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by sydthrowaway 1570 days ago
This.

This is another huge mistake from the Western liberal order that keeps fumbling the ball.

Relying on Russian gas for energy security was the first.

What are the root causes if these disastrous decisions? How did the East get smarter, more Machiavellian than us? They were in the trash can 20 years ago. Perhaps getting fat and rich rather than fighting for every penny.. we are missing street smarts, and end up with Justin Trudeau
2 comments
happytoexplain 1570 days ago
Many people (most?) consider "Machiavellian" to be an insult - essentially synonymous to "smart but immoral". Part of the West's ideology, for better or worse, is the idealistic belief that smartness and simple prudence/shrewdness can be separated from the negative aspects of Machiavellianism.
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robbedpeter 1570 days ago
There's also recognition of the valid circumstance in which you're presented with choosing a lesser evil. If all choices are bad, choose the least bad, and those contexts change radically over different time frames.
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Gatsky 1570 days ago
What would you do now instead?
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aaomidi 1570 days ago
Extend NATO membership to more countries and get them on if they want to in less than a month.

Bring Iran back into the world economy, get them away from Russia. Use them for energy, etc.

Deploy iron dome across eastern europe.

Get a UN-led referendum in various natural localities of Ukraine to decide if they want to be a part of Russia or not. Anywhere that isn't, get them to join NATO. Anywhere that is, well, let people decide which govt they want to belong to.

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elforce002 1570 days ago
Playing devil's advocate, are you sure that strangle a nuclear-powered country with vast resources and possibly pushing them into form a coalition with other countries will be a good idea? This will further polarize the world and resentment will run deep after some years. Heck, This looks really similar to the origin story of Hitler just with nuclear bombs as blitzkrieg.
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landemva 1570 days ago
USA withdraw from NATO. Europe can afford to pay for their own defense. My family in USA should not be obliged to pay for it anymore.
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