Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
I think you have nothing credible to say about the personal feelings of any Ukrainian towards any Russian unless you somehow gain access to the source of those feelings. As you’re unlikely to have lost anyone as a result of having your homeland invaded, nor are you likely to have to have worked with (or played sport against) someone whose brother fights with the invading army, or whose social media accounts loudly support the invasion, it’s unlikely you will ever have any credible moral authority to suggest any Ukrainian should behave in any particular way towards any Russian. Your only viable alternative is an intellectual understanding, but that would require you to listen to what Ukrainians are saying about themselves and their struggle which you seem oddly unwilling to do.
The rift between those two peoples is going to take generations to repair. A passing acquaintance with our own history and especially attitudes towards Germans for decades after WW2 would be instructive here. For now, if a Ukrainian says it’s too painful, then they are the oppressed and that’s their privilege. We need do no more than believe them.
Everything isn’t about great power politics all the time. But if you absolutely insist on seeing it as an aspect of grand strategy then no, it isn’t more likely that there’s a campaign on to demonise Russians. There’s no need; they’re doing that fine all by themselves. The Ukrainians know the Russians better than anyone. If they think it’s worthwhile denying Russian TV useful images for internal propaganda (or, indeed, propaganda in the Global South where there’s only lukewarm ambivalence towards the whole affair) … then again, our best course of action is to believe them.
Not for the first time, I observe that your inability to see this through anything other than a Great Powers lens leads you to the deny agency of Ukraine and Ukrainians to fight for their national survival in any way they see fit.
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This would all of course have some meaning if Ukrainians weren’t giving any respect or acknowledgment to their Russian opponents. However they are between tennis and fencing - a nod, a thumbs up, touching swords all take place. The handshake is a specific form of snub for Ukraine’s own propaganda. Every event descends into some farcical discussion of it. Fans at Wimbledon, ignorant of what’s actually happening, boo Russians for going along with the requests of their opponents.
The irony of dismissing the Global South in one sentence and accusing me of having a “Great Powers” lens in the next is quite something. Presumably the only people allowed an opinion are those who support the Zelensky regime (but not opposition parties, or trade unions of course they’re banned), and the perfectly aligned NATO position.
I’m quite looking forward to see which way you break when inevitably the USA pulls the plug on fighting for every inch and tells Zelensky to get his pen out. That could truly demonstrate who has a Great Powers lens. The hedge funds will want to make bank out the reconstruction efforts sooner rather than later, and Biden probably doesn’t want it hanging over the 2024 election.