You are viewing the historical archive of The Philosophy Forum.
For current discussions, visit the live forum.
Go to live forum

Echarmion

['Member']Joined: January 28, 2019 at 06:56Last active: June 05, 2025 at 04:076 discussions2681 comments

Discussions (6)

Comments

It's essentially giving Russia a bunch of pre-emptive concessions in return for a status quo ceasefire. Since there's no operable European coalition t...
April 23, 2025 at 17:54
So the Trump / Putin call seems to have gone better than I would have expected. A pause on strikes on energy infrastructure will probably save civilia...
March 18, 2025 at 21:47
I was wondering what issue they'd use to openly defy a court order. I guess the administration feels like "violent foreign gang members" and "wartime ...
March 16, 2025 at 18:11
I think the danger of the current situation for Ukraine is that there's not much either the EU or the US is able and willing to do to pressure Russia ...
March 14, 2025 at 18:52
I also quite plausible that Putin will wring further concessions out of Trump and the deal for Ukraine changes. But even if they agreed to the 30 days...
March 13, 2025 at 22:07
Just imagine it's the US saying these things about a war they started, say in Iran, and see how it sounds in your head.
March 13, 2025 at 19:16
I'm kinda amazed that you're managing to spin Russia asking for concessions before they agree to a ceasefire as evidence of their good intentions. By ...
March 13, 2025 at 18:33
True, but it would make sense that Trump thinks of them as purely transactional. Of course we also don't really know how much of the current policy ca...
March 09, 2025 at 21:24
Yeah I think this is a plausible take on some of the motivations. Still it also feels like we're missing a piece here. For example, why would the US g...
March 09, 2025 at 09:31
Do you adjust your theory at all based on the fact that the US is obviously not the country forcing a continuation of the conflict? Yeah it's increasi...
March 08, 2025 at 06:51
Oddly though, there's been no bullying of Russia at all. Russia seems to stand apart, with no demands made of them at all. I wouldn't paint the pictur...
March 07, 2025 at 10:52
And tariffs are off again, partially, until April, maybe. This seems to be a good way to drive away any kind of investment since no long-term planning...
March 06, 2025 at 21:36
Diffusion of responsibility. Everyone looks around at everyone else to see what they're doing, resulting in a gridlock where no-one does anything. I t...
March 05, 2025 at 11:00
Sure, it's very dumb, but if he's not trying that, then what the fuck is he doing?
March 05, 2025 at 07:40
Where do you get the idea that a uniquely defining factor of Christian morality is that it's objective and universal? I'd say the opposite is true. Ch...
March 05, 2025 at 07:15
Based on what I've read, it's actually worse. The Trump administration has halted all weapon exports to Ukraine. People are still scrambling to find o...
March 04, 2025 at 08:06
I'm not really seeing a carrot here though. Threatening to withdraw security guarantees isn't a carrot, it's another stick. It's all stick. Trump seem...
March 03, 2025 at 22:09
But wouldn't the US aligning with Russia create a situation where a disgruntled Europe is now more open to Chinese influence? If you could choose betw...
March 01, 2025 at 22:40
Sure, Putin was a convenient figurehead to use for the right wing populists and their nativist, anti-EU and frequently Anti-American agenda. But that ...
March 01, 2025 at 15:16
What's confusing me is that I don't see what either the tech-bros like Musk or the nativists like Bannon (I'm not really sure where Vance falls on thi...
March 01, 2025 at 09:08
In terms of market, a disunited and splintered EU offers much the same market and the nations can be played against each other to avoid moves that thr...
March 01, 2025 at 06:12
I'm reading the situation a bit differently. Trump doesn't care about Ukraine one way or another, he just cares about his ego. He appears to genuinely...
February 28, 2025 at 22:51
I do agree with the sentiment, but Zelensky had a purpose for going to the White House, and he failed. Maybe there was no actual way to succeed. But t...
February 28, 2025 at 21:24
Just how do you imagine that working? What interest do China or Russia have in a stable and independent Europe? None. There's only two ways to have a ...
February 28, 2025 at 20:25
