In 2019 actor and comedian Volodymyr Zelensky ran as the peace candidate winning the Ukrainian presidency with 70% of the vote. As Benjamin Abelow observes in his book... Zelensky almost certainly could have avoided the 2022 war with Russia simply by uttering five words — “I will not join NATO.”

submitted by Orangutan from (twitter.com)

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[–]Alphix 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I disagree. If Zelenskiy had wanted to avoid Russia invading, he would have made sure his military didn't spend the years from 2014 to even nowadays SHELLING CIVILIANS in the Donetsk and Lugasnk provinces of Ukraine, which democratically voted, through referendum for independence from the Ukraine, in 2014 as a result of the US CIA coup.

Ah, but those civilians were a vast majority of ethnic Russians living on their ancestral land, so yeah, shell them, right? Now EVIL PUTIN is pushing to stop that perfectly democratic and peaceful shelling of kindergardens and family homes.

So it's actually worse. It was wanton, intentional provocation. And interestingly, it is PERFECTLY SYMMETRICAL to what happened with Hitler and Poland when WW2 started: the Polish were exterminating Germans living on their ancestral land after the treaty of Versailles redrew the borders and a part of Germany suddenly became Poland. It's the EXACT SAME THING.

So while Putin might be mouthing "evil nazis" all the time, in fact, he's behaving very much like Hitler did, and that is acting in a way that is, after all, more GOOD than evil.

[–]thatrightwinger 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

By that logic, Georgia and Moldova should have subordinated themselves to being bent to the will of Russia and promised never to join NATO. Finland and Sweden have literally spent decades placating first the Soviet Union and then the Russian Federation by stating that they wouldn't join NATO. They simply wanted Russia to leave the other states alone. Georgia was no threat to Russia, but they wanted economic and security assurances that EU and NATO membership might bring, so Russia fanned the flames insurgent groups and made sure that NATO won't touch them with Russia-friendly breakaway Republics.

Moreover, Zelensky wasn't even president in 2014 when Russia invaded the Ukraine the first time, literally taking the Crimea in contradiction to the treaty the nation signed promising to respect Ukraine's sovereign territory.

This is classic victim-blaming. Commenter /u/Alphix blames Zelensky for all the post-2014 bombings, even though he didn't take office until 2019. Crimea was specifically recognized by Russia, via treaty, as part of Ukraine. Putin stomped all over that treaty in 2014, and nothing anyone says or does can change that unalterable fact.

The idea that "all Zelensky" had to do was state he was not join NATO was, effectively, a subordination to the Russian state, much like Belarus and Armenia. They would have to settle to being a functional puppet of Putin and his regime. If you're just OK with a "soft" version of the Soviet Union, that's your business. But I for one won't buy into such tactics.

[–]Site_rly_sux 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

So true! All he had to say was:

  • I will not join NATO

  • And I will tear down the biolabs

  • And I will put a stop to the black magicians

  • And I will demilitarise and denazify

  • And I will allow four additional oblasts to hold referenda on joining the ruzzia. Which four? All of them

  • And btw ruzzia now extends to transdniester and Moldova

  • And I will hand over the national guard battalion azov for show trials and executions in DNR

  • And I will partition my country between orban, Poland, and ruzzia because malorossiya and novarossiya were fake nations invented by lenin in 1918

  • And if I want decommunisation then by god I should have it

  • And Viktor Medvechuk is now lifetime president of malorossiya and the Berkut are back

  • And as RIA Novosti printed on Feb 25th and then quickly retracted: there's a new union state of belorossiya, malorossiya and bolshoi rossiya

  • And also the suwialki gap is ruzzia's

  • And also the Baltic is ruzzia's

  • And onwards to Berlin!

All he had to do. So simple

Edit

  • Oh one other thing Zelensky had to do, which was, not ask about who the mobile crematoria were for?

  • If Putin was planning on a 3 day security operation followed up by the Chechen tartars and mobile crematoria....then who are the body burners for? Zelensky needs to not ask that, too

[–]HugodeCrevellier 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Zelensky almost certainly could have avoided the 2022 war with Russia simply by uttering five words — “I will not join NATO.”

The irony of it all is that NATO had been justifying its continued post-Soviet existence by claiming to 'solve' problems that NATO's existence itself created.

And this has actually worked!

As a result of Russia's operations into Ukraine, seeking to prevent the whole of Ukraine (a closely connected bordering country to it, especially the Eastern parts) from becoming part of NATO (a specifically anti-Russian hostile foreign military alliance), more countries joined NATO ... 'to protect from aggressive Russia'! :/

This is our (clown) world now.