It’s time for your new favorite game! It’s called “Paid Russian Shill or Prominent Western Idiot?”
Ever thought that some extremist’s bad take sounded indistinguishable from actual Russian propaganda? You might be right!
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“Young men are also a production resource – a productive resource that is used to wage war, but Russia’s youth have had it with Putin’s regime and the collapse of the economy and the prospect for going to war and dying in Ukraine is causing young Russian to flee the country. It is said that more than 25,000 Russians have already left for Georgia since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The exodus of young Russian in fact started more than a decade ago, but this process is now accelerating dramatically. Polls done even before the war on Ukraine have again and again shown that more than half of the Russian population would like to emigrate. That number is now skyrocketing – particularly among the young. The Putin’s regime can hardly accept that much longer – and therefore it is only a matter of time before a “Russian wall” is erected – and in the same way as with the Berlin Wall, it is not about keeping enemies out, but about keeping the population confined.” – Lars Christensen, economist based in Denmark. March 16th, 2022 | 6 comments - (Comments are closed)
 You can look at it the other way. Putin took the Crimea. Putin promoted the break-away republics. Without him, they would not have happened. In all the similar cases, the common theme is Putin. He did the same to Georgia as he is to Ukraine. He did the same to Moldova, with Trans-Dniestr. Were all those governments also reckless? Or were they just unfortunate enough to border Russia? Putin has been consistently threatening to the Baltic states too. He even sponsored cyber attacks on Estonia. Now it is a long bow to draw that they have been reckless. No. Putin is the common theme. Nothing Ukraine did, short of bowing to his every wish, would have stopped him. They have not been reckless. They have been desperately trying to deal with a homicidal maniac over the border. Your argument reminds me of telling battered spouses that they should be more careful, rather than pointing the finger at the violent thug doing the violent things. – ‘Chester Draws’ taking to task a commenter who accused the Ukrainian government of having brought this upon themselves with ‘reckless behaviour’. March 15th, 2022 | 38 comments - (Comments are closed)
The more the war goes on, the starker the contrast between Western moral defeatism and Ukrainian resolve becomes. The buzzword in much of the Western discussion is ‘realism’. On both sides of the discussion – among both those who support Ukraine’s fightback and those who obsess to the point of sympathy with Russia’s ‘security concerns’ – there’s a belief that ‘realism’ must now prevail. Over everything. Even over Ukraine’s sovereignty. As a pro-Ukraine writer for the New Republic puts it, ‘God bless the Ukrainians’ but ‘Russia will probably overpower Ukraine’. No wonder Mr Scherba is flustered, when even Ukraine’s supposed allies are essentially saying ‘Get real’. It is clear now that ‘realism’ is a euphemism for conceding, for surrender even. Whether it’s the ‘realists’ who admire the resistance but think it is hopeless, or the ‘realists’ of international-relations theory who believe Russia’s security concerns must trump the Ukrainian longing for freedom, there’s a palpable defeatism in the discourse. Only it dare not speak its name. It calls itself ‘realism’ instead. March 14th, 2022 | 37 comments - (Comments are closed)
“If you scare people enough, they will demand removal of freedom. This is the path to tyranny.” – Elon Musk: entrepreneur, spacefarer, and annoyer of the Woke. (Quoted by Yaron Brook here.) March 14th, 2022 | 19 comments - (Comments are closed)
Conflict with Russia seems suboptimal. But avoiding necessary conflicts is not avoiding but just delaying. Why would you do that? Putin’s miscalculation makes regime super fragile *for now*. Which means that’s the best time for escalation ever. Next time they’ll be more robust. That’s important, because “deescalation” and defeating Putin are two different goals that require two different strategies. Deescalation means don’t threaten him in any way and give him as much as possible in a hope he won’t ask for more. Unfortunately that’s all wishful thinking March 13th, 2022 | 6 comments - (Comments are closed)
People who clutch at Mr Putin are like a drowning man – clutching at a poisonous snake. – Paul Marks March 11th, 2022 | 61 comments - (Comments are closed)
With all terms that can be insulting, context is everything. For example, I would prefer people to not to write “I disliked the fact he used the N-word to insult him.” … I think it is far better to write “I disliked the fact he called him a nigger.” Acting as if the word “nigger” is almost like speaking the True Name of Christ to unmake the world is not a good idea. March 10th, 2022 | 6 comments - (Comments are closed)
We let the WHO be taken over by the Chinese, but still treated it as neutral on Covid. We let UN human rights bodies be dominated by human rights violators… We deserted our friends in Afghanistan. No wonder Putin thought he could try it on. – Lord Frost March 7th, 2022 | 39 comments - (Comments are closed)
A no fly zone is actually pretty similar to zero covid. A nice “feel good” solution & very easy to demonise anyone who disagrees with it. But as soon as you consider the practicalities, it becomes clear that both are entirely unrealistic without huge negative consequences. March 6th, 2022 | 24 comments - (Comments are closed)
I have lost loads of followers over my comments on Ukraine. Victory to Ukraine! A sentiment I strongly share. March 4th, 2022 | 50 comments - (Comments are closed)
“Mr. Putin finds himself in a struggle now because of the bravery of 41 million Ukrainians, not the strength of Europe or the United States.” March 3rd, 2022 | 185 comments - (Comments are closed)
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