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Russia has no right to tell a sovereign country how to dictate their internal affairs. As much as Putin wants to pretend historical claims give him the right to

Russia has no right to tell a sovereign country how to dictate their internal affairs. As much as Putin wants to pretend historical claims give him the right to Ukraine (ala China and Taiwan), the war was completely unjustified and shows a tyrant willing to use any available means, militarily, to counteract his grievances with NATO and nationalist desire to reconnect the Soviet Union. He didn’t want a diplomatic solution, don’t be fooled, he wanted to buy time staging his troops. He knew what he had to do and that the West wouldn’t stand in his way. So he went in. At the peril for not just Russia and Ukraine, but for everyone else also.

ComputerGuru 5y ago
There are no “rights” granted to countries. The concept is laughable. There are only actions, vested interests, and consequences for all and on all sides.
- jollybean 5y ago
  Not really. While the threat of violence always underlies the balance of power, countries have to form some basis of civil agreement in order for things to work. In your example, imagine if you had to personal carry a gun to ensure your own safety and the fulfilment of contracts. That's not going to work. Russia has every right to lament treatment of Russian minority, at the same time, it was created by them. Russia has been very, very directly interfering in Ukranian politics and trying to turn it into a vassal state for the last 30 years. The Russian occupation in 2014 definitely created the 'permanent line of violence' in Donbas, which they are now using as a pretext for invasion. As the commenter noted: Russia can fuck themselves. In a world where nobody is perfect, they are 'bad actors' and particularly they have a lot of weapons which they throw around in that context. Screw them. US/EU options are limited because of NATO, WW3 outcomes, but we should take every other opportunity to help Ukraine. What the Ukranians have been doing in the last few days is nothing short of heroic.
  - ComputerGuru 5y ago
    My point is that people can decry a nation for being a “bad actor” all they want (and I’m not saying I wouldn’t agree with that characterization) but that doesn’t ultimately mean a thing because they’re not ultimately beholden to anyone but themselves. Even contracts and agreements with other nations mean nothing if they’re willing to shoulder the consequences. In many ways, the US and China have each been trying to do very much the same thing as Russia, just taking different routes to doing so. China uses golden handcuffs in Africa and Southeast Asia (plus some strong arming of its direct neighbors), the USA uses direct handouts (cash and goods) and the promise of coming to the military aid of a country to keep others from building up their own economies or arsenals while allowing the US to host their airbases and missile silos around the world, and Russia just takes the direct approach of strong-arming its neighbors into becoming vassal states.

ComputerGuru 5y ago

There are no “rights” granted to countries. The concept is laughable. There are only actions, vested interests, and consequences for all and on all sides.

jollybean 5y ago
Not really. While the threat of violence always underlies the balance of power, countries have to form some basis of civil agreement in order for things to work. In your example, imagine if you had to personal carry a gun to ensure your own safety and the fulfilment of contracts. That's not going to work. Russia has every right to lament treatment of Russian minority, at the same time, it was created by them. Russia has been very, very directly interfering in Ukranian politics and trying to turn it into a vassal state for the last 30 years. The Russian occupation in 2014 definitely created the 'permanent line of violence' in Donbas, which they are now using as a pretext for invasion. As the commenter noted: Russia can fuck themselves. In a world where nobody is perfect, they are 'bad actors' and particularly they have a lot of weapons which they throw around in that context. Screw them. US/EU options are limited because of NATO, WW3 outcomes, but we should take every other opportunity to help Ukraine. What the Ukranians have been doing in the last few days is nothing short of heroic.
- ComputerGuru 5y ago
  My point is that people can decry a nation for being a “bad actor” all they want (and I’m not saying I wouldn’t agree with that characterization) but that doesn’t ultimately mean a thing because they’re not ultimately beholden to anyone but themselves. Even contracts and agreements with other nations mean nothing if they’re willing to shoulder the consequences. In many ways, the US and China have each been trying to do very much the same thing as Russia, just taking different routes to doing so. China uses golden handcuffs in Africa and Southeast Asia (plus some strong arming of its direct neighbors), the USA uses direct handouts (cash and goods) and the promise of coming to the military aid of a country to keep others from building up their own economies or arsenals while allowing the US to host their airbases and missile silos around the world, and Russia just takes the direct approach of strong-arming its neighbors into becoming vassal states.