Quote (DizzyBusiness @ Jun 1 2023 07:56pm)
Sure they did, and they were, relations were great with the West as long as they were helping to kill "terrorists". Putins Munich speech was the turning point IMO. Russia was a quirky ally until it had the nerve to try and have any say in what happens in its neighborhood, that is when they became "aggressive" in the eyes of the West.
So you know that a majority of Russians would naturally support LGBT issues like we see in western countries, the only thing stopping that is government intervention and propaganda? Is it possible different cultures have different views on these things? Why is it any of your concern what the status of LGBT rights in Russia is? It isn't exactly going smoothly in western countries, whether you support it or not doesn't change that.
The Zelensky cokehead stuff is mostly just a joke. And regarding those studies, sure, I don't doubt that is the case, so what? Advocate for those changes in your own country and hope to lead by example, every country has its own drug policies some are better than others but there is no silver bullet as of yet.
Sure maybe Ukraine will change, but until then, acting as if it is the bastion of freedom and democracy in Europe is ridiculous.
Right, so you do understand how a country could feel threatened even if it has nukes? That is has military concerns beyond nuclear war? That was the point.
You are either dishonest or ignorant if you think this topic can be separated from US foreign policy, I don't even know how to respond to that, you seem to have no grasp on how geopolitics works at all.
Typing on my phone, cba to caps so bear with me
People who dont acknowledge lgbt rights dont acknowledge human rights. It doesnt get any simpler. Im not talking about hormone treatments for minors or whatever. Im talking about good old fashioned homophobia. If you can excuse yourself to hate on gays, it means you can excuse yourself to nazi atrocities as well, if you have any integrity in your logical reasoning. This is basic human rights stuff. Of course i get to say an opinion on this. Societies which do what russia currently does are shittier than those that dont. Simple as that. Same goes with islamism, north korea etc. Of course you can be a moral relativist if you want, but if you choose to support a society that oppresses gays, you also give it mandate to arbitrarily discriminate against dizzybusiness. And oppressing gays is just one example of whats wrong, its more about what homophobia represents.
If you want harsher punishments against junkies despite what evidence says about its effects... then you do you. What can i say
Nobody said ukraine is a bastion of freedom and democracy. It is as much freedom and democracy as navalny is. They act as symbols of choices in the better direction, but they arent saints
What concerns? Russia just traded ukraine with 1000km of nato border next to petersburg. Finland was non-aligned until the invasion. Doesnt look like they care about nato after all.
US freign policy in europe AND european policy AND east european policy. Not overall US foreign policy. Its not a dichotomy, its a mishmash. But i guess i understand nothing about geopolitics. Geopolitics is like evolutionary psychology or gender studies or, god forbid, intersectional feminist theory: any arguments can be justified by a vague, buzzword-ish umbrella term with a priori reasoning. Starts getting old when people just throw "geopolitics, geopolitics" every where.
This post was edited by Neptunus on Jun 1 2023 04:30pm