The indisputable facts are that: 1) Kiev struck deep into Russia on Monday to hit two strategic airfields; 2) the West is signaling to Moscow that it had nothing to do with the attack; and 3) and Kiev built upon Monday’s momentum by striking another Russian airfield on Tuesday.
Ukraine didn't have "western overlords". It has friends who are helping it resist Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russians don't seem to be aware that waves of Ukrainian emigration from the USSR to countries all over the world means Ukraine has friends everywhere. Canada's foreign minister is from such an emigrant family. Russia is the aggressor. This is not complucsted.
The article also seems to miss the most obvious way out for Russia: they can simply end the war and acknowledge that it can't be won. It's really that simple.
At least for now. They should really consider that option as it could very well be that they come into a position where they no longer have that luxury.
Are you guys on the same stuff Zelensky is on? Ukraine has a diaspora across Canada, UK, part of south America and Eastern Europe, which also happens to have been a lot of people involved in the 3rd Reich that fled their original regions once the Soviet arrived(for obvious reasons). These people were also the most "nationalist"(to use a mild word) part of Ukraine, and will certainly advocate for violent reactions against what they see as the continuation of USSR(Russia), but other than in Canada/UK they are not given a voice. The rest of the western world is only following like the liberal imperialism of the US like debiles thinking that their current monopolar "diverse" world order is the only way for the future of humanity. There is a lot more nuances in geopolitics than a ridiculous "aggressor bad, defender good"(by that logic Americans are extremely bad). As for the war, it can certainly end in very unpleasant ways for either side, ending the war is certainly not in view at this point with so many uncertainties. This war should not have happened if the western liberal empire had not decided to expand and refuse any dialogue with people not aligned with it.
I agree, usually there are nuances. This time though there really aren't any.
- We have a country with centuries of imperialistic conquests and several remaining colonies it subjugates attacking its direct neighbor completely unwarranted, after waging more than 8 years of proxy war within its borders and after meddling in the countries politics for over thirty years, after realizing that despite all this it's efforts failed.
- We have an autocratic leader who has surrounded himself so much by Yes-men, he misread the room in a spectacular manner.
- We have a country which has vowed to guarantee the territorial integrity of the very state its invading (Budapest memorandum).
- We have a country which invades one of the first states to ever give up nuclear weapons in history; after having given them multiple guarantees to never do just that.
- We have a country who regularly commits massive atrocities and crimes against humanity as part of its military strategy (and not just as an inevitable by-product of war), then proceeds to commend the very units which have committed the worst ones.
- We have a country which jails people for holding up an imaginary piece of paper with imaginary regime critical lines written onto them; yet has regularly people on TV advocating for all kinds of war crimes, nuclear strikes, extermination fantasies, etc. on a scale which would make Alex Jones and his right-wing nutjobs blush ...
- We have a country which has had less years without waging war since the cold war ended than the US (and that's really an achievement).
- We have a country which has been trying to undermine its opponents independence literally since its inception, with former Chechnya's President Dƶoxar Dudayev predicting in 1995 already that Russia would eventually go for Ukraine.
- We have a country which has been constantly chipping away on civic freedoms of its people for two decades now.
- We have a country with a government which officially started to hail Stalin again, wants to imitate the conquest of Peter the Great and sees the freedom gained by many former soviet states as the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century (to normal people the Holocaust and the second world war would come to mind, but hey, who am I to judge).
- We have a country which officially claims to feel threatened by NATO, then proceeds to remove 90% of its border units to fight a useless fight with its neighbor, giving NATO the biggest opportunity ever to invade, knowing full well that NATO never intended to invade and won't do so.
- We have a country threatening a neighbor without nuclear capabilities with nuclear strikes so much and so often, they even managed to anger their friend and ally China! That's quite an achievement I must say!
- We have a country which has resorted to murder throughout the world to threaten any potential domestic opposition for decades.
- We have a country which openly proclaims its ambition to extend its influence from Alaska to Lisbon.
- We have a country which claims to be wanting to denazify its neighbors, while allowing command of the irregular Wagner forces to be held by a guy with literally SS runes on his body so visible, you can see them on photos with Putin standing right next to him.
And on the other hand we have a country with many flaws, much internal struggles, but which eventually pulled itself together and decided which way it wanted to go in 2013/2014 with the Maidan movement; confirmed by all elections held since.
And you are telling me, who has opposed literally any military adventure of the US since I was born 40 years ago, that I should now see the nuances? (which I do regret on one or two occasions) That one time when the US is so clearly on the right side of history? The last time the US was this clearly on the right side of history, Hitler was still ordering the extermination of Jews, and the US fleet was sunk in pearl harbor. It hasn't been so clear ever since until this very conflict became hot.
There aren't really any nuances yet. No one threatened Russia. No one forced Russia's hand. And quite the opposite, many propositions for cooperation have been made to Russia. Trillions of Euros have been spend on the assumption that economic relations would eventually also bring political convergence. If Russia was competently ruled, it could have been a EU member by 2030. If it didn't want that, it could have had all sorts if similarly profitable associations with the EU. This would have also made that block far more difficult for the US to dominate.
But Russia, not the EU, chose differently. Because autocracies never care about the well being of their country or citizens. They wanted those yachts, they wanted those villas, and they wanted to restore the might, awe and fear the USSR projected. Instead they relegated themselves to be a resource colony of China now. They don't know it yet, but they've already faded from history. China needs them to solve its energy conundrum. But they don't need them as equals. China will be very happy with a weak Russia, shunned by the West with no one to trade but themselves.
