I think that if you clicked on the links and reviewed the original claim, you'd see that you removed every single word and concept and overwhelmingly mutually agreed upon fact and then replaced it with nonsense.
Russian and English are both languages of empires that have engaged in countless acts of violence and aggression. They are not equivalent, but to deny this or heavily qualify it (like dismissing acts of war and violence that happened literally yesterday as "distant") in either direction is inherently hypocritical and dehumanizing.
Honestly, I am starting to suspect you are a Kremlin agent designed to make europeans opposed to their war look so crazy that global opinion shifts against the Ukrainians by tying them to denial of and advocacy for the worst acts of europeans.
> Honestly, I am starting to suspect you are a Kremlin agent
Ok, I'll clarify my position, for the avoidance of doubt.
The terrorist state of russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and ongoing genocide is the darkest chapter in European history since the Holocaust. The putin regime has no regard for human life, and russian soldiers brag about raping women, and murdering children, sometimes by shooting them in the head at point-blank range. Many of these rapes and murders are even encouraged by the wives of russian soldiers — thousands of kilometres away from the front lines. We have it all on tape.
While I am not a soldier, I have two medals from the Ukrainian military for volunteering, and I will continue to help Ukrainian soldiers protect civilians in Ukraine, and to put russian invaders in the ground where they belong.
Unfortunately that just leads to more questions, since you did not answer the previous ones at all, and personally volunteering is what most double agents and saboteurs do in order to be in a position to cause more harm by first gaining trust.
Numerically, the numbers of civilians killed are far greater and we have substantive evidence of rape as military policy along with the murder of children.
In order to clear things up, you need to explain if you believe that either:
A) Those lives less valuable by some measure? Ie, did they deserve it, is it all a hoax and no one died, or is there something about them that makes those lives inherently worth far less than yours?
B) You have reason to believe the Ukrainian government is lying about the casualty figures and that over 600,000 Ukrainian soldiers and over 200,000-500,000 Ukrainian civilians including ~50,000 Ukrainian children have already been killed.
Is it A or is it B?
If you can tell me if you agree with statements like this made by Ukrainian officials about Indians and Chinese being inferior races of lesser intelligence, I think that would clear things up also: https://www.livemint.com/news/world/ukrainian-official-says-...
> Those lives less valuable by some measurement you need to explain
I do not believe the lives of different races/ethnicities of humans are of different intrinsic value.
What an incredibly fucked up, sick question.
> Numerically, the numbers of civilians killed are far greater and we have substantive evidence of rape as military policy along with the murder of children.
Comparing death rates numerically like this is also incredibly fucked up, and you should be ashamed of yourself. I am disgusted by this.
> You have reason to believe the Ukrainian government is lying about the casualty figures
Where are you getting your figures? I have strong reason to believe that it's near enough impossible to determine accurate figures since so many civilians were slaughtered by russian soldiers and then buried in mass graves on territory that russian soldiers are still occupying. That, and the Ukrainian government explicitly does not divulge how many military casualties they've taken.
> If you can tell me if you agree with statements like this made by Ukrainian officials about Indians and Chinese being inferior races of lesser intelligence, I think that would clear things up also
I do not agree with this racist statement by one Ukrainian politician.
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Nobody should take your geopolitical analysis seriously, since you cite kremlin apologists like Mearsheimer and Sachs. You just don't know what you're talking about.
My claim is that we see the same terrible violence and wars of aggression with subsequent public support (for a time) in both the Russia and the West. Ie, there is a fundamental hypocrisy to either set of alliances to condemn wars of aggression and the mass murder of children. It's quite clear that both sets of elites consider either one to be a policy option if they think it will get them results they want.
And your response is that things should "not be counted numerically" and that it is "incredibly fucked up" to consider human lives to be of equal value.
Altogether, it seems like you can only see things in terms of one ethnically european empire or another as morally righteous, with no other options. You cannot understand or imagine the perspective of someone who considers neither empire to be moral agents who deserve to have their crimes ignored or downplayed.
You have made no argument and your emotional appeal looks identical to eurocentric white supremacy which denies its nature but can only use emotional blackmail and threats when people point out the discrepancies.
It is not disgusting to ask why some raped and murdered civilians are "the worst thing since the holocaust" while others which preceded it that are of a larger scale are not merely forgotten but denied.
All of the current western leaders who forced Ukrainian denuclearization and talk openly about using Ukrainian lives as a "cheap" way to harm Russia are your true friends...
Why did one "Kremlin apologist" argue persuasively that Ukraine must keep its nuclear weapons to prevent a situation exactly like this war, and why did the other do everything he could to make Poland a stronger country? You have left reality behind.
Your "support" is so irrational that when Putin and Lavrov dishonestly argue there is no one credible to negotiate with on the other side, people around the world who want a lasting peace will reluctantly conclude that while they often lie, this time they are telling the truth.
I continue to think you are being paid by Russia or Russian proxies or that you are functionally equivalent to someone who is. Your rhetorical tactics and emotive language are so similar to RT and other Kremlin propaganda outlets that collusion seems more likely than linguistic convergence at this point.
All that said, Russia was in the wrong to invade and as someone with many Ukrainian friends who are now refugees, I hope you can understand why I hope the Ukrainian authorities are able to identify you and access your personal devices and documents.
An investigation seems warranted to find out if you're really this mentally ill or if you're being paid to make it seem like most Ukraine supporters are, especially since you're a decorated volunteer in a military conflict.
