It's such blatant pro-Putin propaganda to label Russia's Ukrainian invasion as "a border conflict between first cousins." It's actually an unprovoked invasion of a free, independent democracy by a dictatorship run by an evil dictator who is intent on seizing land and expanding his global influence. It is no surprise that people call you a Russian stooge when you try to frame the war as that. It makes me wonder if your essays come pre-written, emailed from a Eastern European internet domain.
I speak fluent Russian, and I was an analyst at the national security agency. I know a lot more about this than the average guy. Ukraine has been part of Russia for over 400 years, and accept for the brief period from 2014 until now, they've not been independent. I'm glad that they are, I don't wish them ill, but I see absolutely no US interest and as a result of what we've done the unintended consequences are going to cost the lives of upwards of a billion people, and I'm speaking about those in Africa who are going to die of starvation this year because of the lack of Ukrainian grain and Ukrainian and Russian fertilizer. The Ukrainians themselves are cousins of Russians, that's absolutely true. I understand Ukrainian even though I don't speak it because it's so close to Russian. I can read it too. This is a much more complicated issue, and a lot of people are dead that didn't have to be. That's what I'm saying. We have to start thinking like chess players, not checkers. We have to consider the fallout of what we do. We have to consider the innocent lives involved who have nothing to do with any of this and live nowhere near the Ukraine and Russia.. I am all for supporting democracy, but do a little reading and you're going to find out that Ukraine is possibly, and China will give it a run for its money, the most corrupt country on earth. Go ahead, fact check me. It's true. This isn't a case of good guys versus bad guys, it's a case of two countries both Slavic with centuries of History continuing a dispute that's been going on for a very long time and has nothing to do with us. I just don't believe in doing things that lead to the deaths and the suffering of innocents.
I defer to you your extensive knowledge of Russian and Ukrainian history. But I don’t think the complexities of the regional history apply here. Putin, an evil dictator, attacked Ukraine, a democracy, in order to gain land and global influence. It’s a simple as that. So the question becomes does the US’s declared commitment to promoting and protecting global democracy extend to defending Ukraine against an aggressor that is a nuclear power? I say yes. The US must make some effort to help Ukraine regardless of the threat, because the do-nothing option is tantamount to saying Putin can just do what he wants. But this isn’t 3d chess, requiring extensive historical knowledge. That’s a distraction. The true fundamental issue is an evaluation of what the US stands for and how willing we are to stand up to Putin.
I do appreciate your zeal to protect democracy. That said, Putin is not particularly evil in Russian context. He would rank at the very bottom of evil Russian autocrats. Not to say he's any bargain. I'm not saying we couldn't sell Ukraine weapons, but that's not what we're doing. We're sending them everything but the kitchen sink and we seem to think we know where the line is that Putin will not use nuclear weapons, and we don't. This is the military industrial complex stoking a conflict so that it continue to spend billions if not trillions of dollars on unneeded offensive capability. America was founded as a republic but has become an empire in the sense that we assert hegemony over the entire world. Some countries are tired of it. I'm not saying they're right, I'm just saying that there is no truth, just perspective. You're evil could be my good and vice-versa. So, you and I are on the same page in so far as our personal ideals, the difference lies in would we take the risk of sacrificing hundreds of millions of American lives for a country where we have no national interest whatsoever. Nothing Ukraine does or produces is vital to the United States or her allies. Why are we involved in this mess. Why are we rolling the dice?
It's such blatant pro-Putin propaganda to label Russia's Ukrainian invasion as "a border conflict between first cousins." It's actually an unprovoked invasion of a free, independent democracy by a dictatorship run by an evil dictator who is intent on seizing land and expanding his global influence. It is no surprise that people call you a Russian stooge when you try to frame the war as that. It makes me wonder if your essays come pre-written, emailed from a Eastern European internet domain.
I speak fluent Russian, and I was an analyst at the national security agency. I know a lot more about this than the average guy. Ukraine has been part of Russia for over 400 years, and accept for the brief period from 2014 until now, they've not been independent. I'm glad that they are, I don't wish them ill, but I see absolutely no US interest and as a result of what we've done the unintended consequences are going to cost the lives of upwards of a billion people, and I'm speaking about those in Africa who are going to die of starvation this year because of the lack of Ukrainian grain and Ukrainian and Russian fertilizer. The Ukrainians themselves are cousins of Russians, that's absolutely true. I understand Ukrainian even though I don't speak it because it's so close to Russian. I can read it too. This is a much more complicated issue, and a lot of people are dead that didn't have to be. That's what I'm saying. We have to start thinking like chess players, not checkers. We have to consider the fallout of what we do. We have to consider the innocent lives involved who have nothing to do with any of this and live nowhere near the Ukraine and Russia.. I am all for supporting democracy, but do a little reading and you're going to find out that Ukraine is possibly, and China will give it a run for its money, the most corrupt country on earth. Go ahead, fact check me. It's true. This isn't a case of good guys versus bad guys, it's a case of two countries both Slavic with centuries of History continuing a dispute that's been going on for a very long time and has nothing to do with us. I just don't believe in doing things that lead to the deaths and the suffering of innocents.
I defer to you your extensive knowledge of Russian and Ukrainian history. But I don’t think the complexities of the regional history apply here. Putin, an evil dictator, attacked Ukraine, a democracy, in order to gain land and global influence. It’s a simple as that. So the question becomes does the US’s declared commitment to promoting and protecting global democracy extend to defending Ukraine against an aggressor that is a nuclear power? I say yes. The US must make some effort to help Ukraine regardless of the threat, because the do-nothing option is tantamount to saying Putin can just do what he wants. But this isn’t 3d chess, requiring extensive historical knowledge. That’s a distraction. The true fundamental issue is an evaluation of what the US stands for and how willing we are to stand up to Putin.
I do appreciate your zeal to protect democracy. That said, Putin is not particularly evil in Russian context. He would rank at the very bottom of evil Russian autocrats. Not to say he's any bargain. I'm not saying we couldn't sell Ukraine weapons, but that's not what we're doing. We're sending them everything but the kitchen sink and we seem to think we know where the line is that Putin will not use nuclear weapons, and we don't. This is the military industrial complex stoking a conflict so that it continue to spend billions if not trillions of dollars on unneeded offensive capability. America was founded as a republic but has become an empire in the sense that we assert hegemony over the entire world. Some countries are tired of it. I'm not saying they're right, I'm just saying that there is no truth, just perspective. You're evil could be my good and vice-versa. So, you and I are on the same page in so far as our personal ideals, the difference lies in would we take the risk of sacrificing hundreds of millions of American lives for a country where we have no national interest whatsoever. Nothing Ukraine does or produces is vital to the United States or her allies. Why are we involved in this mess. Why are we rolling the dice?