Posted on 04/19/2022 10:07:51 AM PDT by Mariner
One of the silver linings of the very large dark cloud of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is the clarity it provides. This is, broadly speaking a contest between good guys and bad guys.
A lot of people who fancy themselves foreign policy realists roll their eyes at talk about “good guys” versus “bad guys.” The world is made up of nation-states with interests and those states act rationally on their interests. Good and bad ain’t got nothing to do with it.
I’ve never bought this argument, on either analytical or moral terms.
Yes, nations have interests, but the way they define their interests is not always strictly rational. History is full of examples of nations committing vast resources to causes that are extra-rational. “The mistake of the ‘realists’ is not their interest in the struggle for power but their deliberate neglect of everything else, especially the non-scientific, contingent, very human feelings and beliefs that most powerfully move people,” the late, great Donald Kagan wrote in “Honor Among Nations: Intangible Interests and Foreign Policy.”
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Mommy’s boy still isn’t ready for prime time.
” It’s hard to find a sane analyst who argues that Putin invaded Ukraine solely in the name of Russia’s rational self-interest rather than his own notions of glory and historical retribution, and it’s even harder to find one who thinks the invasion is objectively in the interest of the Russian people”
That’s a big lie right there.
I don’t care WHO you are.
Have another bag of Brussels Twinkies, Fatberg.
“But there’s a deeper moral realism involved. In the 1990s, we pushed Ukraine to relinquish its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees. In 2005, a bipartisan effort led by Sens. Dick Lugar and Barack Obama resulted in Ukraine destroying vast amounts of its conventional weapons, on the assumption that those security guarantees would be honored. In other words, we told them we’d have their back.”
Proving that neocons value the word of two commie presidents (Clinton and Obama) above the best interests of the American people.
I've been following Ukraine for years. It has been a continual cesspool of corruption. Anything and everything could be bought if the price was right.
Bookmark
Otter Biden to Flounder Zelensky: “You f%#$*d up, you trusted us!”
Nope. It’s bad guys versus bad guys. It is NOT clear which side is more evil.
“ In other words, we told them we’d have their back.”
We lied.
What of it?
A great book I still use for reference - although can no longer stomach its author.
Yes. It’s sad what TDS will do to someone. They never recover.
I have way too many books and not enough room for them. I pitched my copy.
This idea the Ukrainians are the good guys is laughable. Ukrainian doesn't come close resembling a democracy. It's President jails opposition leaders, shuts down media outlets that oppose him and has banned or suspended all opposition parties. The Avozs are genuine neo-Nazis that have terrorized those of Russian ethnicity in Ukraine and that have killed and used civilians as human shields (according to dozens of eyewitnesses in videos available from independent journalists like Patrick Lancaster). Streets are named after and Ukrainian children are instructed to sing songs about Nazi collaborator Stephan Bandera.
“We lied.”
Bill Clinton and Barak Obama lied.
Neither had the support of congress, both acted against the advice of senior congressional leadership.
Both acted as individuals who happened to be POTUS.
The USA did not lie to Ukraine.
But neocons would have you believe we did. Because they hate America as much as they hate Russia.
I have posted, at least ten times, that the States united or united States speak through a bicameral legislature which represents the People (House), and the States (Senate), and that war without the engagement of the People and the States is doomed to fail.
I believe our sad history since the signing of the Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri bears this out.
OF COURSE the so-called "Budapest Memorandum" committed neither the people nor the states to anything. Certainly not to a war.
This is how the States united and their people commit to war:
"Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the state of war between the United States and [fill in the blank] is hereby formally declared; and the President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against [fill in the blank]; and, to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States
The whole RUSSIARUSSIARUSSIA scam came from the very same people.
And fools on FR are falling for it like a kid falls for his first girl.
They don’t even know how stupid and manipulated they look to everyone else.
I was compelled to clarify even though I knew you knew.
There are dimwits among us.
The side that invaded the other side unleashing a widespread war with resulting misery, death and devastation?
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