Sanctions are fine and appropriate. The UN is useless and will do nothing.
Wouldn’t this advice be just as applicable to Romania/Poland/Baltics in an alternate timeline where Ukraine was a Russian puppet state and Russia was trying to exert influence beyond its puppets?
Putin is constrained by what he can plausibly achieve, and what he’s able to plausibly achieve has been severely constrained by the EU and NATO. Seems inevitable there would be a confrontation between the two eventually (as long as Russia seeks to exert influence beyond its borders), as frontier states scramble to fall on the more hopeful side of the line.
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This post should not be construed as support of Keeed or Mearsheimer’s position on this issue specifically, but:
This thing where people try to shutdown discussion of a viewpoint by calling it “victim blaming” is bullshit. The battered wife can be stupid at the same time the abuser is evil. They aren’t mutually exclusive. They aren’t even particularly related.
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The theory of combat I’d seen was that the first charge just heads in and makes as much progress as they can, even if they run out of gas doing it. Then the next unit follows and figures to go further, as the supply trucks follow them to refuel and rearm the first guys. But that resupply didn’t happen.
Both can be true. But if the entirety of your rhetoric is focused on the former people are going to justifiably raise their eyebrows.
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Granting Ukraine NATO membership sooner. Inviting in Sweden and Finland immediately. Add Armenia and Georgia, too.
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I understand that, but continuing the metaphor:
The abuser is evil. He shouldn’t abuse because it’s bad. There’s really not much more to be said about that. I could repeat it ad nauseum to make it real clear to others that I believe this but that’s the only purpose it would serve.
On the other hand, the abusee may have various strategies available to her to avoid the situation which are much more interesting and varied to discuss. One could presumably have a lot more interesting things to say about that than about “abuser bad”. That doesn’t mean that the person doesn’t agree with “abuser bad”.
Even as you describe it, the problem is not calling it “victim blaming”. The problem is the unwillingness to accept that the victim could, in fact, be stupid. So, that’s still victim blaming, but it’s accurate victim blaming.
I’m not saying that’s what is happening in Ukraine or anywhere else. It’s just semantics really.
Incredibly, the Mearsheimer position isn’t just that the battered wife and her protectors are also stupid, its that they deserve “most” of the blame.
“the United States and its European allies share most of the responsibility for this crisis”
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Not really war related, but, wow, did Britney Griner pick a bad time to (allegedly) bring drugs into Russia while trying to pick up that check during the WNBA offseason
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Imminent NATO membership for Ukraine would have just precipitated the invasion sooner.
Do you think Putin will attack Poland and/or the Baltics after taking Ukraine?
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Probably not.
lmao all the rubio posts in here and he posted a picture of him and zelensky on zoom
the right time to give them membership would have be 2000-2005. putin was too busy with separatists.
they all probably did all the time as they all knew nothing was gonna happen until that changed when the war started
been too much blaming her out there
Right. Admitting Ukraine to NATO in, say, 2018 could one, happen far faster than Putin could scramble together a conquering force, and two, make it much less likely he invades ever, compared to doing nothing.
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NATO membership for Ukraine in 2005 wasn’t even considered by anyone.
i’m saying that was the window
NATO can’t admit a member with an active border war. NATO expansion to Ukraine was dead after 2014, except in vague, perhaps sometime in the distant future sense.