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A comment on If you speak Russian, call Russia and tell them what is happening in Ukraine. Parent comment

Re:If you speak Russian, call Russia and tell them what is h... by lofatdairy on Tuesday March 08, 2022 @12:42PM (#30602928)
I don't mean any offense, but I think it's somewhat fascinating that the idea of total war seems assumed by both your comment and the original post. Even if the US and Russia were at war, the notion that private citizens were not just involved, but obligated to contribute seems to be a remnant of the world wars. What's interesting to me is that this notion seems to have disappeared, since to my knowledge there wasn't such an expectation with Vietnam and Korea (though maybe we can argue that the witch hunt for communists was something of a continuation).

Maybe it's due to the positioning of Russia as an existential threat? It just reminds me of the whole freedom fries vs french fries thing and the idea that there isn't a separation between geopolitics and domestic politics.

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Re:If you speak Russian, call Russia and tell them what is h... by malka on Tuesday March 08, 2022 @01:01PM (#30603261)
I live in Europe, I am french to be more precise. I feel Russia as an existential threat right now.
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Re:If you speak Russian, call Russia and tell them what is h... by lofatdairy on Tuesday March 08, 2022 @06:47PM (#30609008)
Right, and I'm not saying you're wrong for feeling that way, nor am I saying that Russia isn't an existential threat. But, at the risk of over-intellectualizing the situation, I think it's worth noting that for some reason, this Ukraine-Russia conflict has brought out feelings that citizens should be prepared to fight for their country.

This, at least from an American perspective, seems to be a sentiment that comes and goes, but has only appeared in very few cases in our past. I cannot speak for the French in this case, but in general I think it's worth pointing out because you'd expect military conflicts to be resolved between militaries and their respective states - this social contract being something of the foundational idea to Western politics.

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