Ryuu96 said:
Lmao. I'm not sure why I'm bothering entertaining these posts, it's absolutely ridiculous that we still have folk rushing in to take a bullet for Putin, I would bet these same defences would be used in regards to Nazi Germany too if y'all lived back then, a certain group of people are so desperate to criticise either the West or a certain Political faction for anything that you literally post nonsensical deflections like this which completely miss the point in an indirect defence of a dictator who is invading another country and I've seen this on both the Left and Right, you're all looking ridiculous. It's complete horseshit, Russia's aggressive actions leading up to the invasion were plain to see for anyone, everything the US said would happen, happened, they were very clearly the aggressors but we can't talk of possible sanctions? Sanctions which we only applied once they invaded! We have to say "Please stop doing that Mr Putin" as if that would accomplish anything to someone like Putin, we have asked him nicely before. Oh no! Biden called Putin a bad name! The horror! I honestly think Biden and Boris handled the lead up to this mostly fine and I f*cking hate Boris, the only one who was escalating this situation was Russia by using the threat of invasion as a bargaining chip. Our concern is for Ukraine, a country which is being invaded right now by a disgusting Hitler wannabe and we have taken Putin more seriously lately by enacting harsh sanctions on him, Ukraine's President shouldn't have to feel like he should make any compromises when all the compromises were bullshit which essentially threw away Ukraine's independence, right to govern themselves and choose their own path. Ukraine has not failed, they stood up to a dictator, their bravery will be remembered, they are fighting for their country, they have my respect, if we applied this nonsense logic to WW2 then we would have a world where Nazi Germany was now in control of half the globe but thankfully back then we stood up to evil and Ukraine is standing up to evil now. The only one who was pushing Ukraine away from Russia was Russia with their constant threats. There is only one bad guy in this situation, the only one at fault is the country which is invading another country, I don't know how many times I have to point that out, I don't know how anyone can sanely look at this situation of a country brutally invading another and blame the West, it's beyond belief. |
Russia is clearly the aggressor in terms of international law. However we must be mindful that actions taken by all nations do not exist in a vacuum. While it is perfectly fine and accurate for the West to criticise Russia and to enact whatever sanctions and countermeasures they deem fit, many western states are guilty of the same crimes on more than one occasion. Consistently, powerful states have sidestepped international law when it was convenient to do so in order to promote their interests. Examples include Iraq, Libya and Syria amongst others.
In a perfect world sovereignty would be sacrosanct and the right of self-determination respected. However, it is at best foolish and at worst disingenuous to argue that most states can choose what they want without regard to the great powers. This is realpolitik, and the political outrage expressed by politicians is mostly theatre used to boost opinion polls. No matter what we may feel morally or emotionally, powerful states will continue to assert their interests over weaker states in order to bring about the desired outcome. Let there be no doubt, this is simply a contest between two powerful military blocs, and Ukraine is being sacrificed on the altar of said geopolitical battle. To illustrate the limits of the Western reaction, at least for now, none of the sanctions are limiting the key resources that Russia exports i.e. oil, gas and agricultural goods.
On another important note, the one that stands to benefit the most from this is China. The West's primary focus will shift at least for some time to Russia, while China integrates Russia's economy under its overall umbrella. Many of the manufactured items that Russia will now be unable to procure from the West will now have to be sourced elsewhere. The most likely outcome will be an increase of Chinese exports into the Russian market. Meanwhile on the strategic level, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and in particular the bilateral relationship of China and Russia may begin to evolve into one that contains many characteristics of an informal military alliance. All of this while China continues its breakneck military build up. So in a sense, Ukraine is just the tip of the iceberg.
