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As I heard a former war reporter that went to dozens of wars: War is always the same. Now in Ukraine the only difference it that they are blonde, blue eyes, wh

As I heard a former war reporter that went to dozens of wars: War is always the same. Now in Ukraine the only difference it that they are blonde, blue eyes, white and European. But the suffering is the same in all wars. There were war before in Syria, promoted by the US and Saudi Arabia US friend. There was war in Libia before, promoted by France and the US. And of course there was war in Iraq and Afghanistan before, US invasions. Those wars were created because of geopolitical interest, just like Putin's war. Russia population believe Putin pretext in the same way the US population believed it was necessary to punish 20 terrorists from Saudi Arabia invading a country thousands of kilometers away or in weapons of mass destruction or what not. So it is not really "the World". It is your World, my World. The US has always exported war without dealing with the consequences as it is isolated by Oceans. Now Europeans have to deal with those wars closer and closer and its consequences. But it was always there.

wozer 5y ago
It's a bit different though because Russia and Ukraine are so close. It's a bit as if the US would attack Canada.
- fuoqi 5y ago
  It's a bit as if the US attacked Canada after: - Pro-China forces got into power in Canada after unconstitutional coup. - China has started to actively train and supply Canadian military. Of course, solely for protecting Canadian sovereignty. /s - Anti-imperialistic (read anti-US) propaganda run rampant in the country. - Pro-US parties and media got either closed or pressured to the point of non-relevance. - The Canadian govement has declared that it wants close economic ties with China and to join its military bloc. - English was pressured in favor of French to protect Canadian culture. If you think it's too unrealistic, just remember the Cuban missile crisis.
  - orthoxerox 5y ago
    That attack would still be unwarranted.
  - paulryanrogers 5y ago
    This analogy is confusing. In Ukraine I get the impression there was only one foreign aggressor: Russia. And the 2014 revolution overthrowing the old ruler was to push back against their influence. And because of the aggressor's response (annexation, mercenaries, un-uniformed troops) Ukraine themselves sought security guarantees from other partners.
arroz 5y ago
It is different. The US didn’t want to annex the countries they had a war with (unless you go way in the past, but even then not full countries)
- mythrwy 5y ago
  Arguably they did want to annex the countries they warred with. Into a global financial system that they controlled.
cycomanic 5y ago
I generally agree with you that there is a lot of hipocracy in the west and I hope (arguably this might be wishful thinking) that Europe sees this as a sign that if we want to be believable on a world stage we need to be more critical of wrongs happening in other places be it criticising the US, the French, the Chinese and let's not forget that the European were pretty lenient towards Putin for a long time as well). That said there are at least two key differences between Ukraine and previous conflicts. 1. Historically conflicts in Europe are the ones who go out of hand and become world-wide conflicts. I actually believe many in the west hoped that Russia would take over Ukraine quickly, install a puppet government and things could go back to the low intensity latent conflict. 2. Ukraine was an elected democratic government which really did not do much to easily paint them as "bad" guys. That's quite a contrast to Serbia, Iraq or Afghanistan. I'm not defending previous Western aggression, to be clear and have been highly critical of US foreign policy (as a side note one should criticise them for the behaviour in Latin America much more than the Middle East). That said it is very clear to me who the bad guys are here. A Russian student of mine said to me, "the Ukrainians are not just fighting for themselves there also fighting for us Russians to get rid of putin)
berkes 5y ago
I've often heard this argument being used to justify this war. Or to make anyone opposing it look hypocrite. Not saying you do this. But for me it shimmers through, so I'll repeat my common answer: All war is bad. So this war is bad too. It is, above all, one war too many, like each war is. And therefore must be stopped no matter what. That is regardless of how many wars Europe, US, Israel, Arabia or even Polynesia have started recently. All of those were bad. All of those had to stop ASAP. Just as this one.
- Tenoke 5y ago
  The point of mentioning this isn't simply to justify this war but to corrode the justifications behind the other wars. Immediately dismissing those who point out the unequal treatment of different wars simply makes it so the only lesson people learn now is that this war is bad rather than the more general lesson.
- bckr 5y ago
  There's something else that's happening with this war. We are watching it, all around the world, happen in real time from the perspective of civilians and soldiers, not relying on corporate or state media. This makes it incredibly visceral to all of us.
PedroBatista 5y ago
Although some wars are entirely created by external powers I find it a bit disingenuous to imply that the people at war don’t have grievances or don’t have free will to fight against their oppressors. It reads as the author is more preoccupied in broadcasting his grief towards the “great evil powers” than the actual suffering caused by war.
bradleyjg 5y ago
You aren’t entirely wrong, but why are you posting this now? What’s the rhetorical goal here?