Ukraine didn't have "western overlords". It has friends who are helping it resist Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russians don't seem to be aware that waves of Ukrainian emigration from the USSR to countries all over the world means Ukraine has friends everywhere. Canada's foreign minister is from such an emigrant family. Russia is the aggressor. This is not complucsted.
The article also seems to miss the most obvious way out for Russia: they can simply end the war and acknowledge that it can't be won. It's really that simple.
At least for now. They should really consider that option as it could very well be that they come into a position where they no longer have that luxury.
Are you guys on the same stuff Zelensky is on? Ukraine has a diaspora across Canada, UK, part of south America and Eastern Europe, which also happens to have been a lot of people involved in the 3rd Reich that fled their original regions once the Soviet arrived(for obvious reasons). These people were also the most "nationalist"(to use a mild word) part of Ukraine, and will certainly advocate for violent reactions against what they see as the continuation of USSR(Russia), but other than in Canada/UK they are not given a voice. The rest of the western world is only following like the liberal imperialism of the US like debiles thinking that their current monopolar "diverse" world order is the only way for the future of humanity. There is a lot more nuances in geopolitics than a ridiculous "aggressor bad, defender good"(by that logic Americans are extremely bad). As for the war, it can certainly end in very unpleasant ways for either side, ending the war is certainly not in view at this point with so many uncertainties. This war should not have happened if the western liberal empire had not decided to expand and refuse any dialogue with people not aligned with it.
I agree, usually there are nuances. This time though there really aren't any.
- We have a country with centuries of imperialistic conquests and several remaining colonies it subjugates attacking its direct neighbor completely unwarranted, after waging more than 8 years of proxy war within its borders and after meddling in the countries politics for over thirty years, after realizing that despite all this it's efforts failed.
- We have an autocratic leader who has surrounded himself so much by Yes-men, he misread the room in a spectacular manner.
- We have a country which has vowed to guarantee the territorial integrity of the very state its invading (Budapest memorandum).
- We have a country which invades one of the first states to ever give up nuclear weapons in history; after having given them multiple guarantees to never do just that.
- We have a country who regularly commits massive atrocities and crimes against humanity as part of its military strategy (and not just as an inevitable by-product of war), then proceeds to commend the very units which have committed the worst ones.
- We have a country which jails people for holding up an imaginary piece of paper with imaginary regime critical lines written onto them; yet has regularly people on TV advocating for all kinds of war crimes, nuclear strikes, extermination fantasies, etc. on a scale which would make Alex Jones and his right-wing nutjobs blush ...
- We have a country which has had less years without waging war since the cold war ended than the US (and that's really an achievement).
- We have a country which has been trying to undermine its opponents independence literally since its inception, with former Chechnya's President Dƶoxar Dudayev predicting in 1995 already that Russia would eventually go for Ukraine.
- We have a country which has been constantly chipping away on civic freedoms of its people for two decades now.
- We have a country with a government which officially started to hail Stalin again, wants to imitate the conquest of Peter the Great and sees the freedom gained by many former soviet states as the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century (to normal people the Holocaust and the second world war would come to mind, but hey, who am I to judge).
- We have a country which officially claims to feel threatened by NATO, then proceeds to remove 90% of its border units to fight a useless fight with its neighbor, giving NATO the biggest opportunity ever to invade, knowing full well that NATO never intended to invade and won't do so.
- We have a country threatening a neighbor without nuclear capabilities with nuclear strikes so much and so often, they even managed to anger their friend and ally China! That's quite an achievement I must say!
- We have a country which has resorted to murder throughout the world to threaten any potential domestic opposition for decades.
- We have a country which openly proclaims its ambition to extend its influence from Alaska to Lisbon.
- We have a country which claims to be wanting to denazify its neighbors, while allowing command of the irregular Wagner forces to be held by a guy with literally SS runes on his body so visible, you can see them on photos with Putin standing right next to him.
And on the other hand we have a country with many flaws, much internal struggles, but which eventually pulled itself together and decided which way it wanted to go in 2013/2014 with the Maidan movement; confirmed by all elections held since.
And you are telling me, who has opposed literally any military adventure of the US since I was born 40 years ago, that I should now see the nuances? (which I do regret on one or two occasions) That one time when the US is so clearly on the right side of history? The last time the US was this clearly on the right side of history, Hitler was still ordering the extermination of Jews, and the US fleet was sunk in pearl harbor. It hasn't been so clear ever since until this very conflict became hot.
There aren't really any nuances yet. No one threatened Russia. No one forced Russia's hand. And quite the opposite, many propositions for cooperation have been made to Russia. Trillions of Euros have been spend on the assumption that economic relations would eventually also bring political convergence. If Russia was competently ruled, it could have been a EU member by 2030. If it didn't want that, it could have had all sorts if similarly profitable associations with the EU. This would have also made that block far more difficult for the US to dominate.
But Russia, not the EU, chose differently. Because autocracies never care about the well being of their country or citizens. They wanted those yachts, they wanted those villas, and they wanted to restore the might, awe and fear the USSR projected. Instead they relegated themselves to be a resource colony of China now. They don't know it yet, but they've already faded from history. China needs them to solve its energy conundrum. But they don't need them as equals. China will be very happy with a weak Russia, shunned by the West with no one to trade but themselves.
You wanted nuance: there you go ...