• banneryear1868@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      The Ukrainians want to join the West

      The majority do but nobody in a comments section should claim to speak for what Ukrainians want. We’re finding out more and more about how peace may have been achievable as early as spring 2022 if Ukraine committed to not joining NATO. I don’t claim to speak for the preferences of a nation, but you can see how this may change the context of the prolonging war. WW1 was expected to be short and quick, but when people saw what it had become we heard things like, “never again.”

      A lot of Ukrainians are escaping conscription right now just like my pacifist Ukrainian ancestors did. In my western country there’s a whole network of support for these people, where you might know of someone organizing resources for Ukrainian families but never know the individuals themselves for secrecy. This isn’t talked about in Western media very much because our countries are very pro-Ukraine joining NATO. Our media mostly talks about isolated incidents where Ukraine came out on top using Western weapons, and how supporting Ukraine with weapons is the only way to counter Putin’s strategy. It’s a cartoonish version of what’s going on that people can feel invested in and good about, the material human situation is a different thing.

        • banneryear1868@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          The idea of Russia as a single irrational actor surrounded by rational actors just isn’t accurate, it purports that there are no rational reasons for their actions and thus explains nothing. So you’re left thinking what you’ve typed there, just no ability to explain the actions of Russia other than being dumbfounded by it in this cartoonish way. Ukraine is easy to rationalize because they’re defending themselves as they have the right to, as well as entertain and control their own alliances as a sovereign nation does.

          The rich soils and gas reserves of Ukraine are exploitable resources, and Russia is an imperialist actor competing for these resources with the EU and NATO, and Ukraine. The capitalist class in Russia want access to these resources and pressures the government to act in their interest, the government must support the economic arrangement that sustains their legitimacy and power. All the stuff you’ve said about how Putin is dumb may be completely true but ignores these structural causes of this conflict and assumes it’s one man’s irrational decisions that have caused all this. Seeing the structural causes here provides rational explanations for why not just this conflict, but why these types of conflicts occur. Competition between capitalists for who gets to exploit limited resources, yes it’s that simple.

          Nobody should be compelled to violence by a greater power than their own. Radical non-violence is a different mindset than that which sustains state powers and it takes a strong belief that another world is possible to follow it. People say it’s not realistic while dying in the service of fairy tales, at least my fairy tale offers an alternative.

      • vivadanang@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        The fields of dead russians are a grisly cartoon. I think you’re the one with distorted views, personally.