From Russia’s point of view, they had many reasons to annex Crimea. It wasn’t just a random act of aggression.
Having studied this situation a bit, my conclusion is that both sides are to blame, with Russia being considerably more culpable due to choosing the violent option. Geopolitics isn’t simple and thinking that one side is entirely to blame is just naive and falling for propaganda.
By escalation I’m referring to the giant effort to exclude Russia from everything, including liquor stores and name registrars.
It is really distressing, not only because it’s ethically wrong to blame groups of people for individual actions, but also because it’s pragmatically against the interests of the West. We gain nothing by escalating this.
Seems like this barrage of sanctions and anti-Russian sentiment will do nothing but push Russia further toward China. I really don’t see the West removing them easily, even if Russia withdrew immediately. No one seems to care about arriving at a solution that will minimize bloodshed. Instead the media is more reminiscent of 1984 and drumming up a war against Eurasia than of rational realpolitik.
This is the true birth of a multipolar world. Let’s hope it doesn’t lead to more conflicts.
Boy do I miss the days when SV was a libertarian paradise. I’d love to read a book or essay describing how we went from cypherpunks to left-wing moral crusaders in less than a generation.
I'm just pointing out why your comment is misinformed. I don't consider that to be "picking a fight."
I'm also not a Christian, so it has nothing to do with being offended, unless the abuse of basic historical facts is something one can be offended about.
The entire history of Western literature and culture has been shaped by the Bible. Legal systems, literature, ethics, on and on. For nearly two thousand years. Plenty of people that aren't preachers read and study it intensely. It was the impetus for developing the printing press and for literacy in general. Most modern European languages are based on initial translations of the Bible. Its influence is so pervasive that it's virtually impossible to imagine the modern world without it.
Compare that to Mein Kampf, which is a rambling book by a dictator that was only "relevant" in the world for about 25 years. Even then, people didn't really read it. It certainly had zero influence on Nazi legal codes or culture. It was more like the political books that come out today: written mostly to make some money and get one's ideas into the public sphere. Not as a holy document.
As I said, your comment is just deeply, deeply uninformed.
> just like nobody actually reads the Bible unless they're actual preachers
The Bible is the single most influential work of literature in the history of human civilization. Comparing it to a "personality cult of a strong man" and Mein Kampf is perhaps the most uninformed comment I have ever read on this website.
I don’t think anyone other than programmers thinks DST is much of an inconvenience. The clock changes twice a year, big deal. That’s infinitely less complicated than asking your boss if you can start earlier, which means the store at the subway station will need to be open an hour earlier (since its business comes from commuters), which means restaurants will need to be open earlier to address the lunch crowd, which means your doctor will need to schedule appointments earlier, on and on.
...no, actually it’s extremely logical. Changing clocks society wide is far easier than getting every single person and company to adjust its schedule.
Again, as I said in my initial comment, most of the blame here is on Russia. Nonetheless, the world isn’t black and white.