2 ms·

You have missed the point. History is exactly what you need to be aware of when dealing with Putin; he is bent on "righting" the "Wrongs" as he perceives it,

You have missed the point. History is exactly what you need to be aware of when dealing with Putin; he is bent on "righting" the "Wrongs" as he perceives it, whatever be the cost. Here is a relevant para from the Kissinger article; Putin should come to realize that, whatever his grievances, a policy of military impositions would produce another Cold War. For its part, the United States needs to avoid treating Russia as an aberrant to be patiently taught rules of conduct established by Washington. Putin is a serious strategist – on the premises of Russian history. Understanding U.S. values and psychology are not his strong suits. Nor has understanding Russian history and psychology been a strong point of U.S. policymakers. As i have argued, the US/EU are equally to blame for this mess; Putin is the Naked Aggressor while the US/EU roles have been more insidious. Ukrainians should take them to task for egging them on, promising support/help (since 2014) and delivering on none of them.

jacquesm 5y ago
Ok, so let's just assume that this is 100% the fault of the EU so we can move past that. What do you propose to do? Stand by and watch while the world burns because we can all pretend it isn't us? Let Putin annex Ukraine, the Baltics next and Poland after that? Or do you think that it will stop with just Ukraine and that that's the price to pay for fuckups?
cmurf 5y ago
This article has flaws. Just in the above portion alone: The rules of conduct were established by the Soviet Union too. They were a founding member of the United Nations, and a member of the League of Nations before that. As a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, Russia knows full well that this is a violation of the U.N. Charter - that no attempt at a peaceful resolution to the dispute was made because the dispute is entirely fabricated by Putin. He is a transparently unserious and untrustworthy person, and a revanchist pining away for the glory days of the USSR, while heading a kleptocracy to steal from anyone and everyone until his last breath. As bad as that is, in some sense I find it rather ordinary. What I find disappointing is the West's fixation on profit encouraged it to play footsie with a mob boss, as if it wouldn't one day have consequences. There have been dress rehearsals and speeches all along, by Putin, that draw a line directly to what we're witnessing today.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  Exactly. This is a violent variation on the theme of MRGA for want of a better term.

jacquesm 5y ago

Ok, so let's just assume that this is 100% the fault of the EU so we can move past that. What do you propose to do? Stand by and watch while the world burns because we can all pretend it isn't us? Let Putin annex Ukraine, the Baltics next and Poland after that? Or do you think that it will stop with just Ukraine and that that's the price to pay for fuckups?

cmurf 5y ago

This article has flaws. Just in the above portion alone: The rules of conduct were established by the Soviet Union too. They were a founding member of the United Nations, and a member of the League of Nations before that. As a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, Russia knows full well that this is a violation of the U.N. Charter - that no attempt at a peaceful resolution to the dispute was made because the dispute is entirely fabricated by Putin. He is a transparently unserious and untrustworthy person, and a revanchist pining away for the glory days of the USSR, while heading a kleptocracy to steal from anyone and everyone until his last breath. As bad as that is, in some sense I find it rather ordinary. What I find disappointing is the West's fixation on profit encouraged it to play footsie with a mob boss, as if it wouldn't one day have consequences. There have been dress rehearsals and speeches all along, by Putin, that draw a line directly to what we're witnessing today.

jacquesm 5y ago
Exactly. This is a violent variation on the theme of MRGA for want of a better term.