11 ms·

I'm Ukrainian activist for 10+ years, have been on Maidan, etc, know many other activists. Unfortunately, we have not seen understanding with any government. L

by simne 5y ago

I'm Ukrainian activist for 10+ years, have been on Maidan, etc, know many other activists. Unfortunately, we have not seen understanding with any government. Looks like, all people who got to government or state organizations, work on classical totalitarian scheme - "for friends all the best, for all others - severity of the law". Mean, system is so much disbalanced, that any government got totalitarian power and does not account on people. And laws are created, to make all people offenders, and with very wide possibilities of interpretation, so state officials and their friends become above law. If you really want to help Ukraine, better to contact volunteers-entrepreneurs, who where on Maidan, and who struggle for economic freedoms, and support Ukrainian army as private persons, without government/state. You could just donate, or you could create some business opportunity, so Ukrainians will make business, export working hours, or export some products to world. Business opportunities much better, because Ukraine now have critically huge dependence on Russian market, close to 50% of all trade, need much-much more export to world. Thank You!

eatbitseveryday 5y ago
> If you really want to help Ukraine, better to contact volunteers-entrepreneurs, who where on Maidan, and who struggle for economic freedoms, and support Ukrainian army as private persons, without government/state. > You could just donate, or you could create some business opportunity, so Ukrainians will make business, export working hours, or export some products to world. This makes sense, but I wonder if this would help in the short time. Maybe investing would help over the years; if Russia invades, investments may not help avoid the consequences?
- id02009 5y ago
  Most long term solutions don't work in short term, but you need to start them some day. One of the reasons why Russia attacked is weak, corrupt Ukrainian government. Other is economic dependency making everyone think twice before retaliating.
  - simne 5y ago
    Agree. Thank You!
- simne 5y ago
  Thank You for answer. What I see now, kremlin for sure have not prepared for long term war campaign, they just have not built hospitals for wounded (thanks to western sat photos, provided by official sources), and this is extremely important, because in real war, 80% wounded die within 24h if have not received medical care in nearest 1-2 hours. And if will be resistance, attacking forces will have very large number of wounded, so they will be forced to stop attack, because have not enough medicine institutions to heal wounded. So I think, kremlin accounted for similar to 2014 behavior of Ukrainian soldiers, I mean, in 2014 many Ukrainian soldiers or even officers just drop weapons and surrendered, to avoid bloodshed, because they think it is not war, they think it is provocation. Now I have some under the hood tools, and with them I see totally different reaction. I know that border guards tried to stop occupants; I know that pilots got very clear instruction "You could fire if you sure see enemy"; I know, in many places, air defense fires on "unknown aircrafts". And it is important, that count of Russian military forces, prepared before occupation, where close to current Ukrainian army. And technical power of armies are similar now, except of aviation - Ukraine have approx few tens military planes and helicopters, but occupants have more than hundred, same thing with tanks. But Ukraine now have Stingers, Javelins, Bayraktars, and some other modern weapons, so powers similar. So, I think, in approximately 30 hours, hot phase of war will end, and will continue similar to "ATO", mean struggle on east, but possible in few additional places. Or if You have good understanding of Israel history, or history of Korea, their hot war phases, usually does not last more than few weeks, some oven few days, and between of those hot phases, where very-very long periods of economy struggle or just information wars. I have before analyzed Japan success, and I think, they have V-shape economy grows on every big earthquake, because they had to rebuild lot of things from scratch, this is very good for market competitiveness. Ukraine before 2014 does not seen so large examples of market falls, because of this Ukrainian business was not ready for real life, and I think, now its time to change selves.
  - JumpCrisscross 5y ago
    Thank you for the insight. Godspeed. If you have links to organisations we can support from far away (with money, labour or lobbying), those would be appreciated.
