This thread is spicier than the Covid hangout.

For the “Why don’t you grab a weapon and head to Ukraine and help out?” crowd: it’s an honorable position, and not logically inconsistent or without merit. (*)

Book recommendation:

“Mine Were Of Trouble” - by Peter Kemp.

Memoirs of a Brit who graduated from university in Great Britain then headed over to Spain to fight against the communists in the Spanish Civil War. He spoke no Spanish and had only minimal formal training.

Wrote a couple follow ups when he went home and did sneaky stuff behind enemy lines for the Allies in WWII.


(*) not me though. There are infinite layers to that s show; not my monkeys, not my circus. Pretty sure 30 years of really short sighted US foreign policy made this inevitable.

Putin is going to wreck the place, then withdraw. If they flirt with EU membership or NATO again, he’ll do it a second time. IMHO.

Nations aren’t about right and wrong, or good and evil. They’re about strategic, economic, and cultural interests.

 

What if he doesn't? A couple weeks ago Putin apologists were saying he wouldn't invade? What if the Russians occupy? What if the Russians advance?

Still not your fight?

 

Don’t forget that the Cuban missile crisis had a deal in it. The USA had to agree to remove its missiles from Turkey, which were pointed at Russia.

 

You mean the egos and wallets of rich men.

 

Its abundantly clear that's not an answer to what I asked. Did that make you feel better though? I guess that's what's really important these days.

 

I went to college too. Wah waaah.

 

it actually is a pretty good answer, but you weren’t looking for one since you admit to already knowing it

 

No, I don't know what's on your mind for certainty ...and I gave you the space and time to say something intelligent.

You did not take me up on that.

 

If you look at the history of Europe, they have been at war more often than not throughout recorded history.


https://www.totallytimelines.com/war...o-present-day/

These we’re often fought for reasons that were of interest only to the participants. Go to a bar in Zaragoza today and the local Catalonian Separists will regale you about those friggin Castilian in Madrid. They are still mad about Ferdinand and Isabel ruling all of Spain over five hundred years ago. Go to the former Yugoslavia. Croats, Serbs, and Muslims all hate one another for reasons they can’t really explain other than they always have.


In 1917, for some reason known only to the politicians of the day - it was decided that we should take part:

https://www.theworldwar.org/learn/da...SABEgJcqfD_BwE

For the last 105 years the United States has been subsidizing wars in Europe. While philosophically I’m opposed to war, I have come to the conclusion that war in Europe is inevitable. I just don’t want to spend any more American blood or money on it. Let Europe handle the Russians. The EU economy is equal in size to our own. The Russian economy is smaller than that of Canada. Let the Europeans whose energy policies and failing to fund their own militaries put Russia in a position to do this fight this one.

I’ll cheer them on from the sidelines this time.

 

there is a significantly non-zero portion of the US population that wants to believe in the great myth of American moral superiority, rather than actually analyze the motives and actions of our country in international affairs. I’m not going to name those people, and if you don’t agree with me, that’s fine.