Viewer mail, on Ukraine. I think it was a really good conversation. Direct Link
Thursday, March 17, 2022
3 comments:
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While the interview is interesting, the speakers seem to miss a major point. That is how infinitely more important Ukraine for Russia than it is for the West. Just look at the map. I would not be surprised if Russia will fight this war not only until the last Ukrainian soldier, but until the last Russian soldier and the last piece of bread. In contrast, the American public will likely switch their attention away once the war ends and there is some other news. Why could not Ukraine stay a neutral country that is friendly to both the West and Russia? This would have been great for the Ukrainian economy, Ukraine would have kept Crimea and there would have been no war now. Ukrainians want to join the EU, and Russia has not opposed this (e.g., it does not oppose Serbia joining the EU). As for NATO, why to hurry and ignore Russian position? This could have been postponed for, say, 50 years until Putin is gone and Russia becomes more democratic. What a blunder! The West did not act in the best interest of Ukraine, while claiming to be its friend, and even Ukrainian politicians did not, probably because they listened to their Western advisors too much.
ReplyDeleteWhy? Because Ukraine is a free and independent nation and has the right to decide for themselves what countries that want to align themselves with. NATO is not an organization that has a history of aggression with its neighbors and is, in fact, founded on the notion of providing a defense against Soviet Union aggression (now Russia), which does in fact not only has a long standing of aggression against its neighbors but continues to have a goal of world-wide hegemony. Ukrainians have been subject to the Russian way of life and they have independently voted to reject it. By what thinking does Putin believe he has the 'right' to upend the wishes of more than 40 million people.
DeleteYes, you are right, in theory. However, I have been following news closely and I do not think Ukraine has been deciding much and acting in their best interests. Instead they have been following their American/Western advisors. The latter do not seem to care much about Ukraine and have only one main goal that is containing Russia. The Ukrainian government has made many decisions that were pushed on them and were not in Ukrainian interests (e.g., the cancellation of a sale of Motor Sich helicopter company to China). Ukrainian economy has been going down for decades, and now (even before the war) Ukraine is the poorest European country by GDP per capita.
DeleteOne also needs to be practical, realistic, avoiding double standards. For example, did Cuba have a right to decide to have a military agreement with the USSR and to have Soviet missiles on its land? Note that Turkey hosted American missiles back then. Does Iran have a right to have nuclear capabilities? Who is to decide for the nine-thousand-years old Iranian civilization? The list goes on and on.