Russian President Vladimir Putin promised Friday to "immediately" order a ceasefire in Ukraine and start negotiations if Kyiv began withdrawing troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and renounced plans to join NATO. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected what he called an ultimatum by Putin to surrender more territory.
Fair point. If this were a situation were I was trying to convince the other part, then I would agree with you, my question doesn’t create any strong argument and it is quite reductive. I’ve used it as a sort of gotcha in discussions when we reached the ideological level (russia is fascists genocider badman!) But to be quite honest I am not asking this as a gotcha now. I’ve asked it so much and never gotten an answer and I’ve gotten curious about what the honest answer is. I’d like to know how people can scream about fascism and against peace, while not being willing to fight themselves. If I truly believed the war in Ukraine was an existential threat, and was somehow able to square that with the fact ukrainians weren’t willing to fight, and able to square that with the idea that was must go on, then I can’t see how I wouldn’t also be volunteering.
The question as I’ve posed it is flawed, it requires that we accept the people of Ukraine do not wish to fight and that the war is lost - I feel like I’ve presented a solid case for both, but it’s still sort of a prerequisite - and anyone who agrees on those two fronts, is more than likely a person who is more informed than the person who thinks the war should continue. The venn diagramme overlap of people who can observe the basic facts, but still think the war should go on, is quite small.
Fair point. If this were a situation were I was trying to convince the other part, then I would agree with you, my question doesn’t create any strong argument and it is quite reductive. I’ve used it as a sort of gotcha in discussions when we reached the ideological level (russia is fascists genocider badman!) But to be quite honest I am not asking this as a gotcha now. I’ve asked it so much and never gotten an answer and I’ve gotten curious about what the honest answer is. I’d like to know how people can scream about fascism and against peace, while not being willing to fight themselves. If I truly believed the war in Ukraine was an existential threat, and was somehow able to square that with the fact ukrainians weren’t willing to fight, and able to square that with the idea that was must go on, then I can’t see how I wouldn’t also be volunteering.
The question as I’ve posed it is flawed, it requires that we accept the people of Ukraine do not wish to fight and that the war is lost - I feel like I’ve presented a solid case for both, but it’s still sort of a prerequisite - and anyone who agrees on those two fronts, is more than likely a person who is more informed than the person who thinks the war should continue. The venn diagramme overlap of people who can observe the basic facts, but still think the war should go on, is quite small.
Yeah I definitely get where you’re coming from