Weapons are a good thing, in the hands of our liberal democracy. Any leg up we can get on the evil regimes of Iran, China, and Russia, along with the rest of their pathetic "axis" (self named), is a good thing.
what? are you not aware of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, supplied by China and North Korea? (Ukraine JUST blew up a supply railway between China and Russia today) And Iran supported Hamas distracting that war effort?
Before act 3, there was act 1 & act 2. These conflicts were at least decades in the making, if not over a century. Best option is to seek peace & seriously understand & respect the terms of the "enemy". Better than perpetual conflict that only seems to benefit the Billionaire class. Trade > war
The "terms" of the enemy are an abrogation of sovereignty to Russia to create its "russian world". Russia wants to have its own dedicated sphere of influence and feels that the world owes that to it. You don't placate a bully by giving them exactly what they want after they punch you in the face. They'll just come back for more later with new greater demands.
Tons of European countries have all sorts of historical claims all over the territory in Europe, including Russia. They've fought over the territory for centuries. Then they decided after Europe was basically destroyed in war that they don't want to repeat that, other than Russia who still maintained its imperialistic thinking. We're in the last dying gasps of that. The worst thing to do would be to encourage it by giving them what they want.
Is this why Niger kicked out imperialist France & many people in Africa are carrying pictures of Putin as a liberator? My question to you is, if you think Russia has imperial ambitions, why is the West making it attractive to the global south to turn to Russia...by acting like imperialists?
It's all well & good to make someone else the boogie man. However, if you act like the boogie man, don't be surprised if you get called out...even if you double down on your claim that someone else is the boogie man.
I live in America so my interests are intertwined with America's long-term success. I don't benefit from delusions of grandeur practiced by an increasingly greedy, ruthless, & incompetent managerial class in the West. I don't care who you call the boogie man...you cannot escape responsibility for your actions.
Russia's trying to take over a country in imperial conquest, by their own words, and you call America not the imperialist? Lol? Russia doesn't have "imperalist ambitions". They're, right now, trying to expand their own territory by taking over other countries.
The "global south" is not trying to buddy up with Russia. That's 20th century thinking. Russia's propaganda arm is strong however so there are a couple countries, especially in Africa, that have been rather well tricked by Russia. They still think Russia is the USSR and not a 21st century imperialist power.
> I live in America
The people who state this after the stuff you stated, aren't actually who they say they are.
Better than transferring what remaining wealth I have to the billionaire managerial class who spews out untruthful propaganda that makes my life worse. They also happen to demonize Russians.
Look, the Russians are humans just like us. They have their interests just like we do. The Russians have given the West many warnings to not spread Nato, to not arm Nazi extremists in Ukraine, & to not persecute the Russian speaking Ukrainians. However, the West backed the Maidan Coup to topple the Ukranian democracy in 2014, armed Nazi extremists who carried out atrocities against civilians, & kept on spreading Nato in spite of Russia's soverign interests.
Are you truly surprised that Putin acted how he did? Are you also surprised that a bear attacks after you poke at it? Let's be real here...If you really care about the Ukranian people, you would support peace...because the Ukranians have pregnant women, old men, & teenagers forced into service fighting on the front lines at this point. Their entire county has been decimated.
NATO has expanded by 2 countries, one right against the Russian border. If there was any truth to that being the actual cause of hostilities, wouldn't that have made some kind of impact?
Also: what bear, the one where ATACMS from 1996 destroy 12 helicopters at a time, flagships get sunk by a country without a Navy and submarines get hit when they're at drydocks? "Meat assaults of convicts" doesn't scream powerful bear...
Lots of Russian disinformation here - for example, Russia is supposed to be some bear we can't poke, but "the West" is so powerful they can cause popular uprisings in Ukraine (Maidan)? If that were the case, shouldn't Russia just give up, it's clear they have no hope against "the West" - they should sue for peace. Or...maybe Viktor Yanukovych was really a criminal and the people despised him?
Ukraine was invaded; the Ruble is down 25%. Yandex (and most programmers/scientists) left - that's the equivalent of Google noping out of the country. What kind of empire needs to steal toilets and washing machines? If it was a bear, it's definitely taking a shit in the woods - because there's no toilets.
Again, take what you've said literally - let's say Ukraine really did have pregnant women, old men, and teenagers on the front line... and Ukraine is still holding them off?...how weak is this bear? Apparently pregnant women are all you need to hold off "the bear"? Must be a cub...
For very little money and none of our lives lost we can finally dismantle the Russian state, which as noted above is not only not much of a bear, but launched a criminal invasion of a neighboring country.
Vietnam in the 60’s, South America in the 1970s and 80s, Iraq in the 90s, Afghanistan and Iraq in the 2000s .. would all like a word. Liberal democracies have looked much less liberal away from home. I’m not saying the “other guys” are better or the same, but the capacity to kill people at lower cost and less risk doesn’t seem like a net win for humanity if it lowers the bar for anyone.
The world is constantly changing. Vietnam is starting to look to the US for defense against China. Not too hard because the past is still remembered, but they are seeing the US as their best option for the concerns they have today.