- reitanqild 5y ago
  Already I'll do what I can: I browsed Ukraine web shops and found at least Spar has an open webshop: https://shop.spar.ua/ https://shop.spar.ua/ . If anyone has an address to order for I'll try ordering some goods for the front line, bunkers or what do I know. In the longer term I'll do what I already do to China: I happily pay 20% more for small goods not made in China and in fact I try to avoid buying Chinese. At the same time I'll happily pay even a bit more for Lithuanian goods after their brave stance the last few months. (Lithuanians, make sure "Made in Lithuania" is visible on everything you ship. You guys rock!)
  - sofixa 5y ago
    > Lithuanians, make sure "Made in Lithuania" is visible on everything you ship. You guys rock!) In some cases smaller European countries' manufacturers prefer to put "Made in the EU" because it's more reputable. No idea if the Lithuanians do it too.
  - simne 5y ago
    Thank you! At the moment, my contacts are extremely busy, trying to evacuate families to safe places. These two contacts seem most trustful for me: https://www.facebook.com/serhiyprytula/posts/505236280960977 https://www.facebook.com/serhiyprytula/posts/505236280960977 https://www.facebook.com/backandalive/posts/2231987336958691 https://www.facebook.com/backandalive/posts/2231987336958691 I will write additional info when will have.
thelittleone 5y ago
Some of the best developers I've worked with are Ukrainians. I've been hiring there for over 10 years with great results.
- simne 5y ago
  Thank You for warm words! I'm very pleased.
- jxramos 5y ago
  Some great Ukrainian coworkers I've had the pleasure to work with as well.
- chrisweekly 5y ago
  Same. It's not remotely scientific, but 3/3 are devs I'd gladly work with again. Given the tiny sample size, it's a pretty strong indicator.
- hedora 5y ago
  Same here. I wonder if the US could expedite setting up a refugee pipeline to the Bay Area. Guessing most people in the region would be for it.
  - exikyut 5y ago
    I reckon this is a seriously good idea, with the only sad caveat being that a lot of Silly Valley money seems to be very risk-averse and scale-seeking, and this is high risk and low/no-scale. Very annoyingly. (I can only chalk the downvotes (this comment was grey at time of my reply) up to pOlItIcS)
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
wolverine876 5y ago
> support Ukrainian army as private persons, without government/state. How do you hope to defeat Russia without coordinating with the lawful and most powerful institutions in the country? Note also that probably all foreign government assistance, especially the motherlodes of assistance from NATO states, including cyber, will be going through the Ukranian government. > You could just donate, or you could create some business opportunity How will creating business opportunities do anything to protect the freedom of the Ukranian people or defeat the Russian invasion? It seems like a major distraction from a crisis. > any government got totalitarian power and does not account on people Calling the Ukranian government undemocratic is a leading talking point of Russia and their allies. How do we distinguish what you are saying from them? All your points seem to reduce support for and divert it from the Ukranian government and their military. Isn't that absurdly dangerous in this moment? > I'm Ukrainian activist for 10+ years, have been on Maidan, etc, know many other activists. With due respect, in this atmosephere, how can we take the word of an anonymous person on the Internet? Would you trust such a person? How would you distinguish them?
- simne 5y ago
  > How do you hope to defeat Russia without coordinating with the lawful and most powerful institutions in the country? Unfortunately, Ukrainian government extremely corrupted, and Ukrainian army affected by this corruption. - Ukrainian officials so much feared about potential military junta (btw, like Putin and all officials of exUSSR countries), so purposefully hold army weak, make all possible to assign least initiative army tops, and slow down reformation of army. For example, I hear from insiders, that to build in Ukraine factory of NATO standard rifles/shells, West have to "hook Ukrainian tops balls", because all normal human measures where ineffective. Other important thing, you may not believe, but just today I seen calls from most trusted Ukrainian activist, to buy to Ukrainian army food. Tell me, how possible, army in Kiev does not have normal food supply? - Even in USSR regulations, written, that every military unit, should have long last food supply