The goal is to try to set precedents so that eventually it is taken seriously and isn’t a joke. Hopefully some day it will apply to people like Kissinger.
Fair enough. Operating difference is Ukraine is coöperating with the ICC. Afghanistan didn’t in 2017, a reason the ICC cited for rejecting prosecution.
The Taliban could have petitioned to have the case reöpened. But for obvious reasons, they, too, weren’t interested.
(Context: Ukraine ratified. Iraq never did. Afghanistan did under U.S. occupation in 2003.)
The warrants were never about "the evacuation of orphan children from the war zone". You knew that already. And I think you know also that no one here believes or is otherwise mollified by the Kremlin's soothing catchphrases, or any of the other obfuscations it attempts to present to the world as a cover for what it has done.
The U.S. is the most powerful nation in the world. We have an unprecedented capacity to destroy organized state power. It is naive to think that the first steps toward international accountability for world leaders would feasibly start with or initially include the U.S.
It's naive to think it's steps in that direction at all. The steps needed would include the whole world putting economic sanctions on the US and stopping them only when the US gives up all its war criminals just like Serbia did.
It is a step in the right direction because we are talking about it. The idea of a world leader being accountable for evil acts it now no longer as absurd as it was in 1900. Hopefully, soon, more and more people will wonder why U.S. leaders aren't similarly held accountable. It will be a good thing when that happens.
Kim Dotcom is still harassed because he is very vocal against the US and what is happening in Ukraine. https://x.com/KimDotcom
The US narrative on Ukraine and Israel is getting weaker. Thorns like Kim Dotcom that has a big following, Telegram that is the only social platform to access the Russian side of the events, can break the US narrative.
It is ironic that the US screams Russia did a war crime in Bucha but Israel on Gaza is fine.
True. Best source to get info from the war are on Telegram. Both Ukrainian and Russian ones. Some channels have millions of users and provide daily map updates, information about enemy positions and even information about locations where equipement is stored in EU countries.
Facebook does not generally take down content that is offensive or criminal in nature.
The have moderation teams because they are required by law.
These are outsourced to the lowest bidder. They are so overwhelmed by the amount of that content.
Watch those documentaries about the psychological traumas inflicted to those that moderate Facebook content.
The extent of the accusations is evidence that all that is made up in order to get access into Telegram. Telegram is too important to the other side in the Ukraine war. If Telegram goes, then the other side is silenced.
The only reason the Russian economy is weak is Putin. He could have easily democratized and worked with other Western nations on infrastructure and improving life for his citizens, instead he continues to subjugate, propagandize, and toss them into his military meat grinder like Stalin. He thinks the war economy will make Russia prosper, instead he’s killing off his next generation of men to improve the country. Russia has bountiful land and resources and wastes them on this crap.
We do not really care about "democracies". We just want friendly governments that are on our side. We are fine with Saudi Arabia which is the exact opposite of a democracy because they are our loyal ally.
We prefer "democracies" because we can covertly influence their elections.
Our democracy is not good either. We still hold elections on Tuesdays, an inconvenience to many. Why not on a Sunday like everyone else? We have just two political parties, no third-party candidate is ever going to get elected.
I hope “we” learned our lesson with China and Saudi Arabia. Also the (mostly) failed wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. The best you can do in a country that doesn’t adhere to principles of democracy is work with them on a limited basis. We will never, ever convince them to be democratic. That will only happen from within the country. For example there have been rumblings of revolt in Iran. Maybe we can provide access of burgeoning democracies to information and resources, but that’s about all we can do, as well as protect new ones like helping Ukraine fight the attempted genocide by Russia against the Ukrainian people. Our democracy is doing fairly well. We have a harsh polarity right now, but I think that is mostly driven by Trump and his MAGA allies. Not sure how that’s going to turn out, but I think Americans are too independently minded to watch Trump just settle in and destroy our country with concentration camps, imprisonment/elimination of his political opponents, iand military occupation of “blue”cities that he has been advertising as part of his campaign.
Maybe, or he could be even worse, or maybe Russians will get someone who isn’t quite so bloodthirsty and delusional. It can’t be that everyone is delusional about restoring the USSR when China sitting on their backside ready to take all their resources.
The Ukraine War though has been now transformed into an Afghanistan War. No end in sight, wasting a lot of money, and a distraction to important issues.
Also it has been empowering the opposition against the dollar. The US cannot support a 34 trillion dollar debt if fewer countries use the dollar.
> The Ukraine War though has been now transformed into an Afghanistan War. No end in sight, wasting a lot of money, and a distraction to important issues.
Indeed, the analogy is obvious. Just like the Afghanistan Wars were a waste of lives, money, and morale for its invaders —USSR (1979-89) & USA (2001-21)—, so is the Ukrainian War being the same kind of waste for the invading Russia (2014/2022-...).
We put the Ukrainian nationalists in power in 2014 and gave them a life purpose to hate Russia. The Russians lost their cool and invaded in 2022. They expected a quick resolution but we did not let the Ukrainians accept a truce on their terms.
Now the Ukrainians are disintegrating. We will never give them any billions of dollars to fix their country. We will dump them and it is Russia's problem now.
