ok let’s go over piece by piece to try and again reach a base set of facts we can agree on
I’m mostly curious if and why you think Russia had the right to invade.
i don’t think Russia had a right to invade. i do recognize, however, that idealistic platitudes doesn’t ultimately matter in the dynamics between nation-states. russia believed, for a confluence of factors, that invading was the correct decision and therefore they made that decision.
i’m not making any moral judgements. if it were up to me we’d all be singing Kumbaya, nuclear weapons would all be dismantled, and we’d live in a communist utopia. i don’t get to decide though. i only get to be a third party observer, doing the best i can to arrive at the closest version of the truth
what i am doing, along with you, is discussing the material conditions that led to this war and the nature of the dynamic between both ukraine and russia and the ukrainian war relative to recent history
A & B: Ukraine has had an election since 2014 so apparently there’s public support for a western friendly government.
Ok let’s once again reiterate what started this inquiry
“the ukrainian war is in a way a war of independence”
a) the ukrainian government had a radical change overnight due to a violent protest/revolution/coup
the fact that Ukraine had an election since 2014 and that there is public support for a western friendly government does not change that there was an abrupt change in government in 2014. these things are not connected
just because people supported the French revolution, doesn’t mean it wasn’t a violent revolution, correct?
b) the old government was pro-russian, the new government was anti-russian
once again, the fact that the old government (president being Viktor Yanukovych) was pro-Russian does not change whether or not there was an election post-2014 and that there is public support for a western friendly government
neither a) nor b) change based on your statement. so please
do you agree or disagree with A) and B)? they are objective statements of fact. easily provable or disprovable. can we agree to a base line reality? if we can, we can move forward
C: preparing to defend yourself from invasion doesn’t justify invading
“the new ukrainian government realized that Russia was about to invade because of this radical change and therefore they prepared for war by bending the knee to the US”
we are not talking about justification. the statement c) states that the new Ukrainian government, post Euromaidan, recognized they were about to be invaded and immediately started cooperating with the US.
again, objective statement of fact. you either agree or don’t agree.
if you cannot state “Yes this is true” or “No this is false because xyz” then you are not actually saying anything and I’m going to assume you are not discussing in good faith
i’m making every effort here to be generous to you
So perhaps you should stop defending the invasion and start arguing for support for ukraine?
the fact that Ukraine had an election since 2014 and that there is public support for a western friendly government does not change that there was an abrupt change in government in 2014. these things are not connected
These things are totally connected. They show that the russian friendly government wasn’t acting according to the will of the people. And if you dig deeper you’ll probably find that the russian-friendliness was a bit of a sudden decision that the people hadn’t voted for, thus the protests.
What are you supposed to do if the government you elected turns out to act against the interest of the people and looks to be compromised by a foreign power?
if you cannot state “Yes this is true” or “No this is false because xyz” then you are not actually saying anything and I’m going to assume you are not discussing in good faith
Well you are free to do so, but I won’t agree with your manipulative framing of things. “yes she was raped, but had she been drinking? did she wear makeup? did she wear a short skirt? I’m not justifying it, it’s a simple statement of fact”
You’re clearly invested in defending an invasion you after a lot of arguing concede is wrong, so you should take a look at yourself and ask why that is
ok let’s go over piece by piece to try and again reach a base set of facts we can agree on
i don’t think Russia had a right to invade. i do recognize, however, that idealistic platitudes doesn’t ultimately matter in the dynamics between nation-states. russia believed, for a confluence of factors, that invading was the correct decision and therefore they made that decision.
i’m not making any moral judgements. if it were up to me we’d all be singing Kumbaya, nuclear weapons would all be dismantled, and we’d live in a communist utopia. i don’t get to decide though. i only get to be a third party observer, doing the best i can to arrive at the closest version of the truth
what i am doing, along with you, is discussing the material conditions that led to this war and the nature of the dynamic between both ukraine and russia and the ukrainian war relative to recent history
Ok let’s once again reiterate what started this inquiry
“the ukrainian war is in a way a war of independence”
a) the ukrainian government had a radical change overnight due to a violent protest/revolution/coup
the fact that Ukraine had an election since 2014 and that there is public support for a western friendly government does not change that there was an abrupt change in government in 2014. these things are not connected
just because people supported the French revolution, doesn’t mean it wasn’t a violent revolution, correct?
b) the old government was pro-russian, the new government was anti-russian
once again, the fact that the old government (president being Viktor Yanukovych) was pro-Russian does not change whether or not there was an election post-2014 and that there is public support for a western friendly government
neither a) nor b) change based on your statement. so please
do you agree or disagree with A) and B)? they are objective statements of fact. easily provable or disprovable. can we agree to a base line reality? if we can, we can move forward
“the new ukrainian government realized that Russia was about to invade because of this radical change and therefore they prepared for war by bending the knee to the US”
we are not talking about justification. the statement c) states that the new Ukrainian government, post Euromaidan, recognized they were about to be invaded and immediately started cooperating with the US.
again, objective statement of fact. you either agree or don’t agree.
if you cannot state “Yes this is true” or “No this is false because xyz” then you are not actually saying anything and I’m going to assume you are not discussing in good faith
i’m making every effort here to be generous to you
So perhaps you should stop defending the invasion and start arguing for support for ukraine?
These things are totally connected. They show that the russian friendly government wasn’t acting according to the will of the people. And if you dig deeper you’ll probably find that the russian-friendliness was a bit of a sudden decision that the people hadn’t voted for, thus the protests.
What are you supposed to do if the government you elected turns out to act against the interest of the people and looks to be compromised by a foreign power?
Well you are free to do so, but I won’t agree with your manipulative framing of things. “yes she was raped, but had she been drinking? did she wear makeup? did she wear a short skirt? I’m not justifying it, it’s a simple statement of fact”
You’re clearly invested in defending an invasion you after a lot of arguing concede is wrong, so you should take a look at yourself and ask why that is