for at least 10 days, and today is just 3rd day of invasion, and we hear calls. I think their supplies are just plundered by officials. If you interested, later I will supply long list of what where designed for army in Ukraine, but Government does not made payment or used some other bureaucracy tricks to not buy those things. > probably all foreign government assistance...will be going through the Ukranian government Sure. Western officials MUST at least show, they act openly, because Western people will not understand. But in exUSSR countries, many things are not done acting openly, because extremely large part of officials here working from USSR times, they just do not have modern habits. And even young officials are not ordinary persons from street, but mostly relatives of old officials. For example, after 2014 revolution, activists created database of Ukrainians with good western background, even from ivy League, who want to become officials, even considering extremely low compensations and begin from very beginners positions. - Totally about 3000 persons enroll, but less than 200 where accepted by govt organizations, and in just one year only about 30 still worked there, all others quit, because of extremely toxic atmosphere. - In Ukraine now near 300k people considered government workers, and approx 80k officials. > How will creating business opportunities do anything to protect the freedom of the Ukranian people or defeat the Russian invasion? You remembered me words of Poroshenko, who once said words, which every person lived in USSR or in other totalitarian country, understand absolutely right, as: "do not critique me! Or Putin will invade!" And it is extremely important, that Russia invades its neighbors all few hundreds years it exists. And I have not seen any serious scientific foundations that this Russian behavior will end in some observable future. So we have situation, very similar to Israel-Iran, one of our neighbor will be our enemy forever, constantly waiting for good opportunity to attack us. You really think, we should not make reforms now? Sure, I don't ask to drop support on official channels just now, but hot phase will not last more than cup of weeks, and than we will return to the same words, "do not critique me! Or Putin will invade!" > Calling the Ukranian government undemocratic is a leading talking point of Russia and their allies. How do we distinguish what you are saying from them? Easy. I talking with people, I answer all questions, and I learn, and act, but nearly no one of exUSSR presidents will. We name this phenomena, "they become bronze man". > in this atmosephere, how can we take the word of an anonymous person on the Internet? Would you trust such a person? How would you distinguish them? I'm understand your words very well. Because I have worked as CTO of startup, and have to hire people I cannot get much info about. So what to do? - I have talked with few candidates, asked them questions; than I have tried to work with them; for some of them I created test assigns, etc. And yes, some of my choices where mistakes, but others where good enough fit. You may say, that we in Ukraine should make similar, again and again choose new officials on elections, but Ukraine have elections for more than 20 years,and results are very far from good for now. For example, Poland is just few years ahead, but their results far better, even 10 years ago, they perform much better, and last year I hear opinions, Poland just become country of 1st world. So I have made conclusion, that I have to make something more, something other, than just participate in elections. I'm not too much scientific person, to write foundations to trust me, I'm practitioner.
beebmam 5y ago
This reminds me of a great quote: "There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect"[1] 1. https://www.bradford-delong.com/2018/12/frank-wilhoit-the-travesty-of-liberalism.html https://www.bradford-delong.com/2018/12/frank-wilhoit-the-tr...
- GavinMcG 5y ago
  "Great" as in "insightful" as a definition of conservatism, rather than as an endorsement of the philosophy (one hopes).
  - wolverine876 5y ago
    How is that conservative, beyond dovetailing with what many on the US 'right' currently claim?
    - GavinMcG 5y ago
      Conservatives tend to emphasize loyalty, authority, and purity as fundamental values, over and above the more widely-shared values of care, fairness, and liberty.[0] These "binding" values are a foundation for in-group vs. out-group thinking. And because loyalty and authority compete with fairness (and win out over it) there is less of a priority on the law as treating everyone equally. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_foundations_theory#Political_ideology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_foundations_theory#Polit...
