So the Queens last official duty was to see the back of spaffer and make loopy Liz the new PM. Some comfort that the Johnson didn't speak at the funeral he would have got some sort of self grandiosement in.
Pretty sure Cromwell’s men were wearing armour when they sacked Drogheda and other Irish cities. See, that’s the thing with wars; they have very long histories, and when the conflagration dies down, the embers smoulder on, waiting to be fed; it stays that way, until enough people have the courage to say “enough”. If we want to see peace in the world, we first have to find it in ourselves.
I'm really curious how many zen koans are necessary to get the Russians to cease the mass murder and forced deportation of civilians. If only the Ukrainians understood that demonstrating their peacefulness would make the Russians simply drop their weapons and go home.
I'm really curious how many 'just wars' have to be fought before men decide to just stop fighting wars. I'm also curious as to how many hungry mouths could be fed around the world, with a fraction of the money the world spends on weapons. Still, with every shipment of weapons to Ukraine, the arms manufacturers get richer, so it's not like nobody wins. Meanwhile, in this war as in every other, it's the common people who suffer and die to defend the interests of their respective ruling classes And if the Russian Federation falls apart, as it may well do, how long will the triumphalism of the Nato hawks and cheerleaders last, I wonder? As long as it lasted after the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq? Just be careful what you wish for.
For goodness sake, Archer. Ukraine didn't have the option to simply declare that they didn't want to be at war and have war not happen. You're just repeating the same vague anti-war statements without ever confronting the actual reality of this conflict.
Russian Federation falls apart? Where has that been mentioned? Do you mean literally as in chunks break away to be new states? Has there been any indication of this ?
Perhaps I just view the reality of conflict - all conflict - differently than you. It seems to me that if Leo Tolstoy's 'The Kingdom of God is Within You' were more widely read around the world, and most especially in his own country, there's be no war there today. And if that sounds appallingly naive to you, I contend that it is no more naive than believing the world can ever bomb it's way to peace, liberty and democracy.
I don't think it's naive. I think it's utterly divorced from the reality of the situation. When your neighbour has massed troops on your border, rejected a deal you brokered with their own emissary, and openly stated that you have no business existing as a country, "read more Tolstoy" isn't going to make war not happen. While we're on the subject of reading material, I'd suggest Romeo Dallaire's "Shake Hands with the Devil", about the peacekeeping mission to Rwanda, and the extent to which the West's unwillingness to intervene (beyond vague attempts to broker talks between moderates, none of whom were calling the shots) led to the foreseeable massacre of nearly a million people.
What do you think the future of Russia will be? I'm not making any predictions, but I wonder if western leaders have even considered what happens if - or rather when - Putin is defeated, and most likely toppled? Is there a plan, in Washington, or Whitehall, or any NATO HQ, to deal with the fallout from Ukraine's victory? Recent events in Afghanistan and Iraq would suggest not. Two years from now, will Ukraine mean any more to the US and her allies, than the Kurds do now? Or will Uncle Sam be too busy sabre rattling in the China sea? Russia's last defeat in a war in Europe led directly the momentous events of 1917. Ten days that shook the world, as an American journalist described the October Revolution at the time.
If more people listened to Tolstoy, and Gandhi, there'd be no war; maybe that is unrealistic, but we've been trying it the other way since the Bronze Age so maybe it's time for a change. And change of behaviour begins with a change in consciousness. Meanwhile people respond, generally without thinking, to the blast of war blowing in their ears. Then those furthest from the battlefield stiffen the sinews, summon the blood, and shove another generation of young men into the breach.
Is that rhetorical ? You didn’t really answer. You seem to have been the one to float a collapse. How do you envision this looking? Do you mean areas breaking away or their political system crumbling and being replaced with a something else? Perhaps one that isn’t a de facto one party state? I mean it might still be a one party state and that one might be worse - I’m not going to pretend any alternative is better I guess IF (big IF) Putin is toppled it will depend on the manner. If it is a case of him cutting a deal to keep his stolen wealth and not be prosecuted then maybe not much will change. But I’m not sure how viable such a deal will be given his enemies. I don’t know how imminent any of that is likely to be anyway
It IS unrealistic. There is no maybe about it. It is just the sad reality of the world. Rather than Tolstoy try basic game theory.
That certainly explains your utopian posts here. I think most would like that to be the world we live in but it isn’t. And no amount of Tolstoy and Gandhi will change that. You yourself mentioned the way it has been done since the Bronze Age. There is a reason for that - no matter how depressing it is
I sometimes despair at the limitations of the human being. Capable of amazing thought and beauty, kindness and ingenuity, yet this propensity to destroy goes on and on. I think there is a value in Archers sentiments whist I recognise the pragmatists stance given the lack of choice Ukraine had.
Absolutely none of that addresses what one ought to do if a hostile power is intent upon conquering your land and committing cultural genocide against your people. I'm very much against launching wars, but if one assumes that Vladimir Putin -- a reactionary tyrant with a long history of violence against enemies foreign and domestic -- is unlikely to be one Gandhi quote away from adopting pacifism, then you're left with a choice between fighting back or simply accepting whatever atrocities he inflicts upon your populace. And Russia began inflicting atrocities immediately; the first video of civilians being massacred in Bucha came in the first few days of the conflict, when their victory was assumed to be inevitable.
Putin's about to speak to the nation for the first time since the invasion. Maybe he's read Gandhi? Either way, suggest listening to what he has to say.
Appears to be a partial mobilization. They're also greatly accelerating their timeline to annex the breakaways, plus Kherson and Zaporizhia Oblasts, to the end of this month. Which, on paper, would extend Russia across the whole of southern Ukraine.
