Quote (ofthevoid @ Dec 16 2024 11:00am)
This is the type of stuff that torches western credibility when it comes to rules based order. If the Druze of Golan and adjacent areas are allowed to be annexed because the people living there wish it, why is the Donbass or Crimea different?
It's the reason why we the US have fading global credibility tbh. These type of equivalents make it really apparent that ruled based order is synonymous with western unilateral decision making. In reality, it's about weakening a geopolitical enemy, always has been. Problem is when the Arabs, Africans and South Americans, Indians see these type of double standards, it's hard for them to go along under some pretense of fairness.
The Crimea comparison is pretty egregious. Not even Fender denied that a majority of Crimeans were Russian and wanted to be Russian, he just thought the region needed to be ethnically cleansed. Ukraine is complex because it's not entirely clear what people really think outside of specific groups (i.e. Azov and the Donetsk separatists), and where Russia thinks its claims end.
Clearly it is sometimes necessary for borders to sometimes adjust, or for one people to throw off association with another, but the only way to make sense of the West's framing on these issues is to accept that the West views itself as jury, judge, and executioner. That's a decision for the West to make, but as you said, other nation's are not going to forever follow suit.