I see the situation as a little more complicated than is mostly presented in the media. First of all, by the rules of Just War Theory, the righteousness is clearly on the side of the Ukraine. It is an open and shut case of violent unjustified invasion from another country. However it is also true that the global cabal, the World Economic Forum types who are trying with all their might to enchain the planet in their control ("You will own nothing, and you will be happy") seem to have spent the recent decades to use Ukraine as their staging ground. We all know of Joe Biden's incredible corruption dealing with the Ukrainian company Burisma. We know that Klaus Schwab, George Soros and Bill Gates have formally staged WEF and Gates Foundation initiatives inside Ukraine. Why there? Because as a historically fractured nation, it has been incredibly vulnerable to corruption and manipulation, especially when Western oligarchs pour billions of dollars and treat it as their playground (money laundering in the case of the Biden crime family). So it is a fact that Ukraine as a nation, because of its vulnerabilities, has been a bodily host to many of the viruses which are trying to infect our vulnerable planet. This war, for a fact, has destabilized them. So while I do not support this invasion in the least, I also can't deny being happy that the hive of globalist scum and villainy has been to a great extent unsettled. Perhaps they will all now seek to relocate to other countries, and it'll take them a while to set up shop all over again. Hopefully we can catch them there as well, and perhaps imprison them for crimes against humanity. But for now, our prayers, my prayers, are with the innocent (and courageous) Ukrainian people.
It's not on the Guardian, I've only seen it here https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/church-of-england-to-sell-its-20m-russian-holdings-rb5dspb96
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JinkCAN6Bx0 This is fascinating, as we don't know enough of Ukranian Politics. It seems the commedian who owes nothing to the oligarchs has become President of the Ukraine, and now Putin, with the support of the Oligarchs, and with a grand view of making Russia Great Again, has called the west for being all talk and no action. As an Australian I look at this and think, when someone comes for us, who will help us. Sanctions are simply not enough.
Absolutely correct. This is the God-given perogative of the US of A and it's allies...A Coalition of the Willing, so to speak.
Russia has no right to invade Ukraine for national security reasons, just like the United States had no right to bomb Syria, destroy Libya, invade Iraq, or invade Afghanistan for national security reasons. Russia has no right to overthrow the Ukrainian government, just like the CIA had no right to overthrow the Ukrainian government in 2014. Russia has no right to ensure that a neighboring country doesn't join the alliance of an opposing power, just like the United States had no right to try and invade Cuba when that country tried to join the alliance network of an opposing power. Maybe I'm a cynic, but this war has nothing to do with democracy™, sovereignty™, or the international rules-based order™. Both sides are in the wrong. I agree with Stalwart that Russia is going against God in this invasion, but the same could be said of our country in all of our invasions based on "national security concerns" like when we said Iraq had "weapons of mass destruction." It is also not America's role to be the world's police. We tend to create more problems than we solve.
tl:dr You are wrong. I am right. I 'likened the two' because they are similar in that both Hitler and Putin invaded countries that did not belong to them. I do not say that Putin is the same as Hitler exactly, I say they are similar in their actions as dictators who try to conquer other countries. I think anyone could understand that comparison. Putin may not be a racially motivated genocidal dictator, but he is at the least a murderous dictator. Degrees might matter, but the actions are similar - and wrong. As for the Native Americans, I use that word because it is the politically correct one to use to describe them at this point in time. I am perfectly aware that they were not 'American's of any kind when their lands were invaded and they were conquered. As for 'title deed' - stupid argument, as there were no title deeds in use in the 'Americas' at that time. Like the Aboriginal nations here in Australia, they did not see 'owning the land' as something to do. My comment about these indigenous peoples was simply to point out the ridiculous nature of your earlier argument about returning land to Russia because they had been in possession of it at one time. You are confusing the arguments. In WW2, appeasement was used at first because England knew they were not ready for war and Chamberlain needed to buy time to produce armaments and get the country ready. And of course, no one really wants to enter into a war, the Yanks certainly didn't either. But waiting for the aggressor to actually attack your own country (like Japan did) just might cause problems too (like losing all those lives and ships and planes in Pearl Harbor). With Ukraine, letting Russia succeed there will only embolden them. So they should be stopped. Will this result in nuclear war? Who knows. It depends on how crazy and desperate Putin would get if he were challenged with ground forces. Do I think China will escape scot-free? No way. A nuclear war would end up involving every country that has a nuclear weapon just out of fear. No one wants that, but a madman just might do it. It is a difficult place for all the world leaders to be right now. I think they should try everything else first, but even there they are afraid of barring Russia from SWIFT because it will affect so many other countries' economies. People have forgotten how to suffer for a noble cause (like during WW2) so the idea of the economy being affected really scares people. But Putin is little better than Stalin - he just does his murders in secret unlike Stalin's lists. If we have to suffer inflation or giving up some luxuries to help save a country that is being invaded by a ruthless dictator, then maybe we have a moral obligation to do so. I don't know how anyone can support Putin right now. He did some good for the Russian economy after the fall of the Soviet Union, but it was hardly an altruistic act - he made himself filthy rich as well. We can't make excuses for him - he is killing people.
