Of course russia doesn't get a free pass... but why do we get one? Why can my small shitty eu country (slovenia) get to have soldiers occupying foreign countries without sanctions? Why can americans do it without sanctions? The French? ...? Why do we treat russia differently for doing the same thing we are... and why are we hurting ourselves by those sanctions?
If Putin now decided to invade Finland, you’d presumably be here with the following arguments:
“Why is nobody talking about the Finnish Nazis? Media reported on that before, they’re not talking about it now. It’s all lies.”
“How do I know Russia is actually bombarding Helsinki? BBC is just propaganda and the Finnish media is probably controlled by the Nazis.”
“Finland sent peacekeeper troops to Afghanistan so they’ve implicitly supported American aggression. Why should we expect different from Russia. Can’t we sanction Finland too”
It’s safe for you to engage in this kind of nonsense pseudo-media-critical sophistry when nobody you know is getting killed.
At least I assume that Finland’s nazis don’t form militias and aren’t part of the armed forces and don’t receive military weapons from NATO.
This doesn’t excuse Russia’s war, but it does make one wonder why Western politicians condemn right-wing extremists so often and so thoroughly with not a peep about the nazis they’re literally sending weapons to.
Well, there was a bit of a scandal when an interview with an Azov neo-nazi was broadcasted in the Greek parliament, but even the Greeks were mostly criticizing themselves for allowing that to happen.
And then online posters would be using this is as proof that Russia has a point with the “denazification” tales they use to justify aggression on other countries’ sovereign territory. “Well, you have to ask why the Finnish army invites Nazis, and now NATO is supplying arms to them too. Just asking questions here that media doesn’t. I am very smart.”
And? Did anyone did anything so America wouldn't start wars? Why America has a free pass?
The Nazi thing in Ukraine is just tired and old, especially since Russia has active ranks of Nazis (like the Wagner Group) that they send abroad. If the Nazi factions justify exterminating civilians in Ukraine, then for consistency's sake, the same could be said of extermination of Russians. (I support exterminating nobody)
America is wrong to start wars. Most people (especially outside of America) agree with that. That doesn't mean Russia gets a free pass to actively threaten Europe and commit genocide, and no amount of paragraphs will change that.