Krokodile XVI would be proud.
By all means, do voice your opinion. It's just likely I am not going to react to it. Not because I think you will never change my mind, I detest blind conviction, but I ask you this: since the armed coup-de-tat a few years ago, do you think Ukraine is better or worse off, and who was the real winner of this situation?
I think one fact that people forget that Ukrainians and Russians are the same ethnic people; the language is a bit different, but that's about it. It's really tragic what happened but I think eventually things are going to turn back around precisely because we've so much common history no candy mogul is going to destroy it. Just a tragic, senseless loss of life because of what is essentially a Game of Thrones called international diplomacy.
Again, I am not sure how engaged I want to become in a discussion about this, but this 2014 Guardian article more or less sums up my feelings on the matter:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/30/russia-ukraine-war-kiev-conflict
My grandad's brother and his family live in Donetsk, they refused to leave. They get shelled. Things are dire. To be honest, things aren't all that better in Kiev now, with the contract murders and whatnot. I'd be genuinely scared for my life / freedom should I enter Ukraine on the account of my passport alone. They actually cancelled the trains from Hungary to Russia through Ukraine these days. Yes, mercs fight on both sides, and there were real-war-style prisoner exchanges (Russia exchanged the captured helicopter pilot for 2 of our service men who were evidently tortured in custody -- just the opinion of seeing a serviceman in a medical bed slowly saying that he was following orders etc., next cut he's a cast on his arm). War is hell.
And Syria. Do you know that Syria was one of the most progressive states in the middle East, with a relatively secular government, prosperous, and quite safe, before a civil war that has now cost the lives of 300,000 people?
What shocks me is that even after the tragedy of 9/11 the apparent support for "moderate" terrorists continues.
Yes, I support the Syrian government as well, because, as ****ty as some of their tactics have apparently been, bringing it down will turn it into another Libya / Iraq, except much worse. Invasion of Iraq, too ... and the worst of it all is that regular Americans and Iraqis died because of what exactly? Weapons of mass destruction? Did it make the world a better place? Quite the opposite, I think.
I mean, where are we now? If not for all this middle Eastern destabilization, would we have ISIS by now? Saddam was no saint, but neither were the people who hanged him. I actually saw that video. It's a disgrace. Look at Vietnam. U.S. waged a war for 19 years because "communists are bad, let's kill them" apparently. Traumatizing people from both sides for generations.
What will stop U.S. from one day going, you know what, we think Finland has too much snow, let's invade?
So, yes. While I respect the people and the national achievements & spirit of the country, I do not view U.S. as peaceful at all, and now with Donald Trump at the helm, who to me seems to lack any sort of empathy or compassion, as well as long-term planning re: what's better for the planet on the whole, I fear the worst.