According to RSF, there's vast difference between the two countries in terms of freedom of press and violence towards journalists. — Olivier5
I am talking about freedom of press, as you know. It is an important democratic principle. It's not about 'kits'. — Olivier5
Ukraine has a score of 36,79 and Russia 43,42. — boethius
Yep. Olivier5 really takes those 6 points very seriously. Apparently they're worth sacrificing thousands of innocent lives for in a massive land war. — Isaac
I think it is an underplayed risk that Putin might be toppled, or simply die or be disabled by health issues, and that even more reckless and hardline leaders take control. — Count Timothy von Icarus
address the issue of Ukraine unilaterally banning opposition press — Isaac
They un-liscenced three TV channels from broadcasting but didn't ban them. Plenty other outlets are still on, and even those 3 TVs are still operating, but just on YouTube. — Olivier5
Opposition press is NOT banned in Ukraine. They un-liscenced three TV channels from broadcasting but didn't ban them. Plenty other outlets are still on, and even those 3 TVs are still operating, but just on YouTube. — Olivier5
Banned journalists, media, websites
The Ukrainian government and President Petro Poroshenko have banned journalists, media and websites.[83] The new sanctions in May 2017 targeted 1,228 people and 468 companies.[80] The decision was condemned by Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and Committee to Protect Journalists.[82][71][83] — Freedom of the press in Ukraine, Wikipedia
During the weekend, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government suspended 11 Ukrainian political parties citing their alleged “links with Russia”. While the majority of the suspended parties were small, and some were outright insignificant, one of them, the Opposition Platform for Life, came second in the recent elections and currently holds 44 seats in the 450-seat Ukrainian Parliament. — Why did Ukraine suspend 11 ‘pro-Russia’ parties? - Aljazeera
If either Russia or Ukraine's public estimates of each other's losses were reflective of reality, we'd see a lot fewer functional units able to engage in operations. — Count Timothy von Icarus
Before the war, Ukraine was at 68 on the Press Freedom Index, Russia at 51, "problematic" (3/5) versus "very serious," (5/5).
Ukraine fairs worse on corruption indexes though relative to Russia, but Russia still does worse. Suprisingly though, Ukraine actually has fairly low inequality, which I always found surprising, but it's also significantly poorer than Russia. — Count Timothy von Icarus
They aren't fighting a war to improve their press freedom index, they are fighting because Russia, a state that perpetrated a massive genocide against them in the 1930s, and another large scale repression after WWII, invaded them and has been raping and pillaging in areas they take. — Count Timothy von Icarus
Likely because the Russians felt time was running out. — Tzeentch
Of course, seeing as this invasion has served US interests so perfectly — Isaac
which strategy is most likely to quickly reduce the scale of war crimes. — Isaac
Try reading first, commenting after. If you have anything to contribute about what course of action is most likely to REDUCE the severity of war crimes then let's have it, because I don't know if you've noticed but continued war doesn't seem to be doing that. — Isaac
I believe we ought to be fighting for a global order that accepts some set of basic human rights and which thus provides a productive framework within which sovereign states can freely compete. — apokrisis
The prevailing world structure was far from wonderful, but it made things like collecting crates of gold teeth beyond the pale. It accepts war as justified, but wants some sane rules around such contests. — apokrisis
At this level of political realism, Ukraine is just a massive distraction. Putin must take full blame not just for the human atrocities he is responsible for, but also the disruption to the fragile world order and its willingness to battle climate change, or at least create some kind of equality in the suffering we’ve got coming. — apokrisis
Yet Ukraine does get to have a say in what its people believe. And the whole planet should find Putin worth stopping - but in the context of the degree to which he threatens the world order that we need to construct, rather than the degree that it protects the world order that underpinned a fossil fuel consumption based model of humanity these past 70 years. — apokrisis
Meanwhile stop with the bullshit about feints and Russian competence. Stop with the whataboutism when I don’t see anyone claiming the US doesn't act self interestedly. Anyone who has studied modern history knows that setting up a global free trade environment was as self serving for the US as it was altruistic. — apokrisis
That is why borders are defended. — Paine
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