This being so, why does it matter whether you are camp West or camp Eurasia? Cheering for a team is a natural human reaction, but why not evaluate the whole of global politics through an ecological lens? — apokrisis
But factually, both sides make the same comparisons. So the criticism applies equally. The habit is shared. — apokrisis
Learn what prior to means. And then correct your own biases. — ssu
It’s hard to follow the logic of your reasoning. First you start with “let us say you wanted to preserve Western preeminence” as if the sake of your argument is to see how to achieve that goal more effectively than simply by supplying weapons to Ukraine, but then you conclude with “making peace with the Russians” for Europeans (to grant economic prosperity independently from the US?) and “realise its ecocidal corrupt mania” for America (namely, giving up on their hegemonic role?), neither of which ensures Western preeminence. — neomac
Is the Western World really still a force for good? — yebiga
(you only get "nuance" in US strategic thinking when arms and oil interests are in some sort of competition, but if they coincide there is no other possible policy). — boethius
Our Western political leaders are in the habit of elevating one foreign leader after another as the latest reincarnation of Hitler. In just the last 2 decades we've had five of these Doctor Evil types: Saddam, Gaddafi, Kim Jong-un, Trump and now Putin. Popular Western Culture can accept criticism of its imperial colonial past but is not so comfortable discussing and arguably blind to its current geo-political excesses. — yebiga
You can't because from a purely ecological lens the extinction of humans is a boon. And in that case the sooner we are all gone the better. — yebiga
Is the Western World really still a force for good?
— yebiga
Still? Which good old day are you nostalgic for? Mussolini made the trains run on time, and The British Empire made the trains, and published Marx. — unenlightened
OK let’s do a step forward and ask: where do you think human rights are better supported: in Western countries (e.g. the US, the UK, Germany, France) or in the countries hostile to the West (Russia, China, North Corea, Iran)?
I think Western countries have institutions that support human rights within their territory — neomac
If you set challenges to others — neomac
It’s irrelevant what you think States ought to be — neomac
depending on the context there are political elites one can trust more or less for being up to the task. — neomac
Yep. It should be no contest. But then Russian incompetence, as all the credible analysis says… — apokrisis
Joel Rayburn, a retired Army colonel and former U.S. special envoy for Syria, who is now a fellow at New America, a think tank in Washington, D.C. — Is the Russian military a paper tiger, New Yorker
Still? Which good old day are you nostalgic for? Mussolini made the trains run on time, and The British Empire made the trains, and published Marx. — unenlightened
It seems to me that much of our contemporary cultural and political melee comes from an myopic emotive emphasis concerning our past mistakes which has left our culture petty, whining, bitter, resentful, shameful, bereft of pride and most importantly - incapable of agency. — yebiga
Why? — Isaac
But before anything can be done - anyone who disagrees with the sanctioned global agenda is cancelled. Once the heretics are silenced - the work will commence - Promise!
This is all of course a vulgar exaggeration and its author should be immediately dismissed as denier of climate change, most likely a Trump and or Putin supporter and very probably racist, misogynist, homo and trans-phobic. — yebiga
Neither Ukraine nor Russia are ‘Western'. — Isaac
I haven’t. — Isaac
No it isn't. I'm a member of the electorate in one of them, I hold them to account. It matters tremendously what I think they out to be concerned with. — Isaac
And the argument is thst there's little to chose between Ukraine and Russia on that score — Isaac
Now there are fewer troops behind the Finnish border than anytime. The garrisons have only a skeleton crew and new conscripts in training.Arctic soldiers relocated to the Kherson farms:
Russia’s Reindeer Brigade Is Fighting For Its Survival In Southern Ukraine (Forbes; Oct 7, 2022)
(alternatively via msn) — jorndoe
Ukraine is recovering it's territory, not losing more. It's fighting a conventional war against Russia and not fighting a hit-and-run insurgency. Oryx that counts the destroyed/damaged/captured tanks can come up to numbers of 1300 tanks lost simply tells a lot. It speaks of a military failure that you cannot just deny.That you honestly believe ex-US officers, in this case not even a ex-general!, working for "think tanks" is for sure not feeding you bullshit and represent an agenda, is worrisome. — boethius
maybe the theory that only authoritarian states can respond to existential crisis with "what needs to be done" is correct and perhaps all the authoritarians getting together in a club is better odds. — boethius
The emphasis on keeping the element of surprise was blown via U.S. Intelligence. — Paine
You really want to compare this guy to Michael Kofman.
Who, if you watch the interview I posted, mentions there was a lot of capabilities said to be missing, that the Russians did use successfully at the start of the war, but it was not reported at the time. — boethius
I fail to follow where you're going with this passage. — boethius
If discourse and public debate is to be productive it must avoid descending into a contest - until proven otherwise - we should assume the very best of our interlocutor. — yebiga
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