- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
Interesting article that talks about the similarities between now and 1938, and the sort of lessons we can learn from history.
Interesting article that talks about the similarities between now and 1938, and the sort of lessons we can learn from history.
It’s unbelievably frustrating, because most people at the outset of the conflict were horrified and strongly against just letting Russia do what they wanted.
Instead of capitalizing on that fairly universal public outrage and doing the right thing, the ossified thought processes of pretty much everyone in charge of anything in the west made them hem and haw and delay and prevaricate and play right into Putin’s hand.
It’s pretty clear that Putin’s geopolitical tactics, while completely malevolent and fairly transparent to a HUGE number of people, clearly work incredibly well on our political leaders - in fact, that’s ultimately the only audience he’s ever been playing for.
FYI, the outset of the conflict was in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and sent special forces into Donbas. “Most people” did fuck-all from 2014 to 2022, when Russia escalated to try to take the whole country.
Oh, yeah, I 100% agree. That was the time to step in if anyone actually gave a shit about nuclear non-proliferation.
I consider the complete lack of meaningful response to the 2014 invasion to be both Obama and Merkel’s single most egregious foreign policy failure. Merkel also rapidly thawed relations with Russia after that, and continued to aggressively push for closer ties with Russia, and this is the result. She continues to insist that her approach at the time was correct; she’s going to be remembered alongside the likes of Neville Chamberlain because of it.