[reducesuffering]

From what you wrote, you think because you've spent a few years living in Russia that it makes you an expert on the realities of international relations instead of a common parrot.

You've written a large wall of text to debate something that was already settled as fact in February 2022. Did you actually forget that this wasn't a "common occurence?" Russia literally did invade Kyiv from Belarus. I've watched the Russian preparations for war unfold since October 2021.[0][1] The Belarusian military exercises were a pretext for military invasion, indisputable after-the-fact now. They shipped their heavy materiel to the border, held some exercises, and then immediately after invaded from Belarusian territory. Please point me to your public explanation of the issues back then.

Every country has corruption. Ukraine certainly does, just many countries with weaker institutions the world over: India, Hungary, Serbia, Brazil, Turkey, etc. It is not an excuse for invasion and the slaughter of tens of thousands of humans.

You're also tangentially inserting a debate about the validity of martial law requiring men to stay to defend their country from invasion, missiles, and slaughter, which most countries and countrymen would support. (horrendously suggesting the reason is rents??)

Lastly, let me remind you that yesterday, today, and tomorrow, Russia keeps marching onto new Ukrainian cities, destroying infrastructure and human beings with artillery and missiles, shooting people that resist a Russian army come to take over their land. And it keeps happening because enough people like you carry water for their garbage excuses.

[0] https://twitter.com/DAlperovitch/status/1473362460673515527

[1] https://twitter.com/DAlperovitch/status/1491636736291655682

[ajsnigrutin]

So what is a good reason to attack a country? Just to compare to other wars and how we treated the countries that started them?

[reducesuffering]

Since you’re Serbian and clearly referring to Kosovo…

How about a war costing 500 civilian lives, with no land conquest by the perpetrator (NATO countries), so that in a few months you can bring an end to the systematic campaign of terror, including murders, rapes, and arsons in which over 13k people were killed or missing during the two year conflict. The Serb forces caused the displacement of between 1.2 million to 1.45 million Kosovo Albanians.

Ya post-facto seems like a trolley problem with a better outcome than your desired alternative of thousands of more dead.

Serbia has never come to terms with how much death and destruction they caused in the 90s to their neighbors. Sad to see them still support other countries doing the same. This attitude will hopefully not lead again to the further killing of your neighbors and same international shameful pariah that Russia is experiencing.

[ajsnigrutin]

I'm not serbian, but it doesn't matter.

The KLA is a terrorist group, and the last time some terrorists did something in USA (although the number of dead civilians was ~6x higher), the USA decided to attack and occupy afghanistan for 20 years.... just because some saudis couldn't fly a plane. Imagine mexican terrorist groups killing civilians in mexico for years, usa sending the army in to fix the problem, and then russia nuking the hell out of USA because of the anti terrorist actions.

[usernew]

First, I'm not going to click on your twitter links or know what they are, because like those trumpers I just made fun of, you seem to think twitter is some kind of a source of something.

Second, there is no martial law requiring men to defend their country right now, and there is no mass mobilization. Here is what there is, and I actually know and skype with people who this has happened to. There are assholes walking the streets and grocery stores, hunting men. When they find you, they lock you up in a room for a day. During that day, they ask you for increasing amounts of cash to let you out. If you are still there at the end of the day, congratulations, you are now in the army. This is reality.

What makes me an expert, compared to someone like yourself who has not been to either country, and gets his opinions from random twitter accounts and one-sided news, is my parents escaped the USSR, I have lived and worked in both countries, and I have and currently do, talk almost daily to people I know in both countries.

>It is not an excuse for invasion ... lastly, let me remind you that yesterday, today, and tomorrow

I am not sure to whom you are replying. try reading what I wrote, and replying to that. your little rant seems unrelated to the conversation.

>I've watched the Russian preparations for war unfold since October 2021.

you haven't watched anything. you have watched twitter clips from random people, while sitting on your couch, and selecting just the news you want to read, translated into your language by someone. the parrot, is literally you. I am contributing first hand personal experience from myself, and people I actively talk to on the ground in both places. you don't want to read it? you seem to not have. then don't reply to the voices making up a strawman in your head. if you don't read, you can't reply to what's written.

if a quarter of a book page is "a wall of text" to you, this actually explains a lot.

[lisasays]

compared to someone like yourself who has not been to either country,

You don't know anything at all about this person.

And gets his opinions from random twitter accounts and one-sided news,

Pure ad-hominem and absolutely against site guidelines.

What makes me an expert ... is my parents escaped the USSR, I have lived and worked in both countries, and I have and currently do, talk almost daily to people I know in both countries.

This background is sufficient to make you informed; but it doesn't make you an "expert" about anything.

[usernew]

>You don't know anything at all about this person.

I know what he wrote. No personal experience, no credible sources, his reply was a bunch of twitter links. As such, all I do know about this person, is he has no personal experience with the matter, as per his comment.

>Pure ad-hominem and absolutely against site guidelines.

He literally keeps posting one-side of the news, and random twitter links. If you feel attacked by facts, it's time to go vote for trump. stating facts, is not against site rules. In addition - you're not in charge of site rules, and you should eff off with your spam.

> it doesn't make you an "expert" about anything

and as I've said to the other guy, you should read the thing to which you are replying instead of making up a strawman. nowhere did I say I'm an expert at anything. I shared rare personal experience so people can form more balanced opinions, based on extra information.

[reducesuffering]

Half of my family grew up in Kyiv Russian-Ukrainian, experienced other Russian atrocities, or is still there under duress like my uncle’s family. So you’re already blatantly wrong.

Your entire framing is about low level random anecdotal details instead of the actual high level issues, because you have minimal personal experience on the ground yet entirely ignorant on history or geopolitical reality.