This is a megathread for any posts on the conflict between (so far, and so far as I know) Hamas and the Israeli government, as well as related geopolitics. Culture War thread rules apply.
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Notes -
No matter how you call it: what they did in Mariupol, Nova Kakhovka, Bucha, Odessa and so on is not conductive to human flourishing. (and yes, this time they are less murderous than previously, though it is fairly low bar given Holodomor death toll)
Also, "is not actively attempting to genocide the natives." is passed also by EU. And basically everyone else. Clearing "they do not want murder your nation" bar is not sufficient to answer "Why the heck they would prefer to live under Russia?".
And after https://www.themotte.org/post/705/israelgaza-megathread-1/148670?context=8#context I will limit myself to commenting that I am hopeful that your beloved Russia will fall on its face with their latest imperialism attempt and will stop such activity for few decades.
What did they do?
What I remember from Mariupol was the Azov battalion taking civilian hostages underground into the metallurgy factory complex, much like what is claimed Hamas did, and the Russians waiting for them to come out or release the hostages.
Imo Russia has been far less destructive with Ukraine than the US with Iraq, or even previous wars in the area.
Encouraging invasion by millions of foreigners + discouraging native reproduction and sovereignty, branding right-wing nativist movements as 'nazi 2.0' etc counts as attempt at destroying European nations to me.
Perhaps the European population is broadly consenting to this destruction, and the intent is so diffuse and generalized that the finger cannot be pointed at any given group of people for this attempt, but the results are the same. What happened to the former countries that joined the EU should be a cautionary tale, not something a supposedly nationalist country should emulate.
Have you seen photos of Mariupol before Russian army arrived and after Ruski Mir?
(also, last time I checked it was less "hostages" and more "people hiding from rampaging russian army" - for typical and quite good reasons)
They attack civilians less than USSR and Nazi Germany. Congrats, if they would get worse than this it would be pretty amazing.
Still, to get "less destructive than EU" level they are quite far away. And fortunately for Poland it is not Russia vs Nazi Germany, so Russia would improve a lot to be attractive.
Your goalposts are moving quite fast. And yes, it is still less destructive (in both deliberate destruction and stupid self-destruction) than Russian epic efforts. Though that bar is so low that I am not happy about EU either. Being better than Russia is not enough.
Checked what? I know some people expatriated from Donbass who are considering moving back now that it's been made part of Russia, they don't seem to think it's so bad there.
No I was referring to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and the Russian destruction of Chechnya.
White children are in minority in many Western cities, governments are either indifferent to Christianity or hostile, migrants are still coming. Give it 20 years and nobody will think of as Western Europe as fair-skinned and Christian.
You seemed concerned with the Ukrainian culture getting destroyed, but what is the Ukrainian culture? Does it not include Christianity?
the same could be said by German-occupied Europe even when they had full scale extermination programs
Then NATO was clearly less evil and destructive, despite having greater military power
(also, I am awaiting your explanation to your lie/4chan quality insult "Oh you're a holocaust denier?" (see https://www.themotte.org/post/705/israelgaza-megathread-1/148670?context=8#context ))
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