Is Ukraine, a sovereign state, not afforded the right to make alliances they perceive as in their best interests? You seem to be making the case that it should not and should base their decisions on what is in the best interests of their ravenous neighbor. And Ukraine disagrees with you. They believe so strongly in the right of self-determination for their nation that they are willing to lay down their lives. Ukrainians, in safe harbor elsewhere, are returning in droves to fight for that right. They refute your argument (in my view).
This is close to my thought. China can't afford to be a pariah. I am not sure if Russia can either. China will talk a little but then will condemn Russia like the rest of the world. India is the more intriguing one to me. The middle east I suspect will announce filling in the supply gaps relatively shortly.
Yeah I think they are. But it's likely they were shooting at civilians like they have but happened to hit press members in this case.
Cnn live "NATO chief expresses concerns over possible Moscow "false flag" operation in Ukraine From Sharon Braithwaite in London NATO is concerned that Russia might use chemical weapons in a "false flag" operation in Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday. Moscow’s “absurd” claims about biological labs and chemical weapon is part of a “long list of lies,” which causes worry about the possibility of such an attack, the NATO chief warned. “They claimed they did not plan to invade Ukraine but they did. They claimed that they were withdrawing their troops, but then sent in even more. They claim to be protecting civilians, but they are killing civilians,” he said while speaking at a press conference in Brussels, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “brutal” invasion of Ukraine is “causing death and destruction every day.” "
Oh no!....Anyway.... cnn live "Russia imposes sanctions on US President Biden From CNN's Sarah Dean Russia has imposed sanctions against US President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other US officials, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement published Tuesday. “In response to a series of unprecedented sanctions… from March 15 of this year, the Russian ‘stop list’ includes on the basis of reciprocity President J. Biden, Secretary of State A. Blinken, Secretary of Defense L. Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff M. Milley, as well as a number of departmental heads and well-known American figures,” according to the statement."
Cnn live "US issues new sanctions on Belarusian president From CNN's Kevin Liptak The United States applied new sanctions Tuesday on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has allied with Russia in its war in Ukraine. A number of other Russians, including a Russian judge, were also targeted with sanctions for human rights abuses, according to the US Treasury Department. The sanctions were applied to Lukashenko as well as his wife, Halina. They would block their property and interests in the United States and prohibit Americans from engaging in transactions with them."
The reality for countries like Ukraine, Cuba, Venezuela etc. is that if they go against the regional hegemon then they face the possibility of ruination. So sure, it's their choice, as much as it's your choice to give the wallet to the robber or getting shot.
They have clearly made their choice. The contents of a wallet can be easily replaced - a nation cannot.
So are you suggesting that rather than resist Ukraine should have capitulated to Putin and agreed to become a puppet of Russia?
Yes, Ukraine has “freedom”. They are a democracy, not an Orwellian totalitarian state like Russia. This is literally what they are fighting for here. They are obviously a “fragile” democracy, but one that is trying to escape Russia’s grip. Yes, there are oligarchs in Ukraine. I’m sure they certainly try to buy influence, just as “oligarchs” try to influence United Stated politics. I wouldn’t assume Zelensky is 100% clean any more than I would assume any particular U.S. politician is 100% clean (almost none are). I don’t see anything overly concerning with Zelensky (he had his smallish tv production company set up offshore, oh the horrors!). Are you trying to suggest this is justification for Russia to invade? In the States we have people (i guess we can call them “oligarchs”) throwing hundreds of millions $$$ into our politics and also offshoring assets to avoid taxes (including our corporations that do this to the tune of TRILLIONS). So based on this, should we also surrender to the Russians? Russian corruption is the same as corruption anywhere else, right? This is basically the argument you are making here with the Ukrainians. Otherwise not sure how you see this as relevant. None of this excuses the Russian violation of sovereignty and their bombardment of cities, to suggest it does is absurd.
Yes, and they probably would have if not for delusions that the West would help defend them. I'd suggest the same to Cuba or Venezuela, flow with the regional hegemon, the people will only suffer if you don't. When you find a weakness in the hegemon, then peel off if you wish, but don't fight battles you can't win. Let me make my point clear, I don't care for moralistic arguments. Yes, we're very close to being an oligarchy as well. An oligarch just deplatformed a sitting president, which did not sit well with me regardless of the veracity of the information the said president was spewing. But the bottom line is that whether Ukraine or the US is free or not doesn't matter. It's not freedom that we're defending there, it's against a foreign adversary. To put it another way, I don't really care whether Ukraine is free or not, I care whether this war helps to advance our nation's interests. I point out the various holes in moralistic arguments to show how hypocritical they are, and why it's not useful to use moralistic goals to guide our actions. Only one thing should guide our actions, our self interest. What needs to be done should be evaluated in terms of what will benefit us more, not what's right or wrong which is easily manipulated by hypocritical propaganda.
