The only real anti-war position on the Ukraine conflict is support for de-escalation, diplomacy, and detente. Yelling "PUTIN BAD" and calling for escalations that could lead to a very fast, very radioactive WWIII are not anti-war, and indeed such sentiments are being exploited to prolong this war.
No efforts are being made toward diplomacy and peace, only toward escalations like building an insurgency and unprecedented economic warfare which fit perfectly into pre-existing US agendas against Russia. This is in the exact opposite direction of peace.
De-escalation is a skill we're meant to start learning in kindergarten. These people act like they learned their de-escalation skills in the Minneapolis Police Department.
If you want to keep screaming that Putin is Adolf Hitler and even insignificant concessions like promising not to add Ukraine to NATO would be Chamberlainesque "appeasement" then go ahead, but don't pretend you're anti-war or pro-peace, because you're not.
Wars end in one of two ways: with diplomacy and negotiation, or with mountains of corpses. If you're opposed to any kind of negotiation with Moscow to bring about peace, then you want the latter. And if you do, you should get your bitch ass on a plane and join the front lines.
Ukraine is still accepting foreign volunteer recruits. Go on all you brave blue-and-yellow keyboard warriors who scream at anyone who calls for negotiations with Russia to end this war. Put your life where your tweets are.
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Condemning Putin is the easiest, safest, most redundant, least courageous thing that anyone in the western world can do right now. What's a lot harder at the current moment is taking a bold stand against the west's depraved role in getting this war started and in keeping it going.
Demands that you precede every criticism of the west's role in this war with an enthusiastic condemnation of Putin are just vapid tone policing to silence your very valid criticisms. Nobody truly believes there's not enough condemnation of Putin in our current media environment. They just want you to shut up.
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I'd like to see a poll asking Ukrainian mothers the question, "Would you sacrifice your son for the remote possibility of future NATO/EU membership and control over Crimea and the Donbas?"
Because those have been the conditions for ending this war for over a week.
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People who believe this conflict started on February 24th 2022 are as naive as people who believed America's racism problems started on January 20th 2017.
This conflict began in 2014 when the US backed a coup to oust Ukraine's government. Experts have been warning this was coming ever since:
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It gives me no pleasure but I'm confident western powers won't start World War 3 with a Ukraine no-fly zone because western rulers don't give a fuck about Ukrainians. They'd much rather watch every single Ukrainian die a horrible death than risk their own deaths via nuclear armageddon.
The main danger of the calls for a no-fly zone is not that they'll be listened to, it's that they push the Overton window of acceptable debate much further toward warmongering extremism, so supporting extreme things like mass-scale economic warfare becomes the moderate position.
People tend to overestimate the power of the US war machine and underestimate the power of the US propaganda machine. They won't fight a war for Ukraine, but they will use it to build international support for unprecedented acts of economic warfare and funding a bloody insurgency.
So nuclear war over a no-fly zone seems unlikely. There's still no reason to believe these idiots won't get us all nuked some other way amid all this brinkmanship, but they've got enough brains and self-preservation instinct to avoid deliberately attacking the Russian military.
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(NATO powers saying a chemical weapons attack may get NATO involved in this war) + (Ukraine has been pleading for direct NATO involvement since it's their only chance of winning this war) = Strong incentive for Ukrainians to stage a chemical attack and frame the Russians for it.
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It's very unpleasant to be subjected to the 24/7 deluge of unbelievable vitriol and McCarthyism that speaking out against the west's role in this war gets you these days. I understand why more people don't do it.
I'm not complaining; I know it comes with the territory. I'm just saying I understand.
Those who love peace and have enough inner clarity to see through the propaganda tend not to be thick-skinned keyboard warriors. We're sensitive people with gooshy hearts, and it doesn't take much to shut a lot of us down. I'd be the same if I didn't have my healing practices. I'm sure there are many others who haven't been able handle it.
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Ukraine has already lost the war. The fastest way to end the fighting is for the Ukrainian government to accept Russia's terms and surrender. However, I fear that President Zelinsky is being pressured by his US handlers to keep the war going for as long as possible. That serves American interests, not Ukraine's. Also, according to the Grayzone, Ze is under threat of assassination by Nazi forces within his own country. The man is in a tough position, to say the least, but he needs to do what is best for the Ukrainian people.
https://thegrayzone.com/2022/03/04/nazis-ukrainian-war-russia/
P.S. There's lots of media buzz about an upcoming Russian chemical attack. For Russia to do such a thing defies all logic. It could be that the US is preparing the ground for a false flag attack.
Thank you. The same people who so bravely post their Ukrainian flag avatars and demand that Putin be damned are often the same people who are afraid to leave their house because right-wingers or Black criminals or common cold viruses.
I call it sanctioned moral arrogance. Their so-called morals are sanctioned by their ideology, religion, or even ill-advised trusted media sources and talking heads. They feel free to get up on their moral high horses and condemn those who question their positions as being immoral, bad people because that is the only way they can feel good about themselves for just a few minutes. Critical thinking is not required; in fact, it is condemned whenever it questions what they believe in at the moment.
As for as Ukraine goes, none of them really cares about the fate of the Ukrainians themselves, only about their cause du jure. A few weeks ago it was Covid restrictions, before that it was Trump Bad and Russia Bad! Now it's segued back to Russia Bad! and Putin=Hitler, even though Trump is nothing like Hitler, or Stalin for that matter.
I refuse to say that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was immoral and illegal and all of that, because I know enough of the history there to think that if I were in Putin's shoes, I would have done the same thing he did. The Israelis justify their aggression in the Six Day War by saying the Arabs were coming at them with a knife, so they had to attack first. Ukraine's president was saying that Ukraine should get nukes, and I think that was the last straw.
I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the roles were reversed. I cannot be consistent with not blaming Kennedy for blockading Cuba by condemning Putin for invading Ukraine.
Kudos to you for putting up with all of the ignorant, propagandized bullshit hurled your way every day. Please keep fighting the best you can.