Re:Nuclear Close Calls: Able Archer 83 (2018)
by Mikeb85 on Saturday October 08, 2022 @12:54PM
(#33133898)
> These are all border regions for Russia and NATO was messing with them.
Ukraine isn't a pawn for world powers. They're an independent democracy with the right to choose their own destiny.
They were friendly with Russia for decades and got burned. Even Zelenskiy tried to slightly repair relations with Russia and end the war in Donbass. But in the end Russia has shown it's all a façade, their goal has never been to live peacefully with others but rather conquest and genocide.
Re:Nuclear Close Calls: Able Archer 83 (2018)
by leobg on Tuesday October 11, 2022 @03:33PM
(#33168150)
Exactly. False lessons drawn both from Munich and from Cuba. It’s not about whether to “appease” or “not appease”. It’s about understanding your opponent’s motives and allowing him to save face.
Kennedy and McNamara knew that, because they both had experienced death and destruction firsthand in WW2. Our generation, on the other hand, only knows flame wars on Reddit. Hence the convenient, black and white rhetoric.
Lest we forget, the Iraq war occurred with zero justification half way around the world. Every bad thing you can say about Putin, you can say worse about George W. Bush (who ran a torture program).
The most important thing we can do is come to a peace agreement and an arms reduction agreement.