not to play devil’s advocate when russia are clearly the moral and legal transgressors here.
but there are +100,000,000 more russian civilians than ukranians. russia is far more integral, far more deeply entwined - as all these exposés and probing questions attest - in the global economy than ukraine.
the consequences of creating immiseration, even famine, on such a scale, to such a major actor on the world stage, are untested and unprecedented. even in the selfish sense of how it might affect western economies and the geopolitical projection of western power. a certain US state’s school system has been found to be deeply invested in a sanctioned russian bank, for instance.
small nations suffering at the hands of big bullying neighbours is as old as time itself. smaller cultures being absorbed by regional or global hegemons. it happens (not saying i approve of it or that it’s anything less than a cosmic-scale horror, etc.)
we have tried to sanction and destabilise small states like north korea, about which we can be fairly blasé (though still at our peril). even in that example we have enough reasons to worry about the military consequences of a regime in free fall.
i don’t think anyone who looks at the russian situ and says ‘too bad, russian people’ is really seriously comprehending the potential calamity here.
Last edited by uziq (2022-03-06 05:28:58)
