Well balanced article. A series of wicked problems.
On Ukraine, I hope that more people will be able to hold two thoughts in their heads that are not at odds:
1) Putin is 100% responsible for the war.
2) American actions prior to the war made war far more likely.
The below Charter Agreement between Ukraine and the US has been under emphasized. It came out in November, 2022. Section 2 comes pretty close to a publicly stated alliance against Russia. Which fits with the Post article you wrote about.
I'm not necessarily against containing the Wall Street Journal--their editorial board could use it--but I think that's not what you meant.
More seriously, I'm not sure that in war there is no such thing as acting rightly. Both pragmatically and philosophically--even prior to the Geneva conventions or outside of traditions of 'just war' ethics, combatants have recognized that certain actions against an enemy might provoke a response that would make some eventual resolution or conflict harder or impossible, or provoke reprisals in kind that would damage all sides beyond repair. Total war is a modern idea, and dependent upon the material capacity of modern nation-states to make war, which is why more than ever, modern nation-states try to talk about how to circumscribe conflicts should they happen to break out.
Good article. Thought experiment: Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that tribal warriors of the Massachusett descend upon Cambridge MA and slaughter the families of pro-Hamas marchers? Do the aggrieved marchers apologize for being the cause of their families’ deaths? What do they do?
Hope you enjoyed Armenia! Wonderful country. I hope they'll be all right, this estrangement with Russia is serious. But I think the people there have their feet on the ground and don't have their head in the clouds.
Did that really happen at Stanford? That's nuts! Though I wish it was surprising. Something like that happened at a NY school where they separated the White and non-White elementary school kids and 1) told the White kids how bad and racist they are; and 2) told the non-White kids that they're victims, and let them have a good time. The White parents were outraged when their kids came home crying because the teacher had told them how evil they were. This is one of many similar stories.
This, of course, is 100% what the American left wants from both White kids (imperialist oppressors) and Israelis (imperialist oppressors) alike. In their worldview there is no such thing as a good Israeli, or a non-oppressive White person; they are evil by virtue of how they are born. I hope this is the moment where the remaining liberals aligned with the left but who still possess a moral compass wake up and smell the coffee. Took them long enough!
In the background to all this, I can hear the echo of Bolton's words: "this time next year, we'll be celebrating in Tehran."
Well balanced article. A series of wicked problems.
On Ukraine, I hope that more people will be able to hold two thoughts in their heads that are not at odds:
1) Putin is 100% responsible for the war.
2) American actions prior to the war made war far more likely.
The below Charter Agreement between Ukraine and the US has been under emphasized. It came out in November, 2022. Section 2 comes pretty close to a publicly stated alliance against Russia. Which fits with the Post article you wrote about.
https://www.state.gov/u-s-ukraine-charter-on-strategic-partnership/
I'm not necessarily against containing the Wall Street Journal--their editorial board could use it--but I think that's not what you meant.
More seriously, I'm not sure that in war there is no such thing as acting rightly. Both pragmatically and philosophically--even prior to the Geneva conventions or outside of traditions of 'just war' ethics, combatants have recognized that certain actions against an enemy might provoke a response that would make some eventual resolution or conflict harder or impossible, or provoke reprisals in kind that would damage all sides beyond repair. Total war is a modern idea, and dependent upon the material capacity of modern nation-states to make war, which is why more than ever, modern nation-states try to talk about how to circumscribe conflicts should they happen to break out.
Good article. Thought experiment: Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that tribal warriors of the Massachusett descend upon Cambridge MA and slaughter the families of pro-Hamas marchers? Do the aggrieved marchers apologize for being the cause of their families’ deaths? What do they do?
Hope you enjoyed Armenia! Wonderful country. I hope they'll be all right, this estrangement with Russia is serious. But I think the people there have their feet on the ground and don't have their head in the clouds.
Did that really happen at Stanford? That's nuts! Though I wish it was surprising. Something like that happened at a NY school where they separated the White and non-White elementary school kids and 1) told the White kids how bad and racist they are; and 2) told the non-White kids that they're victims, and let them have a good time. The White parents were outraged when their kids came home crying because the teacher had told them how evil they were. This is one of many similar stories.
This, of course, is 100% what the American left wants from both White kids (imperialist oppressors) and Israelis (imperialist oppressors) alike. In their worldview there is no such thing as a good Israeli, or a non-oppressive White person; they are evil by virtue of how they are born. I hope this is the moment where the remaining liberals aligned with the left but who still possess a moral compass wake up and smell the coffee. Took them long enough!
In the background to all this, I can hear the echo of Bolton's words: "this time next year, we'll be celebrating in Tehran."