Besides it's not uncommon to have fascist/ultra-nationalists in the national armies. — neomac
Basically, it seems that you're trying to sell us your conjectures and speculations as "fact". — Apollodorus
There is no method that aggregates all the methods. — neomac
Whenever peers and experts disagree with me, I should examine how rational their arguments are — neomac
And this trust can be again more or less rational. — neomac
If there are two claims that I find both defensible after rational examination, I would find more rational to suspend my judgement. — neomac
either they are smarter than I am, or I’m smarter than they are, or we are equally smart but we fail to understand each other for non-pertinent reasons or we are all stupid but everyone in their own way . — neomac
Even if the Soviet Union and Russia were totally distinct and unconnected, Crimea can still be taken back from Ukraine in the same way it was given to it. — Apollodorus
Borders are NOT eternal. They change. If Russia changed the borders by “gifting” Crimea to Ukraine in 1954, it can change them again by annexing Crimea 60 years later! :smile: — Apollodorus
in such uncertainty, can they bet on the Russians playing nice? — Olivier5
So you're saying the default position is to continue war unless there's proof one ought to stop. — Isaac
If ceding territory ends the war (even has only a good chance of doing so) then that's a huge positive. To counter that there'd need to be a massive negative. All you've given thus far to weigh against it is the "punish Putin" argument and the "Ukraine is better than Russia" argument. — Isaac
Almost nothing will be received from the war-torn East, where basic infrastructure has been destroyed for power generation, water, hospitals and the civilian housing areas that bore the brunt of the attack. Nearly a million civilians are reported to have fled ... A quarter of Ukraine’s exports normally are from eastern provinces, and are sold mainly to Russia. But [the] bombing [of] Donbas industry and left its coal mines without electricity... It will be expensive to restore power and water facilities that have been destroyed by the forces in Donetsk, which faces a cold dark winter.
I'm not sure such qualifications are warranted. He's a moron or irrational but he worked his way up to being leader of a country? I highly doubt it. — Benkei
We should avoid attributing irrationality to people who simply make decisions that we wouldn't dream of making our that in hindsight look stupid. — Benkei
In 1991, twelve years before Iraq was invaded and occupied by President George W. Bush, his father, President George H. W. Bush, launched an aerial war (the Gulf War) against that same nation. At that time, Iraq’s standard of living was the highest in the Middle East. Iraqis enjoyed free medical care and free education. Literacy had reached about 80 percent. University students of both genders received scholarships to study at home and abroad. Most of the economy was state owned. Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein was pressing for a larger portion of the international oil market.
In the six weeks of aerial attacks in 1991, US planes (with minor assistance from other NATO powers) destroyed more than 90 percent of Iraq’s electrical capacity, and much of its telecommunication systems including television and radio stations, along with its flood control, irrigation, sewage treatment, water purification, and hydroelectric systems. Domestic herds and poultry farms suffered heavy losses. US planes burned grain fields with incendiary bombs and hit hundreds of schools, hospitals, rail stations, bus stations, air raid shelters, mosques, and historic sites. Factories that produced textiles, cement, petrochemicals, and phosphate were hit repeatedly. So were the refineries, pipelines, and storage tanks of Iraq’s oil industry. Some 200,000 Iraqi civilians and soldiers were killed in those six weeks.
Nearly all the aerial attackers employed laser-guided depleted-uranium missiles, leaving hundreds of tons of radioactive matter spread over much of the country, leading to tens of thousands of more deaths in the following years, including many from what normally would be treatable and curable illnesses. Twelve years later, Bush Jr. invaded Iraq and wreaked further death and destruction upon that country. — Parenti, The Face of Imperialism
You don't apparently see it yourself, Apollodorus. — ssu
I think that those that Saddam killed are quite accurately estimated and studied. Of course at first Saddam was supported by the US when he attacked Iran.Saddam couldn't have murdered as many Iraqis as the Americans did if he tried - let alone plunged the entire country into a futureless black hole. — Streetlight
Iran, with a population of 50 million to Iraq's 17 million, mobilised to defend the revolution. By the summer of 1982 Iraq was on the defensive and remained so until the end in August 1988. The death toll, overall, was an estimated 1 million for Iran and 250,000-500,000 for Iraq.
I'm against wars, so I guess I'm for present borders to be upheld.It follows that the borders were restored. You should welcome that if, as you claim, you're for permanent borders. — Apollodorus
Given back? When did the Ukrainians give back Crimea?2. Crimea was taken from Ukraine and given back to Russia in 2014. — Apollodorus
Given back? When did the Ukrainians give back Crimea? — ssu
That's exactly what I'm saying, you're reducing the discussion to conjecture, speculation, exaggeration, and empty rhetoric. — Apollodorus
American imperialism consists of policies aimed at extending the political, economic and cultural influence of the United States over areas beyond its boundaries. Depending on the commentator, it may include military conquest, gunboat diplomacy, unequal treaties, subsidization of preferred factions, economic penetration through private companies followed by a diplomatic or forceful intervention when those interests are threatened, or regime change.
So you aggregate the methods how? Randomly? — Isaac
Whenever peers and experts disagree with me, I should examine how rational their arguments are — neomac
Fascinating. So how do you do that? — Isaac
So with your opinion here you find all alternative opinions, from scores of military and foreign policy experts...all of them...indefensible and irrational. — Isaac
Yet you've ignored the argument about underdetermination. Why is that? — Isaac
Why on Earth? It wasn't an international border.If you're against borders being moved, you should be against Crimea's borders being moved in 1954 in the first place. — Apollodorus
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