I agree with the first remarks about the USA not having any right to invade countries, just as Russia has no right to invade Ukraine, but I don't see this situation as being world police so much as helping a democratically elected government fight off their aggressors. Ukraine should tell the other nations what they need to help themselves to fight and win against this attack. Otherwise it just becomes a fight between Russia and the US, instead of Russia against the Ukraine. Bullies shouldn't be allowed to continue or they will just get worse.
In what way is the Ukraine wrong in wanting to remain an independent, sovereign state? I do not think the USA has the right to do many of the things that it has done wrong. I was very strongly opposed to the USA's invasion of Iraq and very strongly opposed to and appalled by the UK's involvement. Blair and Bush proved to be liars just like Putin is a liar. The Russian Federation has NO right to demand that another country refrains from joinging the EU or NATO. Neither the EU nor NATO pose a threat to the Russian Federation. Indeed, Putin's actions have proven the Ukraine to be correct and if it were a member of NATO it would now have the right to ask its NATO allies to help it defend itself against the state aggressor the Russian Federation. Russia has not invaded the Ukraine for national security reasons. The Ukraine poses no threat to the Russian Federation. The Russian Federation is breaching international law by attempting to force regime change in the Ukraine, to impose a Russian-controlled puppet government and to prevent the Ukraine from self-determination and from fulfilling its aspirations to join the EU, NATO and to continue to develop as a democracy. Russia has a notorious history of invading states where it does not want something to happen in that state: Czechoslovakia (as was), East Germany (as was), Hungary, Poland, et al, or starving a population as Stalin did to the Ukraine.
I mentioned The Guardian simply to tell you it was a broadsheet freely accessible online unlike The Times. The written article in the print edition of The Times wasn't much more informative. It said the Church of England was going to sell £20 million of investments it had in Russian organisations. It didn't say to whom* it was going to sell them or what it intends to do with the proceeds of such sales. *Of course at this point that is probably unknown.
What a perverse view of history. May be if we had sat back and let Hitler get on with things he would have exterminated all the Jews. May be if we had sat back and let Hitler get on with things my first language would be German. May be the USA shouldn't have gone to war with Japan after Pearl Harbor. If we had not started World War II how would the Americans be able to claim they won it? You cannot win a war that did not happen.
I have always been a pacifist, and hated the very idea of was, but there are times when inaction is not possible for a person of conscience. After all, to paraphrase, all it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.
I have become more of a pacifist in my older, wiser years than I used to be. As the saying goes, "war is hell," and in a war there are more losers than winners.
In reality this is not a surprise. The alignment of the Church and State that happens with individually alligned Orthodox Patriarchies can sadly rob them of their prophetic voice, and can leave them simply as vassals of the State. On 8 February 2012, at a meeting of religious leaders in Moscow, Kirill contrasted the economic and social chaos of the 90s with the 2000s and said "What were the 2000s then? Through a miracle of God, with the active participation of the country’s leadership, we managed to exit this horrible, systemic crisis," and likened anti-government protesters' "demands to “ear-piercing shrieks” and said the protesters represented a minority of Russians." In cultural and social affairs, the Church under Kirill has collaborated closely with the Russian state under President Vladimir Putin. Patriarch Kirill has backed the expansion of Russian power into Crimea and eastern Ukraine. However, he condemns the invasion of the rest of Ukraine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarch_Kirill_of_Moscow It is quite likely that where Patriarch Kirill stands on this invasion is likely to be complex and convoluted. There also a significant despute between the Orthodox Church in Ukraine and the Russian Orthodox Patriarchy.
Pope Francis did visit the Russian Ambassador to Vatican to talk about this situation. Departing from protocol, pope goes to Russian embassy over Ukraine | Reuters
I do not think I would call myself a pacifist. I'm certainly not at the opposite end of the scale. As you say there are times when you simply cannot sit back and say this isn't my problem. I fear two outcomes from this situation unless we in the West make a sufficiently robust response. The first is Putin will think he's free to do whatever he wants and get away with it. So, who is next Estonia, Lativia, Lithuania, Georgia, Poland? I also have to think, putting this in context for an Australian, these countries are far nearer to me that Sydney is to Perth. The second thing is China will be watching this very carefully. If they believe the West will not make a strong response they will feel able to start taking what they want, almost certainly beginning with Taiwan.
China is going to take Taiwan and there is literally zero anyone can do about it. The US is not longer strong enough to stop it. The only thing you can really do as a person is starting not buying Chinese made products and start petitioning your government to take a strong stance on them. If chip manufactures were smart they would start to leave Taiwan yesterday. Putin is not going to invade the Baltics or Poland. His military is performing worse than expected and now he knows that NATO would actually defend itself. Even Germany, a country that is basically a military eunuch is going to increase it defense spending to 2%. If Europeans/West really cared about their civilization and culture they would actually start having children and go back to church
One wonders what sort of similar pronouncement might have come from Judas Iscariot if rated up to 'Patriarch' of Judea and given sumptuous, (or should that be bumptious), robes of office to lend him credibility in his arrogantly presumptuous, partisan prognostications. .