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He criticizes hard US but when it comes to Russia, he agrees that it is perhaps bad, but still US is much, much, much worse. He completely dismisses genocidal a

He criticizes hard US but when it comes to Russia, he agrees that it is perhaps bad, but still US is much, much, much worse. He completely dismisses genocidal aspect of the invasion like he denies genocide by Serbians on Balkan.

raxxorraxor 4y ago
I think it should be mentioned that Chomsky is a US citizen. Apart from that he doesn't use the perspective of geopolitics which demands to deny your own faults and accuse your opponents, regardless of lie or truth. On the contrary and like many intellectuals he sees values in self-criticism. This is fundamentally different discourse than we have in politics. Personally I also do not think that Russia is committing genocide. I don't even believe those that declare it as such are honest with their opinion. There are heinous acts that aren't genocide and there isn't a ladder from least bad to worst where there is genocide at the end. Just as it isn't a competition on which country is the worst. The invasion of Ukraine cannot be justified and will lead to a lot of dead people. There are also heinous war crimes but there don't seem to be signs of genocide. That doesn't make it less bad.
- eveningcoffee 4y ago
  There is then perhaps not enough discussion about certain aspects of the invasion and public justification by Putin and rhetoric in Russian media. It is clear that the main reason behind the invasion is to take control over Ukrainian land and natural resources (especially oil and natural gas that was discovered in 2012). This is clearly an imperialist ambition, but by itself does not make this invasion a genocide. What makes it genocide is the plan how to solve the Ukrainian question, that is, what to do with the people who oppose Russian invasion in Ukraine and do not accept that Ukraine will become Russian territory. So far 5 parliaments (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Canada) have declared Russian actions in Ukraine as genocide. If you think that these parliaments are too much politically motivated, then here is one independent legal analysis https://newlinesinstitute.org/russia/an-independent-legal-analysis-of-the-russian-federations-breaches-of-the-genocide-convention-in-ukraine-and-the-duty-to-prevent/ https://newlinesinstitute.org/russia/an-independent-legal-an... Historian and holocaust researcher Timothy Snyder has written about the topic on multiple occasions. The following was written after Russian state news agency RIA Novosti published an article about "Ukrainian question" just after revelation of the Bucha massacre: https://snyder.substack.com/p/russias-genocide-handbook https://snyder.substack.com/p/russias-genocide-handbook This writing helps to understand the ideology behind these actions and justifications: https://snyder.substack.com/p/russias-easter-offensive https://snyder.substack.com/p/russias-easter-offensive Here is a video in Russian (switch on subtitles) that helps to put everything into better context https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaRUepc-7VQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaRUepc-7VQ

raxxorraxor 4y ago

I think it should be mentioned that Chomsky is a US citizen. Apart from that he doesn't use the perspective of geopolitics which demands to deny your own faults and accuse your opponents, regardless of lie or truth. On the contrary and like many intellectuals he sees values in self-criticism. This is fundamentally different discourse than we have in politics. Personally I also do not think that Russia is committing genocide. I don't even believe those that declare it as such are honest with their opinion. There are heinous acts that aren't genocide and there isn't a ladder from least bad to worst where there is genocide at the end. Just as it isn't a competition on which country is the worst. The invasion of Ukraine cannot be justified and will lead to a lot of dead people. There are also heinous war crimes but there don't seem to be signs of genocide. That doesn't make it less bad.

eveningcoffee 4y ago
There is then perhaps not enough discussion about certain aspects of the invasion and public justification by Putin and rhetoric in Russian media. It is clear that the main reason behind the invasion is to take control over Ukrainian land and natural resources (especially oil and natural gas that was discovered in 2012). This is clearly an imperialist ambition, but by itself does not make this invasion a genocide. What makes it genocide is the plan how to solve the Ukrainian question, that is, what to do with the people who oppose Russian invasion in Ukraine and do not accept that Ukraine will become Russian territory. So far 5 parliaments (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Canada) have declared Russian actions in Ukraine as genocide. If you think that these parliaments are too much politically motivated, then here is one independent legal analysis https://newlinesinstitute.org/russia/an-independent-legal-analysis-of-the-russian-federations-breaches-of-the-genocide-convention-in-ukraine-and-the-duty-to-prevent/ https://newlinesinstitute.org/russia/an-independent-legal-an... Historian and holocaust researcher Timothy Snyder has written about the topic on multiple occasions. The following was written after Russian state news agency RIA Novosti published an article about "Ukrainian question" just after revelation of the Bucha massacre: https://snyder.substack.com/p/russias-genocide-handbook https://snyder.substack.com/p/russias-genocide-handbook This writing helps to understand the ideology behind these actions and justifications: https://snyder.substack.com/p/russias-easter-offensive https://snyder.substack.com/p/russias-easter-offensive Here is a video in Russian (switch on subtitles) that helps to put everything into better context https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaRUepc-7VQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaRUepc-7VQ