Look there are plenty of white supremacists/white nationalists in Russia but there are definitely a lot of compromises on Nazis being made by the good guys here. I think there is a real danger that Ukraine ends up blaming Zelensky at the end and embracing the Azov types.
Completely agree. I believe Ukraine to be just as corrupt and mafia-run as Russia. I also believe Ukraine to be just as bigoted and backward as Russia in most ways.
HOWEVER, a key difference between the two is that one of them invaded their neighbor on a mission of conquest, systematically raped and pillaged, stole children, and carpet bombed civilians. Those are indisputable facts.
I believe those differences to be important.
I support KK's free speech in "both sidesing" the russian invasion of ukraine, though it's extraordinarily unsavory to me personally
I think my orientation toward most foreign policy is going to center around the role the US is playing and my foreign policy preferences there which are:
Non-interventionism
US should be shrinking the empire
Defense spending should come down
Less hard power, more diplomacy
This is like an 0-4 so I think I can always do a better job of making clear that I don’t like Russia or Putin at all, and would obviously prefer if Russia withdrew and terms could be come to about Crimea and such, but I don’t think that is likely.
I don’t like:
-the weird celebration of this death machine
-the absurdity of Wimbledon refusing Medvedev the flag of his country and like refusing to allow Russians to compete or the cancellation of the east, pray, love authors book set in Russia or people reacting in a “freedom fries” way or worse to Russian culture, history, or people. It isn’t just vulgar and tacky, it is dangerous and bad. It should go without saying that calling people “orcs” is a bad path to go down and it is wild to me.
-claiming the Russian people are collectively responsible for Putin, because they live in a democracy. this is the same argument bin Ladin made for why he could attack American civilians.
-the notion that if Russia is humiliated and we dance on their heads about it that is a great result for us medium or long term
-the casualness about nuclear war
-the Iraq war crowd people lecturing everyone as foreign policy experts
-the former lefties/now right wingers that now are pro-Russia people
I do not want Russia to win. I hate Putin for being a ruthless, racist, sexist, etc piece of crap, for invading and killing a bunch of people. He is a monster. Putin is the most responsible by far and he would pay for his crimes in my perfect world. I think we have a duty to defend and assist Ukraine due to what we have created but the actions undertaken and decisions being made will deepen this divide between the us and a growing number of countries in the global south.
I feel for Ukraines citizens but there are many suffering people on this earth and we are in a much better position to help many of the other groups in non violent ways that I would prefer more energy and space be given to those opportunities going forward and that we do not stumble in to another crisis, but instead we change how we are molding the world.
The way we have chosen to engage with China is related but much more misguided and hopefully steps are being made to mend that relationship because it will define the next century.
