then there's a land corridor connecting Crimea and Russia (Kerch is a bit skimpy), and perhaps connecting Transnistria, all of Ukraine being the "best" outcome, right? And, just as importantly, hanging onto it. All (seen as) up'ing Russia's power position. Others might get in the way of such plans/aspirations (the Ukrainians certainly are). Crimea seems to have some importance to the Kremlin. And Sevastopol hosts their Black Sea fleet. — jorndoe

Why couldn't Russians just drive through Ukraine to get to Crimea? What's the benefit of national sovereignty there?

The grain incidents in the summer showed the comprehensive market share of Ukraine for all to see. Now sweep all of that (on a national level) under the Kremlin. Control and profit from "The Breadbasket of Europe". Europe's largest nuclear plant is north of Kherson south of Zaporizhzhia, various other industries, ... Might look good on Putin if he managed to assimilate that stuff. Bonus. — jorndoe

Right. And since Putin runs a kleptocracy, it would have made him richer.

Sometimes the invaders have been kind of extensive in activities (for lack of a better word). While still occupying Kherson, they emptied out the art gallery/museum there. The admin kept working there when allowed to by the soldiers. Pretty much empty now. One might hope they moved the art stuff out of the way of their upcoming shelling, right? But who knows, they didn't say, there's no paperwork, heck no piles of them having burnt it all, the stuff's in the wind — jorndoe

They'll just leave a shell behind, I know. It's amazing how quickly people can rebuild, though.

I think Mearsheimer argued that the Kremlin decided Crimea is important enough for a Russian power position to grab. Maybe that's just part of it. Anyway, never mind me, carry on. — jorndoe

But they took Crimea in 2014. I think he wanted to squash Ukrainian prosperity and block its efforts to join the EU. I think he also wanted to use the war to shore up his grip on dictatorship. He wins whichever way events roll, that's why he's kind of unbeatable. BTW, I just learned this trading strategy where you sort of buy and sell at the same time so you mitigate the losses no matter what happens. Putin's position is kind of like that.

Which actually goes against the cherished view (by some active participants here) that the war in Ukraine was only about NATO expansion. — ssu

What is it about in your view (a year into it)?

Yes, I'm not saying Adams promoted or intended to promote racial segregation, but that "woke" ideology implicitly promotes it. — Tzeentch

Maybe, but that ship has pretty much sailed since the Civil Rights Act.

Now the relations with Russia are as cold as they were... I guess in the 1930's. Finnish Prime minister Sanna Marin (a social democrat) and the Estonian president have been referred in Russian media to be "female nazi concentration camp guards". So that's where the relations are with Russia. All time low. — ssu

At least it's just the media and not Putin himself. That would inch us closer to world war.

Moreover, it implicitly promotes racial segregation, which Adams's comments are a clear indication of. — Tzeentch

Not at all. He was saying that he tried to help the black community in the past and he's extremely frustrated that all he gets in return is the sentiment that there's something wrong with being white.

It's like: "I cared about you, but you just hated me in return."

He actually wasn't expressing racism. Anyone who thinks so apparently doesn't know what racism is.

:up:

So for all practical purposes, Finland is in NATO now. Does that feel like a big shift in Finland's long term strategies to you?

Seems like (to some here) Europeans are just spineless lackeys and pawns, who should stand up against the system they themselves have been part of creating and now depend on. Bad Europeans, bad! — ssu

Are Finland and Sweden going to make it into NATO or not?

As it happens, though, you are not just an insignificant speck, you are every insignificant speck, and every sentient being for all time. So make yourself comfortable, because you're going to be here a while. — unenlightened

Woe. Unenlightened gets neoplatonic. :up:

Public property is state property. The state decides the flags, like you get to decide what flags go on your property. — NOS4A2

I understand that. I don't think they're addressing an existing problem, though. They're just stretching their bigotry muscles.

Both parties seek to ban “latinx” from use in official state nomenclature like they would any other offensive term. — NOS4A2

Why is it offensive?

But by all means, just underplay the whole thing. — Isaac

I imagine I would appear to be underplaying it. I'm not as close to it as you are.

Banning "Latinx" and the rainbow flag on public property.

Outlawing certain word combinations… is that how you personally stop believing in something? — NOS4A2

No. That was a cheap shot at certain Republicans. I guess I'm just frustrated with them.

I said believing in it is the problem. — NOS4A2

That's neither here nor there. Wounds heal on their own schedule. You can't force it by outlawing certain word combinations.

