> I find interesting that 'they' feel the need to do a character assination on the man
That's par for the course for the mainstream US (and Western, more generally, I would say) media nowadays. It wasn't always like that, but the last few years and especially the current war against Russia have accelerated this trend.
I don't understand this perennial thread of "No one declared it, it's not a war" when armies are trying their hardest to exterminate each other. What makes the magic words "i declare war" by some old buffoon who just wants the children of his nation to die in cruel ways make a magical difference?
Seriously - if you look at pictures of the children dismembering each other in Ukraine during ww2 and the children dismembering each other in Ukraine in 2022, the only major differences are fashion and how effective technology lets them be at cruelty.
The legalistic bullshit of needing magic words sounds like something the monsters that want dead children say to each other to get a little distance from the fact that the dead children are still their fault.
I think that the commenter takes issue with the implications that USA is in war with Russia rather then Russia being in aggressive war against Ukraine.
It is popular framing among pro-russia people - trying to frame it as if Ukraine did not mattered at all. Or as if did not even existed.
USA didn't declare war against DPRK, Vietnam, Iraq, etc. That's not something we do. However, "serious politicians" have "mistakenly" mentioned that we're at war with Russia for months.
Yes, but in all those instances the US sent troops there with weapons and they fired those weapons at the other side, which is how most people visualize "war". That's not what is happening here. We're sending weapons and money, not men. It would be like saying America entered WWII when they signed the Lend-Lease act, not after Pearl Harbor.
USA military and CIA had been present in Korea and Vietnam for years, with little fanfare, before those wars really got going. Their roles in Laos, Indonesia, Iran, Nicaragua, etc. were never acknowledged. They are currently present though unacknowledged in dozens of nations, with the hopes of kicking off future wars for the profit of armaments manufacturers. USA "special forces" have been embedded with various more-or-less-official military units in Donbas for years, during which time UN estimates that 14,000 people died in violent military action including more than 3,000 civilians. Over the same time, various American and western European neo-nazis also found their way to Donbas, forming a convenient cover for the "operators".
Americans have been in Ukraine for a long time, and that's not even to mention e.g. Victoria Nuland. This is a stupid argument anyway. Congress has committed to spending Russia's entire annual military budget to fill Ukraine with deadly weapons. That doesn't count the billions we already spent over the last 15 years. A president was impeached because he proposed (without actually doing) a temporary slowdown of the flow of American weapons to Ukraine. Our masters wanted a war, and now they have what they wanted. Very few mammalian Americans want a war, but after twenty years of stupid wars it's clear that the peace we want doesn't matter.
> Our masters wanted a war, and now they have what they wanted.
How does sending weapons to a country encourage another country to attack it? Wouldn't it decrease the chances they attacked it - since it is fairly clear that the Ukraine could not invade Russia.
> Very few mammalian Americans want a war
As opposed to reptilian Americans? I'm just joking, I assume this is a typo but I can't figure out what it is meant to be.
Do Americans actually want peace between the Ukraine and Russia(if it would just mean acceding to Russia's demands)? Granted I live in a fairly liberal area, but I see blue and yellow flags all over the place right now.
How would we feel about Chinese weapons located in Tijuana? Even if they couldn't threaten a takeover of USA, they could still level Los Angeles with five minutes' notice. Eastern Ukraine similarly threatens Moscow.
Americans where I live couldn't care less what happens in Ukraine. I have never seen a Ukrainian flag in the flesh, although they're on TV incessantly. If I drive around the area, I see USA flags, some state flags, a lot of confederate flags, and even a few "Brandon" flags. My own hope for Ukraine is peace at any cost. This isn't some glorious republic; it has consistently led Europe in the "most corrupt" lists and the history it chooses to emphasize features Nazi collaboration. Split it up into a part that can get along with Russia and a part that will eventually be absorbed by Poland. It will be a win for the West if the latter part contains Odessa.
