Olivier5

More than virtue, the defence of Ukraine sends a signal of strength. And it sends it to Putin, essentially.

Or you could try and explain what you mean a bit better.

I think so.

You are the one debasing democracy when you stupidly propose that an elected president has no mandate.

Over any significant period of time, there's a climate Armageddon coming and the globalised economy, which created the climate crisis, just dies with ...

Point well taken. It's an important difference. For all I know, a recession could be coming our way in Europe. Inflation is already here. It'll be a h...

I only mentioned Portugal as a random example of a small economy, but you are correct , at least formally speaking. Note however that South Africa was...

Indeed, the only advantage Ukraine has got over Russia is its democratic nature.

Who cares? The Russian economy is rather small. You think the world economy will tank if we boycott Portugal? Anyway, on the long term, chances are th...

History will say that he was a Putin lapdog. Because he was.

Trump didn't get away with everything he wanted, let's put it this way. He was still a Putin lapdog.

Very interesting article in the NYT, linking Putin's support to Trump's fraudulous election ('Russiagate') to his goals in Ukraine. https://www.nytime...

I hope Bolsenaro concedes his defeat, and Brazil gets a break from post-truth, COVID-denying, environmemt-destroying assholes. Lula is a good man, and...

If you cannot state your own opinion clearly, maybe it's because you have none.

Are you now saying that this war is just and must be fought, but it'd be nice if someone ALSO tried a little diplomacy? Well then, we agree.

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The Minsk agreements are proof that diplomacy was tried. The rest is similarly obvious. If one war was just, others can be. Including this one. That's...

So did any diplomacy preceding WW2. The rest of your post is similar. Just saying no no no without any argument. If one war was just, then other wars ...

So have we with the 2 Minsk agreements We are helping Ukraine protect itself, and ourselves by the same occasion. Funny that you'd call it "England", ...

We have, but you haven't. Why was the UK resistance to Nazi Germany not an "absolute fucking insanity"?

And yet you can understand the UK resistance to Nazi Germany. So what gives?

My point is that, in spite of all your facile rambling about flags and borders, you can come up with no actual alternative on how to govern human affa...

Why not? Do you have interesting lies to share about it? To my mind, it's hard to have nations without borders, and hence without getting occasional w...

But then it follows that there is a set as "all the Russians". Like, a nation of Russians. But if such a nation exists, and legitimately so, what's wr...

I could ask for a minimum level of truthfulness and conceptual clarity, but that'd be asking too much. If a group exists, called the Russians, and def...

So do Russians exist or not?

"Virtue signaling" is just another name for ethics. If there is no such group as "the Russians", then how is it even possible to speak of anti-Russian...

You ask disingenuous questions. You know perfectly well that I meant Russians forces in Ukraine and their allies, not the population of Vladivostok, M...

They too are welcome to surrender, if they don't want to die.

To kill a mass murderer who is on a murdering spree is morally justified. If they keep on murdering Ukrainians, Russian troops ought to die. If they d...

You thought we were talking of a garden party, perhaps?

Humble them, scare them into a more respectful attitude. Impress on them the idea that others matter and can fight back when attacked. If they fail to...

This is going nowhere, as usual with you. A country at war cannot go on long without popular support for the war. That is true of democracies such as ...

Well, you argued otherwise upthread, saying that the soldiers were the primary actors, the governments only second to them, because soldiers can disob...

These are exceptional circumstances calling for extreme measures. Ukraine is still supposed to be a democracy and hence is supposed to lift those meas...

Because Ukraine is supposed to be a democracy.

I don't think it's that simple. It is definitely up to the Ukrainians what course of action Ukraine follows.

A priori, nothing. A poll is just not a moral statement. I suppose one should also consult the opinion of the nearby Russians, the pro-Russian folks i...

Okay so there lies the answer to your question: in a democracy., citizens are expected to have a say.

So you ought to agree that there is no moral issue in consulting them. In fact, that would be expected in a democracy.

Why should they NOT be consulted?

Define: "have a say".

The poll in question asked for their opinion and the sampled folks gave it, nothing more. I don;t see the problem.

Much of the Isreal-Palestinian conflict for the past half century has been about borders, those of 67 vs those orior 67. I.e. the status of the "occup...

Was that an attempt at humouring me?

Simple. One could use nationality, or self-identification. Eg anyone with the legal papers, or anyone self identifying as Ukrainian, gets to be seen a...

I answered your question with specific threats for Tajikistan and Armenia. But you and Mikey Mouse here cannot answer my question. Honestly, the answe...

Various folks. To Tajikistan for instance, the greatest threat (since the civil war) is seen as a possible Islamist contagion from Afghanistan. Armeni...

Because they sought some amount of protection against possible aggressions, I suppose. It's not clear that Russia is in a position to deliver any secu...

Do you have the slightest idea why Poland, the Baltic states, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and the Czech republic all joined NATO, then?