wozer 5y ago

It's a bit different though because Russia and Ukraine are so close. It's a bit as if the US would attack Canada.

fuoqi 5y ago
It's a bit as if the US attacked Canada after: - Pro-China forces got into power in Canada after unconstitutional coup. - China has started to actively train and supply Canadian military. Of course, solely for protecting Canadian sovereignty. /s - Anti-imperialistic (read anti-US) propaganda run rampant in the country. - Pro-US parties and media got either closed or pressured to the point of non-relevance. - The Canadian govement has declared that it wants close economic ties with China and to join its military bloc. - English was pressured in favor of French to protect Canadian culture. If you think it's too unrealistic, just remember the Cuban missile crisis.
- orthoxerox 5y ago
  That attack would still be unwarranted.
- paulryanrogers 5y ago
  This analogy is confusing. In Ukraine I get the impression there was only one foreign aggressor: Russia. And the 2014 revolution overthrowing the old ruler was to push back against their influence. And because of the aggressor's response (annexation, mercenaries, un-uniformed troops) Ukraine themselves sought security guarantees from other partners.

arroz 5y ago

It is different. The US didn’t want to annex the countries they had a war with (unless you go way in the past, but even then not full countries)

mythrwy 5y ago
Arguably they did want to annex the countries they warred with. Into a global financial system that they controlled.

cycomanic 5y ago

I generally agree with you that there is a lot of hipocracy in the west and I hope (arguably this might be wishful thinking) that Europe sees this as a sign that if we want to be believable on a world stage we need to be more critical of wrongs happening in other places be it criticising the US, the French, the Chinese and let's not forget that the European were pretty lenient towards Putin for a long time as well). That said there are at least two key differences between Ukraine and previous conflicts. 1. Historically conflicts in Europe are the ones who go out of hand and become world-wide conflicts. I actually believe many in the west hoped that Russia would take over Ukraine quickly, install a puppet government and things could go back to the low intensity latent conflict. 2. Ukraine was an elected democratic government which really did not do much to easily paint them as "bad" guys. That's quite a contrast to Serbia, Iraq or Afghanistan. I'm not defending previous Western aggression, to be clear and have been highly critical of US foreign policy (as a side note one should criticise them for the behaviour in Latin America much more than the Middle East). That said it is very clear to me who the bad guys are here. A Russian student of mine said to me, "the Ukrainians are not just fighting for themselves there also fighting for us Russians to get rid of putin)

berkes 5y ago

I've often heard this argument being used to justify this war. Or to make anyone opposing it look hypocrite. Not saying you do this. But for me it shimmers through, so I'll repeat my common answer: All war is bad. So this war is bad too. It is, above all, one war too many, like each war is. And therefore must be stopped no matter what. That is regardless of how many wars Europe, US, Israel, Arabia or even Polynesia have started recently. All of those were bad. All of those had to stop ASAP. Just as this one.

Tenoke 5y ago
The point of mentioning this isn't simply to justify this war but to corrode the justifications behind the other wars. Immediately dismissing those who point out the unequal treatment of different wars simply makes it so the only lesson people learn now is that this war is bad rather than the more general lesson.
bckr 5y ago
There's something else that's happening with this war. We are watching it, all around the world, happen in real time from the perspective of civilians and soldiers, not relying on corporate or state media. This makes it incredibly visceral to all of us.

PedroBatista 5y ago

Although some wars are entirely created by external powers I find it a bit disingenuous to imply that the people at war don’t have grievances or don’t have free will to fight against their oppressors. It reads as the author is more preoccupied in broadcasting his grief towards the “great evil powers” than the actual suffering caused by war.

bradleyjg 5y ago

You aren’t entirely wrong, but why are you posting this now? What’s the rhetorical goal here?