Quote (Goomshill @ 22 Dec 2022 22:59)

And Saddam Hussein was elected with 100.00% of the vote in 2002, with a remarkable 11,445,638 out of 11,445,638 ballots cast for him, topping his previous personal best of 99.96% in the 1995 referendum.
Zelensky was similarly "elected" after ending democracy in his country. The majority party was banned, the opposition candidates arrested, half the country was under siege by the insurrectionists and did not participate in the ""vote""

At least the Russian-administered referendums in the separatist regimes had a pretense of legitimacy and credulity, because they actually reflected the desires of the people of those regions and did not pretend to lay claim to those outside their borders. And declaring independence is a reasonable and proportionate response to your government being toppled by a foreign-backed coup who seize power and declare war on you and spend years shelling your borders.

Quote (Meanwhile @ Dec 22 2022 04:18pm)

This is bad faith comparisons. The fact you constantly defending fascists, racists, or here Putin, is going beyond simple logic for me.

==> Zelensky is not the first. Viktor Yushchenko was already more like opposed to Russia's criminal "absorption" behavior: He got barely assassinated by Putin (dioxin poisoning, terrible).

Quote (Santara @ 22 Dec 2022 22:21)

The PAC-3 variants introduced in the 90s have 4 missiles per container.

Quote (Goomshill @ 22 Dec 2022 23:31)

There's no 'backsies' in a democracy. The two main components of a democracy are the people having a vote upon their own governance, and that vote being structured in an agreed upon manner. That can be a tyranny of the majority of 51%, or it can be a constitutional republic with safeguards, but if it abandons either premise of the vote of the people, its no longer a democracy. The pro-western insurrectionists in Kiev didn't like the results of their democratic elections so they overthrew their democracy and replaced it with a vichy regime. There's no legitimacy to votes after that point, it doesn't matter if Zelensky claims he got 79% or 100% or 141% of the vote. Its not a democracy when the results of the votes are thrown out and power seized by violence, when the opposition is subjugated and excluded and does not participate.

Quote (Goomshill @ Dec 22 2022 10:31pm)

There's no 'backsies' in a democracy. The two main components of a democracy are the people having a vote upon their own governance, and that vote being structured in an agreed upon manner. That can be a tyranny of the majority of 51%, or it can be a constitutional republic with safeguards, but if it abandons either premise of the vote of the people, its no longer a democracy. The pro-western insurrectionists in Kiev didn't like the results of their democratic elections so they overthrew their democracy and replaced it with a vichy regime. There's no legitimacy to votes after that point, it doesn't matter if Zelensky claims he got 79% or 100% or 141% of the vote. Its not a democracy when the results of the votes are thrown out and power seized by violence, when the opposition is subjugated and excluded and does not participate.

Quote (Prox1m1ty @ Dec 22 2022 05:17pm)

Ukraine should look to Belarus or Russia as shining examples of democracy?

More pathetic excuses and justifications. Just like claiming NATO was a threat to Russia. Ukraine was far from being accepted into NATO and even further from entering the EU.
That false pretense for Putin's war just does not wash.

Quote (DizzyBusiness @ 22 Dec 2022 17:12)

Man this legitimately sounds like a 10 year olds take on geopolitics.

Quote (Crunkt @ Dec 22 2022 08:03pm)

just trying to keep it simple so ya'll understand

Quote (Crunkt @ Dec 23 2022 01:03am)

just trying to keep it simple so ya'll understand

Quote (Goomshill @ Dec 22 2022 11:39pm)

NATO ran right up to Russia's doorstep by force. And pretending it was far from being a NATO member is belied by all the NATO military support being hoisted onto Ukraine as we speak.
Being undemocratic, authoritarian and repressive isn't excused by pointing out that someone else is also undemocratic, authoritarian and repressive. Democracy was a blip in world history in Greece and in the US and we're watching the EU backslide away from its post-war experiment as they embrace more centralized power divorced from the will of the voting public, and even US democracy is being threatened, but ironically mostly by the people who say US democracy is being threatened. The other ones, not me, of course.