Well, that meeting went rather badly. How did the Ukrainian delegation, with Zelensky at the head, let this happen? It seems very likely now that the ...
February 28, 2025 at 19:31
I'd say that the opposite is likely. What would be in the interest of the "tech-bro oligarchy", as we could call it, would be a Europe of divided and ...
February 20, 2025 at 06:58
I think it's more than just laziness. The entire behaviour of this US government seems to be purposefully geared to undermine collective security. You...
February 17, 2025 at 13:01
And yet what is the alternative? A principled stance for peace will not prevent someone else from pursuing their goals through war, and always avoidin...
November 21, 2024 at 06:12
It's doubtful whether Russia can afford to do that. But I think more importantly Kiev is part of the russian national heritage at least the way Putin ...
November 20, 2024 at 20:50
But this is ultimately a matter of degrees. Ukraine has been relying on US intelligence and targeting data since the start of the war. It's an open se...
November 20, 2024 at 19:29
What? I honestly have no idea what you mean here. How is Russia without options? The russian state is not remotely threatened. They're facing more dif...
November 20, 2024 at 19:12
We stood at the precipice of annihilation during the Cuban missile crisis or on the few occasions when a detection error almost set off a nuclear exch...
November 20, 2024 at 18:51
So is Ukraine "lost" or can they negotiate? Those two statements seem to contradict each other.
November 20, 2024 at 18:41
They have been doing that for a while, albeit with more limited range.
November 20, 2024 at 18:39
For me to read your argument, you would have to actually write it down first. All I have are your conclusions that this or that is unjust. But what is...
November 12, 2024 at 05:42
What makes it unjust, specifically? What's the moral philosophy and what's the argument? It seems like a perfectly fine policy to limit the ability of...
November 11, 2024 at 18:45
Sure. He just doesn't seem like a particularly good one. His speeches may stoke hatred and fears, but they're also meandering and sloppy. Putin has th...
November 10, 2024 at 22:10
Well that's what big pharma says. But they just want to sell you their expensive chemotherapy... On a more serious note, I do think it's interesting t...
November 10, 2024 at 21:26
Yes. Hence why people commonly differentiate between morality and legality, or in this case criminality.
November 10, 2024 at 18:30
No? A crime is committing an act defined as criminal by law. If we'd like a less positivist definition, we could say a crime is a violation of social ...
November 10, 2024 at 18:08
As evidenced by what? Do small time drug dealers threaten the state's monopoly? I think not. And according to me they're not. Claims without arguments...
November 10, 2024 at 17:39
But obviously the government does not actually have this monopoly, because other people commit plenty of crimes. More to the point, this kind of argum...
November 10, 2024 at 17:05
Interestingly this would serve as an argument that Trump is one of the most transformational presidents in recent history.
November 10, 2024 at 16:22
I don't know the number. I have always assumed though that it's not a relevant amount of people. And do you think we're looking at the cause here or t...
November 10, 2024 at 14:51
This seems to imply that what makes governments unjust is primarily the monopoly on violence. However, the monopoly is not constitutive. In and of its...
November 10, 2024 at 14:10
"Incumbency" seems to increasingly be defined not as any specific government, but as the entire socio-political (though curiously not the economic) st...
November 10, 2024 at 12:44
That's not just an US phenomenon either. Young male voters are making a sharp turn to the right in the west.
November 10, 2024 at 09:21
Not policy in the strict sense. More like meta-policy. Specifically the idea that the institutions are corrupt, society is falling apart and thus some...
November 10, 2024 at 08:17
Well, Germany seems to have decided that what it should do is chuck the current coalition and aim for new elections in the spring. So both the US and ...
November 06, 2024 at 21:36
He'll burn down the system. That's what people want. They're tired of politics, tired of being responsible for the world's ills, tired of worrying abo...
November 06, 2024 at 05:28