871–880 of 1001 posts
This whole situation is so surreal and disappointing. I grew up on Star Trek and somehow I just though we had (almost) arrived in a post-war, federation-like world. We know things should be solved with words because otherwise there are only losers. It’s how we raise our kids. I just keep thinking about how Jean Luc is looking down on us from orbit, slowly shaking his head whispering “Savages.”
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I mean sure, but then you'd understand why eastward expansion of a military alliance could be construed as an existential threat, too. There's just a lot of unnecessary hypocrisy all around. It should also be said that, who is a bully depends on whose interests one happens to align with. Maybe transatlantic interests are always magically aligned forever but somehow I doubt it. One should wonder why or how that comes…
Sorry but no. I hate when people, ie when talking truth and outright lie, try to drag discussion into 'its somewhere in between', or 'consider the side of this murderer, he has needs and insecurities too'. Who gives a f*k what some murderous dictator wants or not. That's undefendable position these days. He had done enough evil in this world in past 20 years and cost lives of millions civilians including many childre…
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Those aren't mutually exclusive. Europe's dependence on Russian oil and gas exports has been a major topic of discussion - a search for "Nord Stream 2" might help you get up to date.
Are the existing gas pipelines shut off? Europeans could become the change they want to see and endure a couple of cold years and stop buying gas from places like Russia and Azerbaijan.
Gas isn't just used for heating people. About 20% of Europe's power is generated using gas, and there is not enough spare capacity to compensate for that.
Germany is currently looking to extend the operating life of its nuclear powerplants and will indeed have to consider replacing them despite pledging not to. France and the UK are ahead on this, with the latter investing heavily in small-scale nuclear reactors. The first of those will still take another 10 years to arrive, though.
Even if gas was just for heating buildings, what you're asking for would kill quite a lot of elderly and vulnerable people. In the UK alone, it's estimated that 3000 people die each year due to fuel poverty already, and the UK is far from the coldest country in the region. Europe is not California.
You are of course correct that we should reduce dependence on fossil fuels (Russian or otherwise), and it was a major error of judgement by our leaders (over several decades) to get us into this position, but that cannot be rectified overnight.
Basically Russia becomes North Korea or Putin dies. It's sad, but honestly, Russians tolerated the situation for far too long and the externalities were paid by everybody around them.
> Basically Russia becomes North Korea or Putin dies. Or you know Putin can declare that the operation was succesfull and retreat back to Russia. Then he can spend the rest of his time spinning a story of how this was his plan all along. I don’t care as long as he is not making his people murder others at scale.
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Many people also did not care about Georgia. So while cultural proximity is certainly a factor, geographical proximity seems to be a significant factor, too. I don't think Sreberenica is forgotten or was ignored in Europe. The West seems to be slow to wake up -- and Putin got high on his sequence of "successful" wars. I don't want to deny that hypocrisy exists here, but it doesn't justify Putins crimes anywhere.
Georgia and Ukraine are tightly connected in this through the same precursor events. The "West" is simply deaf. Multiple analysts had brought these concerns since before Crimea. (Disclaimer I am from the West -- trying to be objective here and focusing on the non-NATO side.) The diplomatic relationships since Russia Federation's birth have been problematic and idiosyncratic. Russian people wanted recognition of their…
And the very first teaser quote from that Guardian article:
> "George Robertson recalls Russian president did not want to wait in line with ‘countries that don’t matter’"
Yeah, that attitude pretty conclusively shows why Russia doesn't belong in a mutual-defense alliance of countries big and small.
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Are the existing gas pipelines shut off? Europeans could become the change they want to see and endure a couple of cold years and stop buying gas from places like Russia and Azerbaijan.
I assume you're an American living in a warm climate? I get the sense you don't understand what you're asking for. Gas isn't just used for heating people. About 20% of Europe's power is generated using gas, and there is not enough spare capacity to compensate for that. Germany is currently looking to extend the operating life of its nuclear powerplants and will indeed have to consider replacing them despite pledging…
It's pure hypocrisy that you want the other side to suffer now, but you want to roll off your reliance on Gazprom on a timescale of a decade as to not be inconvenienced.
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Georgia and Ukraine are tightly connected in this through the same precursor events. The "West" is simply deaf. Multiple analysts had brought these concerns since before Crimea. (Disclaimer I am from the West -- trying to be objective here and focusing on the non-NATO side.) The diplomatic relationships since Russia Federation's birth have been problematic and idiosyncratic. Russian people wanted recognition of their…
If you look at the globe, could you tell west from east? There is no East or West, these things are made up. It's all imaginary. Each country is free to believe what they believe, no matter if it's in the so called East or West. Don't try to look it from a particular 'side'. Look at it how YOU see it. Make you own judgements. Would you think Russia and the rest of Europe be a good match? How many values do they share…
"Make up your own mind!" ( = Use some of the search terms I've fed you to Google for similar shit and hopefully take it for "independent science") is what the anti-vaccine trolls say, too.
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> They're forced into a conflict they don't want to be in, and are suffering the consequences. Ukrainians are also forced into a conflict they don't want. Unfortunately, it's up to both the Ukrainians and Russians to do something about it, not Ukrainians alone. The Ukrainians clearly made their decision. Now it's up to the Russian people to make theirs.
> Now it's up to the Russian people to make theirs. There's nothing we can realistically do. It's up to the military to start a civil war.
When enough citizens revolt there will be a point where police forces realize that they are on the wrong side, either for moral or self preservation reasons. Once they start refusing to defend the dictator, that dictator's power is done.
The reverse of this comment probably applies too. Expect Russia to retaliate if this continues to escalate. Banking computers might be hit and the internet might go down. You probably need to have some cash on hand to be able to at least buy food in such a scenario.
That would be an attack, unlike the cessation of cooperation that is currently happening
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There have been multiple active wars in like 1/4 of the world the whole time since ww2 and all the time before that. The only thing different is that Ukraine is closer to EU than the rest of the countries.
It seems that some people are less worthy of others. (Mostly) ignoring decades and decades of constant war, and hundreds of thousands of deaths, just because of - what? The "other side" is the enemy? The "other side" lives far? The "other side" is of a different religion? The "other side" has a different skin colour? I also find it kind of hypocritical (but isn't that to be expected in war politics) of the European N…
You don't "bomb a country" with depleted uranium. That's used for its high density, which gives a lot of kinetic energy to conventional ammunition made out of it: Armour-penetrating shots. Anti-tank ammo, not bombs.