Interesting article that talks about the similarities between now and 1938, and the sort of lessons we can learn from history.

  • arymandias@feddit.de
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    6 months ago

    How does this argument work, the military spending of the Nazis was insane in the build up to the war, up to 40% in 1939, no such numbers in Russia. Even now it’s just estimated at 10% and they clearly need all of it just to fight the war in Ukraine. How are they ever gonna steamroll Nato with those numbers, there is no tangible proof that they are planning for this.

    The Putin is Hitler mantra also doesn’t make any sense, he has been a moderate (all be it an authoritarian) politician for decades, and now he suddenly is the rebirth of Hitler. Just looking at his politics he’s clearly not a fascist.

    We’ve been sold that Ukraine can win this war militarily, and the collective west can cripple the Russian economy with sanctions alone. Now that this turns out to be complete BS, they (a subset of western politicians) are looking for a way out, and clearly their preferred way is further escalations. So now they are selling us even more BS to justify this.

    • Habahnow@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      6 months ago

      I mean the percentages are different, but the argument remains the same, Russia is attacking a sovereign nation and feels they can do it with impunity. Getting access to all of Ukraine’s resources helps them rebuild faster and help destabilize the West more since they would be able to affect food supply chains.

      Putting being “moderate” is irrelevant (though I didn’t agree Putin, who is homophobic is moderate), his similarities are with his actions in attacking a country for personal Gain.

      There is no other option to counteract Russian aggression, supporting Ukraine and sanctioning Russia are the major tools the West has. Ukraine can defend themselves but the West has been slow to provide sufficient support, quickly. This stems from Russian influence on the West as well (Republicans warming up to Russia, or things beneficial to them). Sanctions take time, to affect countries. Russia is currently selling oil at discounts and also may have to begin to import more oil. These are all problems for Russia that will continue to get worse.

      • arymandias@feddit.de
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        6 months ago

        If Russia succeeds in occupying Ukraine completely it will take an immense amount of resources to subdue the population, I don’t see why this will be any different than Iraq. Given the current resistance it might even be impossible for Russia to simply occupy Ukraine and extract its resources, this is also probably the reason why they have tried to sue for peace multiple times.

        Putin is a moderate in Russian politics, and it is relevant because it means there are ways to negotiate with him.

    • volvoxvsmarla @lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      May I add: Hitler was largely supported by the youth. Putin is mostly supported by the elderly.

    • PeteBauxigeg@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      Russia is already fighting all of NATO in some areas, Ukraine already uses NATO training and aerial reconnaissance/space reconnaissance resources, British troops on the ground perform some of the steps (Ukrainians performing the others) to fire missiles