
Generally Eastern Ukrainians controlled Ukraine. But in 2010, Donbas came to power, giving them control over Ukraine. Hence the coup and war.
Similarly, West Pakistan controlled Pakistan from 1947 to 1970, then East Pakistan came to power, hence the genocide and the war.
This always happens when dissimilar people try and rule each other. In both cases, Donbas and East Paksitan rebelled.
In a more fair and just world that actually followed international law, the UAF wouldn't have invaded the Donbas in 2014, just like how West Pakistan wouldn't have been allowed to conduct their genocide in the East. But both were allowed because of their alliance with the West.
IRA - another sh!t analogy. The IRA were fighting for Irish unity not separatism on behalf of an external power, you're clutching at straws.
IRA's enemy = Britain
Donbas' enemy = Ukraine
The IRA fought for the unity of Ireland as a whole and free from British rule. Any new Donbas insurgency would fight for the unity of Donbas as a whole and free from Ukrainian rule.
I'm referring to a situation where Russia has decided to sit back.
It didn't need to be at all. The residents there could have lived happily and peacefully as part of Ukraine. It's not like Russian citizens have better rights or welfare in case you didn't notice.
Lol. This has already been discussed with A Person. The Russians are at least 20 years ahead of Ukraine and will become an advanced economy long before Ukraine will even match current levels of life in Russia.
Even without higher quality of living, you can't do much without freedom. The Russian speakers in Ukraine are not free. The impact of the language law is yet to be felt. The Russians can live in Ukraine only in a democracy, not in the current structure.
In any case, with Donbas and some other regions gone, Russian-speakers have lost all political power in Ukraine anyway. They will just be a very big minority group now.
Be quiet with this nonsense. Making Ukrainian the official language of Ukraine is not oppression. JFC, it's not like Hitler was criticised for having German as the national language of Germany, nor did the Jews complain about speaking it.
In a democracy the majority wins, the dog wags its tail, the tail does not wag the dog.
Oh, yeah? Give it a few years.