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I'm not making excuses for Russia's treatment of civilians at all. However the US killed a lot of Japanese civilians during WW2 and is considered "civilized" by

I'm not making excuses for Russia's treatment of civilians at all. However the US killed a lot of Japanese civilians during WW2 and is considered "civilized" by some today. I think the geopolitical view offers a lens through which to see Russia's actions as reasonable (if still excessive, even horrible). What is not clear from your comment is what you think should be done now? Has Russia lost its "legitimacy"? How can the situation in Ukraine be resolved adequately? Is US as the referee the only hope? George Friedman has written that Russia is one of the natural landmass formations that tends to be a center of power because of the geography of the region. Should it try not to be? What alternatives exist?

mopsi 2y ago
> I think the geopolitical view offers a lens through which to see Russia's actions as reasonable (if still excessive, even horrible). No, they are not reasonable at all. They are the result of total concentration of power into the hands of a single person, allowing their irrational prejudices and paranoias shape the actions of millions of people. History has seen this time and time again, notably with Hitler and his sick obsession with Jews. Why did Hitler murder millions of Jews? What's the reasonable argument? Is there any at all? Or was it just plain hatred, utterly banal in its simplicity? > What is not clear from your comment is what you think should be done now? Has Russia lost its "legitimacy"? How can the situation in Ukraine be resolved adequately? Is US as the referee the only hope? Total military defeat. Russians need to see Putin, Shoigu and Gerasimov sentenced and imprisoned like Milosevic, Karadzic and Mladic; Ukrainian flag flying over Sevastopol; and their press openly discussing the truth. After that, they need constant international pressure, for decades, until they develop into a modern society. The mistake of Europe and the US in the 1990s was not "encircling" and "humiliating" and "not respecting" Russia, but the opposite - Russia was left on its own, and nothing was done as it gradually grew into a poisonous tree. Where the EU and US were more active, set demands and expected progress - like in Central and Eastern Europe - countries developed into free, prosperous, stable and good places to live. Russia as it is in 2024 has passed the point of no return. MPs like Gurulyov are saying on television that everyone except a few million retirees must be exterminated in Ukraine, and no-one in the TV studio even dares to say a word to oppose it. Proclaiming how many millions of people must be killed has become socially acceptable, while arguing for human rights and basic decency is met with contempt, hostility and ridicule, and punished with prison sentences. What will make people like these stop, if not a total demoralizing defeat and expulsion to the outskirts of the society?

mopsi 2y ago

> I think the geopolitical view offers a lens through which to see Russia's actions as reasonable (if still excessive, even horrible). No, they are not reasonable at all. They are the result of total concentration of power into the hands of a single person, allowing their irrational prejudices and paranoias shape the actions of millions of people. History has seen this time and time again, notably with Hitler and his sick obsession with Jews. Why did Hitler murder millions of Jews? What's the reasonable argument? Is there any at all? Or was it just plain hatred, utterly banal in its simplicity? > What is not clear from your comment is what you think should be done now? Has Russia lost its "legitimacy"? How can the situation in Ukraine be resolved adequately? Is US as the referee the only hope? Total military defeat. Russians need to see Putin, Shoigu and Gerasimov sentenced and imprisoned like Milosevic, Karadzic and Mladic; Ukrainian flag flying over Sevastopol; and their press openly discussing the truth. After that, they need constant international pressure, for decades, until they develop into a modern society. The mistake of Europe and the US in the 1990s was not "encircling" and "humiliating" and "not respecting" Russia, but the opposite - Russia was left on its own, and nothing was done as it gradually grew into a poisonous tree. Where the EU and US were more active, set demands and expected progress - like in Central and Eastern Europe - countries developed into free, prosperous, stable and good places to live. Russia as it is in 2024 has passed the point of no return. MPs like Gurulyov are saying on television that everyone except a few million retirees must be exterminated in Ukraine, and no-one in the TV studio even dares to say a word to oppose it. Proclaiming how many millions of people must be killed has become socially acceptable, while arguing for human rights and basic decency is met with contempt, hostility and ridicule, and punished with prison sentences. What will make people like these stop, if not a total demoralizing defeat and expulsion to the outskirts of the society?