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>Meaning we should not dismiss opportunities for talks and hopefully a settlement/armistice, because we think we can't bear to deal with a supposedly uniquely e
by simonh 4y ago
>Meaning we should not dismiss opportunities for talks and hopefully a settlement/armistice, because we think we can't bear to deal with a supposedly uniquely evil regime/act*.
I don't see what that's got to do with it, we are put in the position of having to deal with people like this all the time. Just look at North Korea. Unfortunately it's a political reality because ousting these people isn't always feasible, and sometimes we can in some way limit the damage they're doing by making deals with them.
- dundarious 4y agoI’ve had numerous debates with people here and elsewhere about whether Putin is the next Hitler, and as such, whether he is too contemptibly evil for peace talks to be tolerable or sensible (“appeasement” gets brought up). Given it will take more than Ukraine and Russia sitting at the table for any meaningful peace to arise (mediation and guarantees from other nations will be key), public opinion on this topic will definitely play a role (already has, somewhat). Just look at Iran, where the nuclear deal was unilaterally torn up by Trump, and the Democrats were so weak and cowed by perceptions of public opinion and the supposed cost in political capital it would take to undo that perception, that they went along with imposing sanctions regardless. So there are real dangers to over-vilification. Arguably the same already happened to NK/DPRK as well — it’s definitely a brutal place now, but the US has been demonizing it even since when it was actually relatively-speaking more free and peaceful than the US supported dictatorship in the South/ROK.