You could consider this an unprovoked aggression, by the stronger, against the weaker. Unless you’re halfway concerned about context.
They’ve been there for months. This isn’t news. My son was over in Poland with the 101st, and they are nowhere near any fighting.
When we invaded Iraq for the SECOND time during Operation Iraqi Freedom, we annihilated most vital grid resources and left millions of Iraqis without power or water. Hundreds of thousands of civilians died during the war; I’ve read over a million, many of them due to lack of basic necessities. So, we need to be careful about how we throw around the word “genocide.” Something about people who live in glass houses.
So much ignorance in so few sentences. No, we did not intentionally target food and water infrastructure in Iraq to starve the citizens. We spent a lot of time and money rebuilding the infrastructure once we took control of the country. A lot of deaths were due to lack of medical facilities, because the Iraqis were LOOTING their own hospitals. Read whatever you want, doesn't make it true. Many of the deaths were different sects of Islam settling old scores and killing each other. You can't really blame that on the U.S. or a lack of infrastructure. And the truth is, fewer Iraqis died after the original invasion than would have died due to Saddam being in power and putting his perceived enemies to death.
BBC must be some kind of Putin troll ... Iraq study estimates war-related deaths at 461,000 Definitely troll-ish ... How Many Millions of People Have Been Killed in America’s Post-9/11 Wars? – Part One: Iraq
How often has the U.S. invaded a neighbor in the last 100 years? Canada, Mexico, Cuba? We used the Monroe Doctrine to keep Russian nuclear weapons out of Cuba, but we did not put U.S. troops into Havana to remove Castro from power. We didn't like Castro, but we tolerated his presence. We had a hostile communist government only 90 miles off of our coast. Russia had an indifferent democratically-elected government with pro-western inclinations next door to him, and he invaded. Compared to our interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine, Russia's version is a lot more paranoid and violent, and is really more of an excuse to take something that doesn't belong to him. For someone who likes to blather about context and nuance, you certainly are selective about when you use those concepts.
Wake me up when Russia establishes 13 major military basis in easy missile range of Texas and Florida.
No comrade, it would not. U.S. military bases in other countries are almost always by invitation of the country that the base is in. The country invites us to have a base there because we help provide security for them. If they ask us to leave, we leave (see: the Philippines). To someone who is not insane, this does not sound like marauding. You seem to be getting "marauding" and "helping" confused. They are two separate words, some would say with opposite meanings. Please try to educate yourself on the meaning of these words. Countries are generally not "friends" with other countries--each country acts in its own self-interest.
We allow it everyday and the argument for Ukraine is self interest which has absolutely nothing to do with the morality of the situation. We choose to employ morals when it suits our interests. There is and entire ocean between here and Europe yet we sit in the sanctity of our homes and provide the support for a war that wreaks havoc on Europe and Ukraine.
No, in fact, we do not "allow" invasions of sovereign countries for the purpose of annexation every day. Can you point out the last annexation of a country that we "allowed?" They are in the same direction here. Russia is a dictatorship that invaded another country for the purpose of annexation. That is immoral. It is also a threat to the global order, which is against the interests of the US. We provide support for a country trying to maintain its existence. You would prefer that we do nothing and hope that they cease to exist soon?
Glad to wake you up when Mexico and Canada invite the Russians to establish bases in their countries. It doesn't seem that it will be happening any time soon. There were Russian bases in Cuba (they have been closed most likely upon mutual agreement between Cuba and Russia). As far as Europe is concerned, by invading Ukraine Putin could not have provided a stronger incentive for European countries in which there are currently US bases to continue their relationship with the US in addition to encouraging new or expanded joint military exercises by European countries with the US.
And I would add they're in Ukraine at the invitation of the democratically elected government of Ukraine.
The U.S. can't afford to be involved in every conflict on the planet. You have to choose wisely, which we haven't always done (see: Vietnam). You have to decide how likely the conflict will be resolved in a positive way without our involvement, and how bad the damage would be if the conflict were not resolved in a positive way. With Vietnam, LBJ recognized that Vietnam would definitely become a communist country without the U.S. being involved, but he did not recognize that the damage to the U.S. and its allies would be extremely minimal when that happened, because Vietnam was a backwards agricultural country without much natural resources. On the heels of China becoming a communist country, he decided that he would draw a line in the rice paddy and say no more communist countries. So he aligned with an unpopular, corrupt government bent on religious prosecution and accepting bribes.
You earlier alluded to some of America’s blessing, the two oceans and such. Another blessing: no US neighbor has shelled civilians who identify with the US or even consider themselves American.
The Ukraine War does not "wreak havoc" on Europe. It causes significant inconveniences in Europe, but does not wreak havoc. It is an insult to Ukrainians living in bombed out cities wondering if the next missile is going to have their name on it to compare their devastation to the inconveniences that Europe is experiencing. And I am fairly certain that Europe is hoping that Ukraine wins this war, the quicker the better. Europe has been very understanding of the need for them to suffer these inconveniences because of the war, as they understand that they could be eventually be next in line to be invaded. And they are currently being inundated with refugees from the conflict, as they were throughout the Syrian conflict. The U.S. has always supported freedom and democracy throughout the world. Why would we make an exception now?
It's a lot closer to the democratic ideal than your Russia, and that's all you need to know at this stage of your education, comrade.