I'll take the two questions in reverse order. Russia has invaded Ukraine in order to protect Russian interests. You could pick 100 Russian politicians at random, and every one of them would do as Putin is doing, if they were put in his position. The lives of the people of Russia are threatened by NATO armaments in Ukraine. Then-ambassador-to-Russia and current CIA director Burns said as much in 2008. [0] It's even more true since USA orchestrated the removal of the elected leader of Ukraine in 2014. [1] It's more true yet since USA has supported the Nazi brigades who have killed civilians in Donbas ever since, [2][3] while slowly inserting more and more weapons and "advisors". [4] If Ukraine had sought peace with Russia, as the majority of Ukrainians would have chosen to do (this was Zelensky's primary, if Wilsonian, campaign promise when he won election) [5], this invasion probably would not have happened. So, yes, there are people associated with USA who bear a large portion of blame for the invasion.
I'm not sure if I would consider Russia "fascist". Certainly it is no longer communist. If it is fascist for the sake of discussion, we can blame Putin for that. And, indeed, we can certainly blame USA for Putin. We intervened on Yeltsin's behalf when Russia naturally would have gone in a more socialist direction. [6] The inevitable result of that was that his right-hand, Putin, soon took over. [7] I think at one time Putin would have considered a sort of peace with the West, if we had made that more practical than the alternative. Alas, we did not.
> Russia has invaded Ukraine in order to protect Russian interests.
Russia has literally stated that they don’t consider Ukraine a real country they invaded to try and take over the country. I guess given Russias history you could count that as “protecting Russias interests”.
> The lives of the people of Russia are threatened by NATO armaments in Ukraine.
The only thing NATO armaments in Ukraine threatened is Russias ability to invade Ukraine. But once again I can see why given their history Russia might see a country being protected by others that they wish to subjugate and invade as a threat to themselves.
> It's more true yet since USA has supported the Nazi brigades who have killed civilians in Donbas ever since,
Your links literally don’t say this they mention the Azov and children dying separately.
> If Ukraine had sought peace with Russia, as the majority of Ukrainians would have chosen to do (this was Zelensky's primary, if Wilsonian, campaign promise when he won election) [5], this invasion probably would not have happened. So, yes, there are people associated with USA who bear a large portion of blame for the invasion.
Ukraine already had a promise from Russia to not invade or threaten its borders when it gave up its nuclear weapons. Look how much good that did, Russia doesn’t understand peace agreements only weapons. Any “peace agreement” with Russia just means they’ll invade on the future when they aren’t happy.
Let’s be clear, the only people to blame for this war are Russia, they decided to invade and they can leave at any point.
And if you want to talk about Nazis maybe you should think about which side is raping civilians, performing mass executions of civilians and running “filtration camps”.
The Russians are literally committing genocide in Ukraine, there’s only one side that’s the fascists here and that’s Russia.
Just to mention, Russia invaded Ukraine and never declared it war. Russians are also comiting genocide in Ukraine. Russians call it special operation, it is illegal to call it war in Russia.
USA offered to fly Ukrainian president to safety. Ukrainian president refused and Ukrainian army started to fight. USA did very decent thing after - supported Ukrainian army with guns.
jessaustin makes implications rather then clear statements. I dont think Ukraine situation is in any way similar to Vietnam or Iraq. And it is not case of American aggression at all.
No, USA is not in war with Ukraine or Russia. Ukraine is in war with Russia. USA supports Ukraine. Russia does see west in general as ennemies, does actively work to undermine democracy and stability of western countries. Consequently, Ukraine is not just defending itself, but also defending everyone further west.
Is that enough answer?
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Edit: looking at other comments jessaustin is trying to revert aggressor and victim. Or rather, invent new aggressor, ignore victim interests entirely and make actual aggressor look innocent.
That's par for the course for the mainstream US (and Western, more generally, I would say) media nowadays. It wasn't always like that, but the last few years and especially the current war against Russia have accelerated this trend.