      - naniwaduni 5y ago
        The majestic equality of the laws, which forbid the rich with the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.
qbasic_forever 5y ago
US folks: Call your congressional representatives and demand they back harsh sanctions against Russian oil/gas immediately. Perhaps even a full embargo until aggression is stopped. That is the _only_ leverage the US has against Russia, and as of yet the US has steadfastly refused to do anything that would interrupt the flow or price of oil to itself.
- sofixa 5y ago
  The problem with that is that Europe needs Russian gas to flow, and Putin knows that.
  - jonathanstrange 5y ago
    Not really. Europe would experience a temporary shortage and soaring prices but that's it. The alternative is to let dictator Putin go unpunished, which means he will in the future likely attack another country. There is no doubt about it. Without a strong deterrent and corresponding internal opposition, dictator Putin would seize the first opportunity as long as (in his mind) he'd be reasonably certain that other European states wouldn't use nuclear weapons anyway. The older he gets, the more likely he is to make such errors of judgment. The new security imbalance due to an emboldened Russia would drastically increase the likelihood of a nuclear war in the future. Avoiding WW3 should have higher priority than short-term gas imports.
    - bb123 5y ago
      I don’t think you understand how important the gas is in Europe in winter. People will quite literally freeze to death in their homes without it.
      - gocartStatue 5y ago
        Not at that time of the year, we won't. There are reserves still. If we don't stop this madness now, we may freeze in 1-5 years running away from war moving through Latvia, Estonia, Poland etc. But Germany thinks it will save its economy still buying gas from RUS, so there's that...
nopenopenopeno 5y ago
- mikeyouse 5y ago
  So many gross Russian apologists on HN. Ukraine would be in a much better financial position if kleptocrats like Yanukovych hadn't siphoned billions of dollars of public money into their own pockets with the help of American collaborators like Paul Manafort. Something like 1/2 of a year's GDP stolen by Yanukovych and his cronies. https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-treasury-stripped-by-ousted-regime-10415765 https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-treasury-stripped-by-oust...
  - nopenopenopeno 5y ago
    So what? Why is that the EU’s and NATO’s responsibility? He was legitimately elected. We never came up with a reason for war in Afghanistan for 20 years and haven’t been out of Afghanistan for 2 months, but Americans are already bending over backwards to start another one. Unreal.
    - mikeyouse 5y ago
      He was narrowly elected and then had to flee the country once he started machine gunning unarmed protesters. Turns out his "narrow election" was at least partly due to the massive bribes he was paying out of the public coffers to election officials, opposition parties, & anti-corruption authorities. Literally nobody wants another war, hence why everyone is outraged at Russia for invading a peaceful Ukraine based on the paranoid delusions of a mad man.
      - nopenopenopeno 5y ago
        Oh, please! You’re just reciting the ridiculous American media. US leaders have been aggressively rallying for war with Russia for many many years, and it has been especially intense over the past few months. Putin is insane, but the US has given him every reason to believe that striking sooner than later is in his best interest. They didn’t have to do that, ya know. Americans have plenty of problems at home, and it is absolutely shameful that they can’t focus on them. Many parts of America are utter slums.
ukpeacer 5y ago
There is 6 major organizations which one accept your donations right now. http://www.helpukraine.xyz http://www.helpukraine.xyz And Bank of Ukraine accept wire transfers as well. But I just donated to Come Back Alive cause I don't trust the bank of Ukraine effectively using the money. Donate and help Ukraine!
hedora 5y ago
People inside the Ukraine or Russia should read the US WWII Simple Sabotage Field Manual: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26184/page-images/26184-images.pdf https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26184/page-images/26184-imag... Winning the ground war will probably be easy for Putin. Governing the resulting quagmire will be much more difficult.

