Re:Germany softens stance on curbing Russian access to SWIFT
by happytoexplain on Saturday February 26, 2022 @04:26PM
(#30482115)
Many people (most?) consider "Machiavellian" to be an insult - essentially synonymous to "smart but immoral". Part of the West's ideology, for better or worse, is the idealistic belief that smartness and simple prudence/shrewdness can be separated from the negative aspects of Machiavellianism.
Re:Germany softens stance on curbing Russian access to SWIFT
by robbedpeter on Saturday February 26, 2022 @05:58PM
(#30482846)
There's also recognition of the valid circumstance in which you're presented with choosing a lesser evil. If all choices are bad, choose the least bad, and those contexts change radically over different time frames.
Re:Germany softens stance on curbing Russian access to SWIFT
by Gatsky on Saturday February 26, 2022 @05:21PM
(#30482537)
What would you do now instead?
Re:Germany softens stance on curbing Russian access to SWIFT
by aaomidi on Saturday February 26, 2022 @07:27PM
(#30483830)
Extend NATO membership to more countries and get them on if they want to in less than a month.
Bring Iran back into the world economy, get them away from Russia. Use them for energy, etc.
Deploy iron dome across eastern europe.
Get a UN-led referendum in various natural localities of Ukraine to decide if they want to be a part of Russia or not. Anywhere that isn't, get them to join NATO. Anywhere that is, well, let people decide which govt they want to belong to.
Re:Germany softens stance on curbing Russian access to SWIFT
by elforce002 on Saturday February 26, 2022 @08:14PM
(#30484260)
Playing devil's advocate, are you sure that strangle a nuclear-powered country with vast resources and possibly pushing them into form a coalition with other countries will be a good idea? This will further polarize the world and resentment will run deep after some years. Heck, This looks really similar to the origin story of Hitler just with nuclear bombs as blitzkrieg.
This is another huge mistake from the Western liberal order that keeps fumbling the ball.
Relying on Russian gas for energy security was the first.
What are the root causes if these disastrous decisions? How did the East get smarter, more Machiavellian than us? They were in the trash can 20 years ago. Perhaps getting fat and rich rather than fighting for every penny.. we are missing street smarts, and end up with Justin Trudeau