I think we all know the US is sending funds to Ukraine that could be used to fix our elderly infrastructure. No need to remind us.

why would the Russians be pursuing a strategy like that — Tzeentch

I don't think Putin is following any particular strategy at this point. He's just painted himself into a corner.

You called it a good article, that's why I asked.

To me it smells of the kind of war rhetoric that must've been prevalent before World War I, but if anything I share your worry. — Tzeentch

The article provided an interesting insight, so it was good. I don't smell any war rhetoric. The US is just waiting for Russia to exhaust itself. Putin seems happy to allow the event to tear a new butthole for Russia, so I guess the wait will be extended.

What do you think is good about it?

It talks about Europe as a "muscular geopolitical protagonist", Germany as having to reinvent itself to arm itself and Ukraine against aggression, etc. A lot of war trumpeting. — Tzeentch

Um. Good? It's just saying that we might be at a watershed moment, bringing an end to the expectation of goodwill and cooperation that was in the air at the end of the Cold War. I think that means it's a once-in-a-generation type of shift. The article mentions that Europe (and the US) tried to ignore previous aggressive actions by Russia, but this time was different. Many Europeans, especially in the east, see Ukraine's fate as being tied to their own. Thus Finland is trying to get into NATO, Germany is moving to strengthen its military position, and so forth.

It's an interesting challenge to find something good about it. Other than making the kind of drama and bloodshed we turn into art, I'm drawing a blank.

War in Ukraine has changed Europe forever. . From the NYT, good article

So we agree there are different expressions of human behavior...not a specific type of Human Nature! — Nickolasgaspar

:up:

I don't much care, either. I don't own any stock in Adams or Dilbert. — BC

The OP was primarily shocked at rightist responses to the incident. It's in the OP.

In Human Behavioral Psychology there isn't such a thing as "A" Human Nature but Human Nature has different expressions. Human behavior is affected by the environment(current and past). — Nickolasgaspar

I've expressed this sentiment multiple times in this thread. Thanks for repeating it.

Egalitarian societies score higher numbers in Societal Markers in functionality and Happiness, so they don't really fail. — Nickolasgaspar

Never said they do fail. I said egalitarian causes fail.

Again I can not stress enough the importance of Scientific Knowledge in these topics. — Nickolasgaspar

Just out of curiosity, why are you capitalizing certain letters that wouldn't generally be capitalized in English? Such as "Scientific Knowledge?" Capitalizing it in that way makes it look like you're using it as a proper name.

Scale is the issue, not human nature (or at least not directly). — ChatteringMonkey

I'll buy that.

Slavery was once considered in a similar manner. Nowadays we could never think about going back to it. — NOS4A2

Sure. As I said, I think human nature is a moving target.

The belief in and proliferation of bad ideas can be held by anyone, regardless of what they look like. — NOS4A2

:up:

I’m not sure any man can occupy a higher position over and above others if there is no such position. The failure of egalitarian causes is that they wish to occupy such positions, for whatever reason, thereby placing themselves over and above others. — NOS4A2

Egalitarian causes, like socialism and liberalism, were born out of dissatisfaction with social structures which resulted in oppression and mismanagement. Historically, these movements appeared when there was a general sense that something was grievously wrong with the status quo. It's an eye opener to learn how widespread socialist attitudes were in the late 1800s to early 1900s. Marxism is just a vestige of something that was much grander. The world we live in is the opposite of that. Socialists are generally in the minority now and so it seems a socialist cause is, as you say, attempting to force something on the rest of the population.

The problem is the existence of the State. — NOS4A2

Statehood is something that's deeply embedded in who we are as a species now. Does it have a downside? Of course. It's like our knees: they cause all sorts of problems, but we can't very well stop using them.

Then how is a "tendency to create hierarchial social structures" natural absent of any evidence that that's what we do in all circumstances? — Isaac

As I explained, I don't think we gain much by examining what we do in all circumstances. It's helpful to think of culture as an indicator of what we've made of ourselves, and therefore what behaviors we'll gravitate towards.

So, are you suggesting that our natural environment has changed in the last few thousand years? — Isaac

No.

I'm not sure that I do. By all accounts, things were a lot more equal before money. Money facilitated first trade, but then capitalism, which definitely does not contribute to egalitarianism through its own nature. Capitalism concentrates wealth through money. — Pantagruel

Money was invented in Lydia around the 6th Century BC. I wasn't looking that far backward, but life was definitely hierarchial before that.

