5 ms·
In my mind the main takeaway from this article is that these things are so nuanced we need to be very careful in passing judgment on these third parties that ar
by thathndude 5y ago
In my mind the main takeaway from this article is that these things are so nuanced we need to be very careful in passing judgment on these third parties that are tangentially related to the conflict.
It’s relatively easy for us in the West to call balls and strikes for some actors, but much more tricky when it comes to other third parties (like Armenia).
- elliekelly 5y ago> It’s relatively easy for us in the West to call balls and strikes for some actors, but much more tricky when it comes to other third parties (like Armenia). Along the same lines I think it’s easy to forget that imposing sanctions and voting against the interests of a major power is, in a way, a privilege because it always has a cost. Even among some of the major European countries like Germany you can see that the economic realities of sanctioning Putin ran the risk of being too burdensome. If a country as wealthy and influential as Germany needs to coordinate among all of their allies (and still be prepared to bear a significant cost at home!) in order to make sanctions against Russia feasible I’m not sure how Russia’s smaller, non-EU neighbors could possibly be expected to do the same.
- mbreese 5y agoMy take away was to be cognizant the each country (and even each individual) has their own motivations and conditions on the ground to deal with. Sometimes it is a historical or geographical context that isn’t readily apparent from the outside. But in some circumstances, the message sent by abstaining from a vote can be just as loud (and brave) as voting yes or no.
- hunglee2 5y agoexactly this. We need to move away from the bimodal moralising and recognise the geopolitical realties that many of these countries have.