Ukraine

[Serial_Apologist]

There are many issues about the US. That's not so different from the UK and Europe. It's a great country to visit, and also a great country to live in. However many who live there are completely unaware of what's going on in the rest of the world, or even where other countries are. Having said that, many of them are pretty unaware of what's going on in their own country.

This is something countries with records of dominating others to their own advantage while dressing this up as "civilising", backed up by the billionaire press baron beneficiaries thereof with propaganda to misrepresent and, focussing on trivia, deflect from genuine issues and causes, have in common - we're little different. Many of the parents of the public schoolboys I had the misfortune to share my upbringing with knew less about their own neighbourhoods beyond the driveway gate than they did about the hotels and restaurants in the Bahamas and other affordable holiday retreats for the upper middle classes in the 1950s and early '60s.

I suggest that not wanting to visit the US again is not a good flag to wave - like people who confess that they didn't like maths. There's nothing really to be ashamed of about not understanding maths - it's not always that easy - but using such ignorance as a badge of honour isn't great. However I can say right now that I have no desire to visit Russia again - at least not in the near future - and I'm sure many people there are very decent, but largely unaware of what's going on in the world, or even in their own country.

This comparison between mathematics and the USA is a false analogy if I may say so - unlike in the case of the objective truths maths represents, there is little of the objective in the way much of America sees or understands itself or the rest of the world.

[french frank]

I think that kind of binary thinking is a bit silly.

Realities often are binary. 'Death or glory? Well, actually, I'd favour the Nordic solution.'

[Serial_Apologist]

Realities often are binary. 'Death or glory? Well, actually, I'd favour the Nordic solution.'

Buddhist thinking places the binary in the realm of the conceptual rather than the ontological - all opposites being mutually defining, or "arising together" - light only existing in relation to darkness, up to down, good to bad etc, although they would point out that binary has some basis in the natural, eg yin/yang, the male/female principle... except some creatures have long been known to be unisexual, and we now have modern non-binarism as a dividing line between Woke and UnWoken! Asked in a famous instance about this, a Zen master said "The fact that light and darkness are mutually dependent doesn't of course mean you can stare unblinkingly at the sun!"

[RichardB]

As far as the US is concerned (I visited it once, don't want to go again ), it seems ironic that they should be criticised for 'interfering' in foreign affairs when they should stay out, and in not 'intervening' when they should.

The difference is that their interventions generally involve weapons and death, whereas what is now being called for is negotiating a ceasefire. Which of course won't happen, not because Biden is cautious but because it is not in "American interests" for the war to end until Russia is critically weakened, with whatever destruction takes place in Ukraine as collateral damage.

[french frank]

The difference is that their interventions generally involve weapons and death, whereas what is now being called for is negotiating a ceasefire. Which of course won't happen, not because Biden is cautious but because it is not in "American interests" for the war to end until Russia is critically weakened, with whatever destruction takes place in Ukraine as collateral damage.

I think this might be flagged up as POV on Wikipedia! It may be - for example - that it's in the interests of millions of people in Europe that Putin's Russia should be 'critically weakened'. It may be that the negotiations which have already taken place have provided no obvious prospect for peace. It may be that Russia itself has closed down negotiations. Who knows? What we do know is that limited ceasefires negotiated on several occasions (eg for humanitarian corridors) have been ignored by the Russians on the ground.

[Dave2002]

I think this might be flagged up as POV on Wikipedia! It may be - for example - that it's in the interests of millions of people in Europe that Putin's Russia should be 'critically weakened'. It may be that the negotiations which have already taken place have provided no obvious prospect for peace. It may be that Russia itself has closed down negotiations. Who knows? What we do know is that limited ceasefires negotiated on several occasions (eg for humanitarian corridors) have been ignored by the Russians on the ground.

There seems to be little point in trying to negotiate with an opponent who ignores reasonable requests, and also appears to be completely untrustworthy. It may not have occurred to others that Russia was a signatory to agreements to maintain the security of Ukraine. If the Ukrainians are willing to fight on, and have support then possibly that is the best option. Obviously it's not ideal but things should never have got to this stage.