by simne 5y ago

eatbitseveryday 5y ago

> If you really want to help Ukraine, better to contact volunteers-entrepreneurs, who where on Maidan, and who struggle for economic freedoms, and support Ukrainian army as private persons, without government/state. > You could just donate, or you could create some business opportunity, so Ukrainians will make business, export working hours, or export some products to world. This makes sense, but I wonder if this would help in the short time. Maybe investing would help over the years; if Russia invades, investments may not help avoid the consequences?

id02009 5y ago
Most long term solutions don't work in short term, but you need to start them some day. One of the reasons why Russia attacked is weak, corrupt Ukrainian government. Other is economic dependency making everyone think twice before retaliating.
- simne 5y ago
  Agree. Thank You!
simne 5y ago
Thank You for answer. What I see now, kremlin for sure have not prepared for long term war campaign, they just have not built hospitals for wounded (thanks to western sat photos, provided by official sources), and this is extremely important, because in real war, 80% wounded die within 24h if have not received medical care in nearest 1-2 hours. And if will be resistance, attacking forces will have very large number of wounded, so they will be forced to stop attack, because have not enough medicine institutions to heal wounded. So I think, kremlin accounted for similar to 2014 behavior of Ukrainian soldiers, I mean, in 2014 many Ukrainian soldiers or even officers just drop weapons and surrendered, to avoid bloodshed, because they think it is not war, they think it is provocation. Now I have some under the hood tools, and with them I see totally different reaction. I know that border guards tried to stop occupants; I know that pilots got very clear instruction "You could fire if you sure see enemy"; I know, in many places, air defense fires on "unknown aircrafts". And it is important, that count of Russian military forces, prepared before occupation, where close to current Ukrainian army. And technical power of armies are similar now, except of aviation - Ukraine have approx few tens military planes and helicopters, but occupants have more than hundred, same thing with tanks. But Ukraine now have Stingers, Javelins, Bayraktars, and some other modern weapons, so powers similar. So, I think, in approximately 30 hours, hot phase of war will end, and will continue similar to "ATO", mean struggle on east, but possible in few additional places. Or if You have good understanding of Israel history, or history of Korea, their hot war phases, usually does not last more than few weeks, some oven few days, and between of those hot phases, where very-very long periods of economy struggle or just information wars. I have before analyzed Japan success, and I think, they have V-shape economy grows on every big earthquake, because they had to rebuild lot of things from scratch, this is very good for market competitiveness. Ukraine before 2014 does not seen so large examples of market falls, because of this Ukrainian business was not ready for real life, and I think, now its time to change selves.
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago
  Thank you for the insight. Godspeed. If you have links to organisations we can support from far away (with money, labour or lobbying), those would be appreciated.
reitanqild 5y ago
Already I'll do what I can: I browsed Ukraine web shops and found at least Spar has an open webshop: https://shop.spar.ua/ https://shop.spar.ua/ . If anyone has an address to order for I'll try ordering some goods for the front line, bunkers or what do I know. In the longer term I'll do what I already do to China: I happily pay 20% more for small goods not made in China and in fact I try to avoid buying Chinese. At the same time I'll happily pay even a bit more for Lithuanian goods after their brave stance the last few months. (Lithuanians, make sure "Made in Lithuania" is visible on everything you ship. You guys rock!)
- sofixa 5y ago
  > Lithuanians, make sure "Made in Lithuania" is visible on everything you ship. You guys rock!) In some cases smaller European countries' manufacturers prefer to put "Made in the EU" because it's more reputable. No idea if the Lithuanians do it too.
- simne 5y ago
  Thank you! At the moment, my contacts are extremely busy, trying to evacuate families to safe places. These two contacts seem most trustful for me: https://www.facebook.com/serhiyprytula/posts/505236280960977 https://www.facebook.com/serhiyprytula/posts/505236280960977 https://www.facebook.com/backandalive/posts/2231987336958691 https://www.facebook.com/backandalive/posts/2231987336958691 I will write additional info when will have.

thelittleone 5y ago

Some of the best developers I've worked with are Ukrainians. I've been hiring there for over 10 years with great results.

simne 5y ago
Thank You for warm words! I'm very pleased.
jxramos 5y ago
Some great Ukrainian coworkers I've had the pleasure to work with as well.
chrisweekly 5y ago
Same. It's not remotely scientific, but 3/3 are devs I'd gladly work with again. Given the tiny sample size, it's a pretty strong indicator.
hedora 5y ago
Same here. I wonder if the US could expedite setting up a refugee pipeline to the Bay Area. Guessing most people in the region would be for it.
- exikyut 5y ago
  I reckon this is a seriously good idea, with the only sad caveat being that a lot of Silly Valley money seems to be very risk-averse and scale-seeking, and this is high risk and low/no-scale. Very annoyingly. (I can only chalk the downvotes (this comment was grey at time of my reply) up to pOlItIcS)

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

wolverine876 5y ago

> support Ukrainian army as private persons, without government/state. How do you hope to defeat Russia without coordinating with the lawful and most powerful institutions in the country? Note also that probably all foreign government assistance, especially the motherlodes of assistance from NATO states, including cyber, will be going through the Ukranian government. > You could just donate, or you could create some business opportunity How will creating business opportunities do anything to protect the freedom of the Ukranian people or defeat the Russian invasion? It seems like a major distraction from a crisis. > any government got totalitarian power and does not account on people Calling the Ukranian government undemocratic is a leading talking point of Russia and their allies. How do we distinguish what you are saying from them? All your points seem to reduce support for and divert it from the Ukranian government and their military. Isn't that absurdly dangerous in this moment? > I'm Ukrainian activist for 10+ years, have been on Maidan, etc, know many other activists. With due respect, in this atmosephere, how can we take the word of an anonymous person on the Internet? Would you trust such a person? How would you distinguish them?

