“Neutral” countries outside the West contend that the war is a local conflict that pales in comparison to the horrors of colonialism or more recent events like the US occupation of Iraq. But this is an obvious dodge. After all, Russia’s imperialist war is itself an act of colonialism. Those who would claim neutrality forfeit their standing to complain about the horrors of colonization anywhere. Waters is a vocal exponent of the Palestinian resistance to Israeli colonization. Why is Ukrainian resistance to Russian colonization any less worthy of support?
Damn I missed that bit where the western world has been sending billions of dollars worth of weapons to the Palestinians.
An agreement that fails to incentivize its own enforcement is textbook bad agreement writing. The message this sends is that Minsk was an excuse to kick the can down the road rather than to resolve any of the material contradictions in the region.
Both Merkel and Hollande recently revealed that Minsk II was indeed to buy time for the Ukrainians to militarize.
For all the good it did them. Absent the US just dump-trucking "military aid" over the border, the best the Ukrainians could manage was guerrilla warfare after the fact.
I don't think Putin was mistaken in delaying an invasion by nearly a decade, simply because it allowed Russians that many more years of peace, prosperity, and economic growth. If he could have punted for another ten years, that would have been the better move than a frantic invasion. If you're actually living in Europe or Russia, you're far better off not engaging in a resource-sucking humanity-obliterating war. Looking at how the US performed in Afghanistan and Iraq, its pretty clear that Russia was never going to have a "smooth" invasion of Ukraine even if they'd succeeded in completely neutralizing the bulk of their military.
I suspect that - had savvier politicians like Merkel and Hollande still been around - Putin might have had a chance to keep kicking that can. And the entire northern hemisphere would have been better for it.
Damn I missed that bit where the western world has been sending billions of dollars worth of weapons to the Palestinians.
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An agreement that fails to incentivize its own enforcement is textbook bad agreement writing. The message this sends is that Minsk was an excuse to kick the can down the road rather than to resolve any of the material contradictions in the region.
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For all the good it did them. Absent the US just dump-trucking "military aid" over the border, the best the Ukrainians could manage was guerrilla warfare after the fact.
I don't think Putin was mistaken in delaying an invasion by nearly a decade, simply because it allowed Russians that many more years of peace, prosperity, and economic growth. If he could have punted for another ten years, that would have been the better move than a frantic invasion. If you're actually living in Europe or Russia, you're far better off not engaging in a resource-sucking humanity-obliterating war. Looking at how the US performed in Afghanistan and Iraq, its pretty clear that Russia was never going to have a "smooth" invasion of Ukraine even if they'd succeeded in completely neutralizing the bulk of their military.
I suspect that - had savvier politicians like Merkel and Hollande still been around - Putin might have had a chance to keep kicking that can. And the entire northern hemisphere would have been better for it.
"You can never talk about colonialism again if you're not supporting the DoD's favorite nazis"