In the meantime, I think the upcoming issue of Private Eye has another instalment of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
Novel by Marina Lewycka.

[DracoM]

What is so incredible to me is just how far Putin has managed very effectively to destroy Russia as an entity for trade, co-operation, respect, trust in global eyes, and that this distancing / distrust will last for decades - given the archival potential of social media, news archives etc. Is this truly what he wanted for 'his' nation'?

[french frank]

What is so incredible to me is just how far Putin has managed very effectively to destroy Russia as an entity for trade, co-operation, respect, trust in global eyes, and that this distancing / distrust will last for decades - given the archival potential of social media, news archives etc. Is this truly what he wanted for 'his' nation'?

According to the Guardian this morning, the Russian "authorities" who have taken over in Kherson are now applying for formal annexation of the city and surrounding area. Kherson is not in Donbas. It's not part of the land corridor along the Black Sea leading to Crimea. It leads on further to Odesa - and to Moldova's Transnistria. "But few Russians have a similar attachment [as they have to Crimea] to the Kherson, Donetsk, or Luhansk regions, or want to see them as part of the Russian Federation," - or so it's claimed.

Should Putin agree to annexation, a US policy to 'critically weaken' Russia gains strength, to say nothing of further enlargement of the Nato area.

[Petrushka]

What is so incredible to me is just how far Putin has managed very effectively to destroy Russia as an entity for trade, co-operation, respect, trust in global eyes, and that this distancing / distrust will last for decades.

Much the same could be said of Russia throughout its long history. It's all so tragic because Russia is a great country with so much to offer the whole world in almost every sphere of life. Yet for centuries it has been looked upon with well justified suspicion and distrust, something that's not likely to change for decades, if ever. As I say, a tragedy.

[Joseph K]

Much the same could be said of Russia throughout its long history. It's all so tragic because Russia is a great country with so much to offer the whole world in almost every sphere of life. Yet for centuries it has been looked upon with well justified suspicion and distrust, something that's not likely to change for decades, if ever. As I say, a tragedy.

Much the same could be said of the USA throughout its not so long history...

[DracoM]

Much the same could be said of Russia throughout its long history. It's all so tragic because Russia is a great country with so much to offer the whole world in almost every sphere of life. Yet for centuries it has been looked upon with well justified suspicion and distrust, something that's not likely to change for decades, if ever. As I say, a tragedy.

[Bryn]

Much the same could be said of the USA throughout its not so long history...

Not to mention the UK, with a rather longer history, though we should concentrate on the current situation regarding Putin's Russia and its neighbouring former satellite states.

[french frank]

Not to mention the UK, with a rather longer history, though we should concentrate on the current situation regarding Putin's Russia and its neighbouring former satellite states.

Most powerful political entities throughout history - and currently - have been guilty of disgraceful actions or have been a baleful influence on large parts of the globe. Germany has had its period of infamy, and this is Russia's. This is why I persist in believing in a (modified) Great Man theory. Not that they permanently change history (though I think they might do) but because one individual can set his stamp on his country's course for a considerable period of time.

[Serial_Apologist]

Most powerful political entities throughout history - and currently - have been guilty of disgraceful actions or have been a baleful influence on large parts of the globe. Germany has had its period of infamy, and this is Russia's. This is why I persist in believing in a (modified) Great Man theory. Not that they permanently change history (though I think they might do) but because one individual can set his stamp on his country's course for a considerable period of time.

Once people formed themselves into communities, and communities into nations, at each unsustainable stage outliving the carrying capacity of their respective terrains, they resorted to take overs, repeating the early error to apparent eternity so the losers in all this had to big themselves up to mythologise histories of their own. During all this time I know of only two "religious" traditions - Taoism and Buddhism - that have sought to promulgate wise alternatives to these self-destructive courses of action - both of which would be forced to institutionalise themselves and thereby be at prey to becoming Establishment mouthpieces.

[Joseph K]

Chomsky again: https://truthout.org/articles/chomsk...-intelligence/