simne 5y ago
> How do you hope to defeat Russia without coordinating with the lawful and most powerful institutions in the country? Unfortunately, Ukrainian government extremely corrupted, and Ukrainian army affected by this corruption. - Ukrainian officials so much feared about potential military junta (btw, like Putin and all officials of exUSSR countries), so purposefully hold army weak, make all possible to assign least initiative army tops, and slow down reformation of army. For example, I hear from insiders, that to build in Ukraine factory of NATO standard rifles/shells, West have to "hook Ukrainian tops balls", because all normal human measures where ineffective. Other important thing, you may not believe, but just today I seen calls from most trusted Ukrainian activist, to buy to Ukrainian army food. Tell me, how possible, army in Kiev does not have normal food supply? - Even in USSR regulations, written, that every military unit, should have long last food supply for at least 10 days, and today is just 3rd day of invasion, and we hear calls. I think their supplies are just plundered by officials. If you interested, later I will supply long list of what where designed for army in Ukraine, but Government does not made payment or used some other bureaucracy tricks to not buy those things. > probably all foreign government assistance...will be going through the Ukranian government Sure. Western officials MUST at least show, they act openly, because Western people will not understand. But in exUSSR countries, many things are not done acting openly, because extremely large part of officials here working from USSR times, they just do not have modern habits. And even young officials are not ordinary persons from street, but mostly relatives of old officials. For example, after 2014 revolution, activists created database of Ukrainians with good western background, even from ivy League, who want to become officials, even considering extremely low compensations and begin from very beginners positions. - Totally about 3000 persons enroll, but less than 200 where accepted by govt organizations, and in just one year only about 30 still worked there, all others quit, because of extremely toxic atmosphere. - In Ukraine now near 300k people considered government workers, and approx 80k officials. > How will creating business opportunities do anything to protect the freedom of the Ukranian people or defeat the Russian invasion? You remembered me words of Poroshenko, who once said words, which every person lived in USSR or in other totalitarian country, understand absolutely right, as: "do not critique me! Or Putin will invade!" And it is extremely important, that Russia invades its neighbors all few hundreds years it exists. And I have not seen any serious scientific foundations that this Russian behavior will end in some observable future. So we have situation, very similar to Israel-Iran, one of our neighbor will be our enemy forever, constantly waiting for good opportunity to attack us. You really think, we should not make reforms now? Sure, I don't ask to drop support on official channels just now, but hot phase will not last more than cup of weeks, and than we will return to the same words, "do not critique me! Or Putin will invade!" > Calling the Ukranian government undemocratic is a leading talking point of Russia and their allies. How do we distinguish what you are saying from them? Easy. I talking with people, I answer all questions, and I learn, and act, but nearly no one of exUSSR presidents will. We name this phenomena, "they become bronze man". > in this atmosephere, how can we take the word of an anonymous person on the Internet? Would you trust such a person? How would you distinguish them? I'm understand your words very well. Because I have worked as CTO of startup, and have to hire people I cannot get much info about. So what to do? - I have talked with few candidates, asked them questions; than I have tried to work with them; for some of them I created test assigns, etc. And yes, some of my choices where mistakes, but others where good enough fit. You may say, that we in Ukraine should make similar, again and again choose new officials on elections, but Ukraine have elections for more than 20 years,and results are very far from good for now. For example, Poland is just few years ahead, but their results far better, even 10 years ago, they perform much better, and last year I hear opinions, Poland just become country of 1st world. So I have made conclusion, that I have to make something more, something other, than just participate in elections. I'm not too much scientific person, to write foundations to trust me, I'm practitioner.

beebmam 5y ago

This reminds me of a great quote: "There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect"[1] 1. https://www.bradford-delong.com/2018/12/frank-wilhoit-the-travesty-of-liberalism.html https://www.bradford-delong.com/2018/12/frank-wilhoit-the-tr...

GavinMcG 5y ago
"Great" as in "insightful" as a definition of conservatism, rather than as an endorsement of the philosophy (one hopes).
- wolverine876 5y ago
  How is that conservative, beyond dovetailing with what many on the US 'right' currently claim?
  - GavinMcG 5y ago
    Conservatives tend to emphasize loyalty, authority, and purity as fundamental values, over and above the more widely-shared values of care, fairness, and liberty.[0] These "binding" values are a foundation for in-group vs. out-group thinking. And because loyalty and authority compete with fairness (and win out over it) there is less of a priority on the law as treating everyone equally. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_foundations_theory#Political_ideology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_foundations_theory#Polit...
    - naniwaduni 5y ago
      The majestic equality of the laws, which forbid the rich with the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.

qbasic_forever 5y ago

US folks: Call your congressional representatives and demand they back harsh sanctions against Russian oil/gas immediately. Perhaps even a full embargo until aggression is stopped. That is the _only_ leverage the US has against Russia, and as of yet the US has steadfastly refused to do anything that would interrupt the flow or price of oil to itself.

sofixa 5y ago
The problem with that is that Europe needs Russian gas to flow, and Putin knows that.
- jonathanstrange 5y ago
  Not really. Europe would experience a temporary shortage and soaring prices but that's it. The alternative is to let dictator Putin go unpunished, which means he will in the future likely attack another country. There is no doubt about it. Without a strong deterrent and corresponding internal opposition, dictator Putin would seize the first opportunity as long as (in his mind) he'd be reasonably certain that other European states wouldn't use nuclear weapons anyway. The older he gets, the more likely he is to make such errors of judgment. The new security imbalance due to an emboldened Russia would drastically increase the likelihood of a nuclear war in the future. Avoiding WW3 should have higher priority than short-term gas imports.
  - bb123 5y ago
    I don’t think you understand how important the gas is in Europe in winter. People will quite literally freeze to death in their homes without it.
    - gocartStatue 5y ago
      Not at that time of the year, we won't. There are reserves still. If we don't stop this madness now, we may freeze in 1-5 years running away from war moving through Latvia, Estonia, Poland etc. But Germany thinks it will save its economy still buying gas from RUS, so there's that...

nopenopenopeno 5y ago

mikeyouse 5y ago
So many gross Russian apologists on HN. Ukraine would be in a much better financial position if kleptocrats like Yanukovych hadn't siphoned billions of dollars of public money into their own pockets with the help of American collaborators like Paul Manafort. Something like 1/2 of a year's GDP stolen by Yanukovych and his cronies. https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-treasury-stripped-by-ousted-regime-10415765 https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-treasury-stripped-by-oust...
- nopenopenopeno 5y ago
  So what? Why is that the EU’s and NATO’s responsibility? He was legitimately elected. We never came up with a reason for war in Afghanistan for 20 years and haven’t been out of Afghanistan for 2 months, but Americans are already bending over backwards to start another one. Unreal.
  - mikeyouse 5y ago
    He was narrowly elected and then had to flee the country once he started machine gunning unarmed protesters. Turns out his "narrow election" was at least partly due to the massive bribes he was paying out of the public coffers to election officials, opposition parties, & anti-corruption authorities. Literally nobody wants another war, hence why everyone is outraged at Russia for invading a peaceful Ukraine based on the paranoid delusions of a mad man.
    - nopenopenopeno 5y ago
      Oh, please! You’re just reciting the ridiculous American media. US leaders have been aggressively rallying for war with Russia for many many years, and it has been especially intense over the past few months. Putin is insane, but the US has given him every reason to believe that striking sooner than later is in his best interest. They didn’t have to do that, ya know. Americans have plenty of problems at home, and it is absolutely shameful that they can’t focus on them. Many parts of America are utter slums.

ukpeacer 5y ago

There is 6 major organizations which one accept your donations right now. http://www.helpukraine.xyz http://www.helpukraine.xyz And Bank of Ukraine accept wire transfers as well. But I just donated to Come Back Alive cause I don't trust the bank of Ukraine effectively using the money. Donate and help Ukraine!

hedora 5y ago

People inside the Ukraine or Russia should read the US WWII Simple Sabotage Field Manual: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26184/page-images/26184-images.pdf https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26184/page-images/26184-imag... Winning the ground war will probably be easy for Putin. Governing the resulting quagmire will be much more difficult.