My point was that in Europe, the rise of liberalism was a movement against the aristocracy. It was an egalitarian project. The USA is product of that movement.

then it’s wrong to say that egalitarianism is against human nature — Jamal

I think that when we examine the nature of any species, it's a mistake to pull the organism out of its world. Living things not only adapt, but they actively alter their environments. In a way, you could say the cohort and its environment are a unity. For multicellular organisms, this actually starts at the beginning. After sperm meets egg, the first differentiation in the blob is to grow something like a seed pod to surround the proto-embryo. In other words, the first action of your genetic material was to create a protective structure to allow further development. You eventually discarded that shell, but ever since, you have been engaged in that same activity: altering the world to suit your needs, and we do this on a larger scale as well. Most living things do.

So if our environment is part of what we are, let's allow humanity to be a moving target as it adapts to and reforms its circumstances. What was natural for hunter gatherers, whatever that may have been, was a reflection of what worked for us at the time.

So in the OP, when I say that egalitarian causes are obstructed by something that's coming to us naturally, my point is not to argue that we can't make that kind of transition, but rather to point out that we aren't beset by evil doers when we fail. Our ambitions are being thwarted by a natural tendency to create hierarchial social structures.

Just for a basic rational sense, I would do the same... — javi2541997

I don't think you're demonstrating intolerance by that attitude, though. The American governor who has attacked the use of "Latinx" is specifically trying to normalize intolerance. It's not even a dog whistle. Everyone can hear it. I see this as a result of Trump's success.

Just now read Habermas' analysis of the formation of the 'bourgeois public sphere' by and during the rise of capitalism. He describes how the "interests of capitalists engaged in manufacture prevailed over those engaged in trade," specifically because the former were directly responsible for the "employment of the country's population." — Pantagruel

Was he talking about the British Industrial Revolution? Part of that event was an intentional transformation of Ireland into a purely agrarian domain to supply food so that English and Scotch labor could be transferred off the land to work in factories.

But prior to that, trading had been the path out of serfdom. The elite was a combination of aristocrats and clergymen whose religion explained why the dominance of the aristocracy was God's will. The rise of liberalism in Europe was clearly an egalitarian project in its infancy. Money was the great equalizer. Do you agree with that?

I'd like to see more of that in OPs of this sort. — Baden

Would you really?

More like a choice between which kind of suffering one wants to experience - that which comes from pursuing good or that which comes from pursuing bad - — javra

You're looking at the issue very moralistically. As I've mentioned a couple of times in this thread, I don't think what I'm describing is about evil people. It's our nature, which I conceive as partly genetic and partly a collection of habits that have a winning track record for us.

In other words, good never ubiquitously prevails because there is bad in the world. Therefore, we should shun a striving for that which is good; instead favoring either the bad or a magical type of eternally unchanging, self-sustained, homeostasis between good and bad that never progresses in either direction. — javra

Yes. That's exactly what I was saying.

Don't reckon this dipshit merits a discussion unless you can flesh out some generalized thesis that you think his comments illustrate. — Baden

His was the most popular comic strip in America at one time. It comes on the heels of a general increase in attempts by some Republicans to legitimatize intolerance such as making the rainbow flag illegal on public property and restricting the use of "LatinX" by government employees.

It's all just fun and games till we need to start scapegoating and the door has already been open to attacking certain groups. I think the Republicans who put up with this stuff are naive.

In a selfish, individualistic and inherently distrusting society, egalitarianism gains potency. Such a state of affairs favours good will as it is unusual, and the general populous are ill equipped to deal with it. It easily overpowers as it has the advantage of being unfamiliar, understated and insidious/covert.

In an egalitarian, co-operative and trusting society, selfishness, manipulation and exploitation gains traction in much the same way.

Whatever is more difficult to detect and contend, becomes the more influential force.

At the end of the day, balance is always the go to.

Just as when everyone is Conservative, a Liberal ideal is new, fresh, appealing and a clear demonstration of potential for change, and when a society is overly Liberal, Conservative values become the hallmark of progress.

The majority is stagnancy, a stalemate, uninspiring, boring and unworkable. The minority is the forefront of innovation.

This pendulum has been swinging to and fro for millenia. — Benj96

Well said. I absolutely agree. We want what we don't have.

Many times people aren't asked who leads them and try to stay away from the dangerous mess that is politics. If your country is a failed state, the biggest problem for you isn't who claims to be the leader. — ssu

Do Finlanders go off into the tundra to avoid governmental interference?

Or if the elite weren't using the power of their resources to completely shred value of the information, to the point where most people are so obsessed with misinformation, and conspiracy theories about misinformation, that they simply have no idea what is going on, or what is actually in their own best interest. Per my post on the value and power of public information, which got zero comments. — Pantagruel

:up: