[Zhang Fei]

NorseViking: [It is funny that you defend the Polish imperialism using the same reasoning one might use to defend Russian ‘imperialism’.
If Poland is justified in expanding borders due to the threat of being overrun, why Russia isn’t?
And by the way I don’t think that the Polish control over Galicia is a bad thing. If the majority of population is supporting it, why not?]

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When a starving man steals, it’s morally different from when a wealthy man does. One steals to survive - the other steals out of greed/personal glory. Motive is morally significant. That’s why the penalty for murder is different from that for manslaughter.

Now, the Russian rationale for conquest is pretty much what Thucydides laid out in the Melian dialogues thousands of years ago - the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must. Russia is about to discover, yet again, it is not as strong as it thinks it is.

[NorseViking]

Sorry, but that’s scholastics on your part. If Poland is entitled to annex for own safety, so does Russia. It has its share of foreign invasions, no less than Poland. You also make argument for the Russian opposition to NATO.
And by saying that, I repeat, I am not against the Polish control over Galicia, if the Galicians agree to it, of course.

[ought-six]

The corollary to Thucydides is, of course, “The strong do what they do because they can.”