911–920 of 1001 posts
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There are other ways short of military intervention that can be quite effective.
Like cutting them off from the world financial system and seizing all their assets? Already done.
Done on paper ;) Then europe looks the other way while their exports to kirgizstan and other stans mysteriously quadruple starting 2022
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Europe deciding to depend on Russia for their energy and not focusing on defense spending is the unbelievable part to me, but they've been doing this for quite some time now. They walked right into it. Russia is doing what they've always done and always will do.
It was reasonable not to see Russia as enemy. It was well integrated into European trade and some political structures (PACE, NATO-Russia council etc) and there were even talks about visa-free travel between Russia and EU. What went wrong was the glacial speed of integration, letting the nationalist sentiment and disappointment in West grow. Post-WWII Europe was pacified through a political union between Germany and…
That's naive. Russia allowed Germany to unify, but not Romania. It was very clear to eastern Europeans that they needed to join NATO before Russia can attack them again.
Ever since the 1500s Russia has always sought to expand under the excuse of being encircled. Listen to any Russian propagandist now and they sound no different to ones from hundreds of years ago. They say Russia needs natural bothers. Well, there are no borders until the Carpathian mountains.
If they do conquer the Carpathians, they'll just move the goal posts, just like they didn't stop at the Ural mountains.
It's naive to not see Russia as the enemy because it has always been so.
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Yes. Unfortunately, he miscalculated and threw his life away by failing to appreciate the conditions. Similar to standing in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square, this was and now proved to be a ineffective and futile act in a country whose populace refuses to stand up to Putin, oppression, or corruption. It's likely Putin will continue to be the de facto "elected" dictator of Russia until he dies and his oligarch pal…
> The Russian people lack the will, organization, and moral courage to overthrow their klepto-plutocrat dictator. They lack secure communication tools in the first place. I believe Telegram is backdoored by FSB and Whatsapp just bent over without fight.
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You forgot a chunk of the US right actively supporting Russia and praising Putin as savior of the West. They aren’t the majority but are influential. Xi Xinpeng should take a lesson here. Apparently all you have to do is dunk on gay people and pay lip service to right wing culture war stuff and they’ll roll over. You don’t even have to mean it. (Every core statistic the right claims to care about is worse in Russia l…
I hang out with people of a huge range of political views, from classical Marxist-Leninists to earnest tear-it-down anarchists, from neolib Obama stans to full magapedes. I've yet to meet a single one who "actively supports Russia and praises Putin as savior of the West". Like, literally not one. The only time I've _ever_ heard this viewpoint uttered in North America is when people online are sketching it out online…
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I'm not sure we can avoid conflict now, I think we're past the point where that was possible (last 10-15 years were critical). I think both Russia and China understand that, and are planning accordingly. I'm proposing we wake up and start doing the same, planning and drawing "do not cross" lines in the sand to hopefully limit the total/final scope of the conflict. Yes this will force an earlier confrontation -- but W…
No, Europe’s problem was that we were pacifists. France still prides itself for inventing the Congés Payés (paid leave) in 1936 while the Germans were building their military might. The price in lieu of our “acquis sociaux” was getting occupied, point blank. Europe still prides itself for having female ministers of defense in every major country (who remembers them? We give the job to women when we just need to maint…
> We’re vegans, we’re trans, we’re using non-violent communication, we’re in discord on our soil, we destroy every trait of masculinity during education
Remind me what exactly do these have to do with Russian aggression again?
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Just wait for the US election, it's gonna be a fun year
What everyone was afraid would happen if Trump wins in 2024 -- him blocking aid to Ukraine -- has already happened. Trump winning would be bad news for Ukraine, but in practical terms they've already been thrown under the bus by Republicans in Congress.
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The strategy of economic integration as a way to reduce military tension has worked very well in many other instances. It doesn't seem like an obviously insane thing to have tried.
Indeed. There's a common saying that sort of derives from Frédéric Bastiat that "where goods cross borders, armies don't." Trade and economic dependence is the best deterrent of war that there is. That doesn't necessarily mean that it stops all war, but it definitely raises the cost of war and costs matter. It's also IMHO the most productive and ethical way to reduce/prevent war. Maybe they shouldn't have allowed som…
Yes, this was the widely believed theory prior to 1914 for why another large, Europe-wide war wouldn't break out.
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The history of both nations is hugely different. I would recommend this lecture series by Timothy Snyder to enlighten you: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9mgdi4rNewfxO7LhBoz... Yes, there are lots of family and friendship ties between the countries. It's sad that Putin has destroyed any chance of good relationships in the future, and basically solidified Ukraine as a nation in opposition to his aggression.