Quote (Goomshill @ 6 Mar 2022 15:47)
China doesn't want an empire, it wants stability. For Ukrainians, there isn't such a choice. They can either become Russia's bitch again or be bombed to hell and become Russia's bitch again. The prospect of quagmires and instability hasn't dissuaded America nor Russia from a myriad of invasions in the past few decades, only the threat of confrontation with other world powers has kept that peace, peace through actual military security. Ukraine never had that, and the west refused to give it. Our only willingness to come to the defense of the Ukrainians is by ensuring their cities get blown up and citizens becoming either refugees or massacred instead of a bloodless takeover. Ukraine could have had its regime changed in 2022 like it did in 2014, without chaos and war. What's the benefit for the common citizen to take up the desperate ethno-nationalist cause against foreign imperialists, if that cause is doomed?
By fighting, they will at least become the bitch of a much weaker Russia. Driving up the price the Russians have to pay for their aggression is the right thing to do. Imho, Ukraine has not yet hit the inflection point where the price the Ukrainian civilians would have to pay for continuing the fight exceeds the damage that doing so inflicts on the Russians. I'm with you, however, that Zelensky should surrender to save his people
if / when this point is reached. But we're not there yet.