This is the most unhinged load of drivel I have ever read on this website. Ever.
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> And your response is that things should "not be counted numerically" and that it is "incredibly fucked up" to consider human lives to be of equal value.
You have very clearly twisted my words.
I do not think it is moral to turn human suffering into a pissing contest.
I very clearly stated that it is incredibly fucked up to compare human suffering in the way that you're doing. In fact, my first sentence was "I do not believe the lives of different races/ethnicities of humans are of different intrinsic value". You are framing your attack as though I said the complete opposite of what I actually said. What you are doing here is dishonest, and frankly, disgusting.
> Meanwhile, people like Mearsheimer … and Sachs … are "Kremlin apologists."
I am not a party to the conflict and I now restrict my efforts to assisting refugees and deserters on both sides. I supported Ukraine's July offensive because it was still capable of changing the strategic balance, and I hoped for a peace with significant russian concessions to be made at the high-water mark.
Now, because of people like you who are bloody-minded and impossibly idealistic when it's not your blood and you can always walk away, it's far too late.
I regard both sides maximal war aims to be impossible in the short and medium term and that all further loss of life is for nothing other than to accelerate the demographic collapse of both Russia and Ukraine in exchange for a few hundred kilometers of nearly worthless and already-depopulated land.
I think you should contact the Ukrainian authorities and ask them if they believe your advocacy is contributing to their goals. Furthermore, you should consider how things will change if there is a peace deal, at which point it seems like you will be someone who will, from a safe location, be working to undermine the Ukrainian government and to restart a losing conflict.
You are part of a larger conflict and you do not set policy, and when it changes, if you don't change with it, you become an enemy of Ukrainian government and the majority of Ukrainians. This majority and the Ukrainian government have stated they would like to have a democratic election without martial law and press censorship in order to decide their future.
Are you against democratic elections? Would you support a coup against a civilian government in order to continue the war?
You said the invasion of Ukraine was worse than the invasion of Iraq, but you reject all quantitative measures. You also have fatal anomalies in your argument you have not refuted by citing opinion pieces that also ignore this information.
Why did John Mearsheimer say Ukraine should keep its independent nuclear deterrent? Because he regarded a war like this as inevitable and that regardless of the outcome, both sides would lose and a large number of people would die, in addition to strengthening China significantly. And so it is.
I care about the average person who is stuck in this geopolitical clash between military blocs that have no regard for russian or ukrainian lives. You seem to care about achieving a military solution with little or no diplomatic consideration.
You are unwilling or unable to comprehend that people in Venezuela and the Middle East are not in fact, members of a lesser race of humans to whom acts of war and the mass murder of civilians "don't count" and don't fundamentally change the way that 90% of people on earth see western claims of moral principle.
I think you should contact the Ukrainian authorities and prove your commitment to your beliefs by volunteering to serve on the front lines: men willing to kill and die for a field are what is most needed now. Being a propagandist trying to get other people to give their lives while refusing to risk your own shows exactly how you feel about things: your life is more valuable than anyone else's and other people's sons, brothers, husbands, should die for your beliefs.
Putin doesn't care how many Russians from rustbelt towns in central asia and small towns get killed and the strategic military balance is in his favor. It is in his interests that diplomacy be seen to fail but not be his fault, because he does care about the willingness of other countries trying to make sense of the current situation to disregard and circumvent western sanctions. So yes, every word you speak and your point of view aligns perfectly with Russian strategy.
Maybe you're simply a dupe and part of an FSB influence operation, but you could make up for it by serving on the front. Anything else is chickenhawk cowardice or a false friend with murky motives.
Age is no restriction, Ukrainian men in their 50s and 60s are on the front lines. Will you fight for the cause you believe is both realistic and a moral necessity? Or perhaps... their lives are worth less than yours?
Why is it appropriate for a Ukrainian man in his late 50s to be drafted (in a way which resembles kidnapping) to kill and die for what you say you believe in but aren't willing to risk your own life for?
If you're working for the FSB you should be ashamed, and if you're not, you should be even more ashamed!
As for myself, I am an enemy of pointless, unwinnable wars, dictatorship, and coercion, so I am an enemy of both governments and a friend of the common person who had no say in this and is trapped between two corrupt cliques that get other people's families killed while vacationing safely in luxury: https://www.kyivpost.com/post/11648
I hope you provide your personal information to a Ukrainian recruiter and put your own skin in the game, because without that, you are functionally identical to an FSB functionary.
People who alienate the 90-92% of the non-white/european global population against Ukraine by repeatedly asserting that only white european lives should have any kind of moral impact or even be remembered at all are feeding into Putin's international propaganda operation. Could it be by accident? Perhaps, but it fits so perfectly with the Kremlin's diplomatic strategy to win over the rest of the world...
Perhaps you're right and I just don't want to believe that the goons in the Kremlin are telling the truth about how ignorant and mendacious the worldview of many of their (very real victims) are.
Russian and English are both languages of empires that have engaged in countless acts of violence and aggression. They are not equivalent, but to deny this or heavily qualify it (like dismissing acts of war and violence that happened literally yesterday as "distant") in either direction is inherently hypocritical and dehumanizing.
Honestly, I am starting to suspect you are a Kremlin agent designed to make europeans opposed to their war look so crazy that global opinion shifts against the Ukrainians by tying them to denial of and advocacy for the worst acts of europeans.