Oh no...anyway...part deux "Russia bans Canada's prime minister, foreign minister and minister of defense from entering country From CNN staff Russia has banned Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly and Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand from entering the country, the Russian Foreign Ministry tweeted on Tuesday. These individuals, as of March 15, are on a "black list," the tweet explains."
Cnn live: "Fox News says its veteran war photojournalist has been killed reporting in Ukraine From CNN’s Oliver Darcy Pierre Zakrzewski, a longtime Fox News photojournalist, was killed while reporting in Ukraine, the network said on Tuesday. "It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we share the news this morning regarding our beloved cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski," Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott wrote to employees Tuesday morning. "Pierre was killed in Horenka, outside of Kyiv, Ukraine." He had been reporting from Ukraine since February and was with correspondent Benjamin Hall "when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire," Scott said."
"Ukraine says it detained a "hacker" helping Russian troops communicate From CNN's Sean Lyngaas Ukrainian authorities have detained a “hacker” that was allegedly helping the Russian military send commands and instructions via mobile phone networks to its troops, Ukraine’s SBU security service said Tuesday. The suspect, whom the SBU did not identify, was accused of being on “thousands” of phone calls to Russian officials, including senior military officials, and of sending text messages to Ukrainian officials suggesting that they surrender."
"Russian TV presenter resigns from one of most popular channels, state media reports From CNN’s Sarah Dean in London A Russian presenter for the pro-Kremlin NTV channel Lilia Gildeeva "no longer works" for the channel, state news agency RIA Novosti reported Tuesday, citing the press office of the channel. NTV refused to comment when contacted by CNN. CNN has attempted to contact Gildeeva for comment. The reason for her resignation has not been disclosed. The Telegram channel for popular Russian blogger Ilya Varlamov reported Gildeeva told him in an interview that she had resigned and left the country." .... There will be a big brain drain...either people leaving or Russians arresting/silencing young people/young professionals.
Russian official sacked for revealing China’s refusal to supply plane parts Confirmation of China's reported refusal to supply aircraft parts to Russia. I think I've made my disdain for our foreign policy up to now pretty clear, but there's no use crying over spilled milk. Russia is gone, there's no hope of a "reverse Nixon" in the short to medium term. Judging by China's actions lately, it seems clear that they want to stay on the sidelines. They know that Russia for the foreseeable future is on their side, but they want to continue to make advances in Europe as well. It's a tricky game they're playing, and it's clear that we need to make them fail. I'm seeing some encouraging signs from our state department, forcing China to declare its intentions. If they want to take in Russia, they can't have good relations with Europe as well. The question here is how well can we convince the Europeans to push China. They make a lot of money off of trade with China, we need to convince them that the security risks, via Russia, are not worth it. Russia, as I've stated in the past, is not very relevant to us anymore, the important battle is against China. While I would've loved to have both Russia and Europe on our side against China, the next best thing would be to get Europe firmly in our camp if we can't have Russia as well. Russia will win in Ukraine, and China will have Russia firmly in its orbit afterwards. But can we turn that into a Chinese loss in Europe? That's the development I'm most interested in seeing right now.
Former US ambassador to Ukraine, Maria Yovanovitch knows Ukraine, Russia, and Putin about as well as anyone. Former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch warns Putin will move west if he wins in Ukraine — NPR If [Putin] is successful in Ukraine, I think he will continue to move forward, maybe not immediately, because he's bitten off an awful lot with Ukraine. That's what the history shows us: Where he invaded Georgia in 2008 and got away with it. He invaded Ukraine in 2014 and got away with it. And now, 2022, he's invading Ukraine again. And we need to make sure he doesn't get away with it, because if he does, then I think there is the likelihood that at some point he will continue moving West. ... I would add, though, that as we've seen as we are recording this on Monday, the overnight attacks on a base just on the Polish border, there are always possibilities of miscalculation. And that's what makes this especially dangerous. I think that while Trump was president, Putin probably was feeling that he was getting what he needed from the American president, both in terms of Trump's disdain for Ukraine as well as Trump's disdain for NATO, frankly. A number of senior people around Trump have said that if Trump had won a second term, it's unlikely that the U.S. would have stayed in NATO. So I think Putin was getting what he wanted from Trump, and so no need to push in any other ways. When Biden was elected, clearly he knew that President Biden, who had been very active ... in supporting Ukraine when he was vice president, that he probably would not be as amenable to Russian influence in Ukraine, and so I think he looked for other means.
