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> If Ukraine went into Russia to capture children and seniors after gunning down a group of kids partying, I'm pretty sure their Western backing would evaporate
by tsimionescu 3y ago
> If Ukraine went into Russia to capture children and seniors after gunning down a group of kids partying, I'm pretty sure their Western backing would evaporate overnight. Russia, in some sense, would be vindicated in its claim that their neighbour poses a security threat.
That is an interesting thought experiment in itself. I'd like to believe you are right, but then I remember that there was virtually no condemnation when the daughter of one of Putin's propagandists was assassinated. There was also little interest to determine if Ukraine may have been behind the destruction of the dam that killed many innocent civilians. So, I'm not entirely sure how European and US opinion would have oriented.
> Israel can be partly responsible, but the primary debtor should be the U.K.--they are the ones who took the land and gave it to another
That is a good point, and I'm pretty sure other European states would have quite a bit to attone for to help set this right.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago> there was virtually no condemnation when the daughter of one of Putin's propagandists was assassinated Massive difference between targeted killing and broad slaughter. To put this on the other shoe, it's why we were never going to win hearts and minds in Afghanistan or Vietnam.
- tsimionescu 3y agoYes, I didn't mean to equivocate. Unquestionably what Hamas did was much, much worse. Still, logically speaking, if we can excuse murdering one innocent civilian, we might have excused murdering a thousand as well.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago> if we can excuse murdering one innocent civilian, we might have excused murdering a thousand The target was the propagandist; “Dugin reportedly made a decision at the last minute to travel separately” [1]. [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62621509 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62621509
- tsimionescu 3y agoEven so, Dugin is a civilian in this conflict. He is a propagandist, not a military leader or combatant.
- esyir 3y agoThere's a difference between deliberate targeting of civilians and collateral damage. The latter is acceptable, as the alternative is literally impossible.