You ok buddy? Wanna talk about something?

This is what I mean. This is a classic example of a condescending way of talking to people. You really shouldn’t be talking to people like this, it’s not constructive at all and just makes you seem angry and like you have nothing better to say.

Nobody here is trying to fight you. If you don’t have anything constructive to say you can just refrain from commenting.

You need help dude, going after people like this because you can’t read what they’re writing is pretty alarming.

Be russia.

Sovereign nation, not a US puppet.

Invades another sovereign nation.

“This would never have happened if the US hadn’t forced us!”

The dissonance is so extreme it’s not even funny. Do you honestly believe that russia is standing up to the US, and not controlled by the US, and at the same time that they have no choice in the matter of whether hundreds of thousands of russians should die and be maimed in Ukraine?

Either russia is a US puppet, the US orchestrated the war, and the US is to blame; or russia is acting of its own accord, and are the sole country responsible for the war starting and continuing. You can’t have it both ways.

I’ve been at some festivals where the bartering system was alive and well! People would trade beer for camping chairs or a volleyball for some duct tape. Good times :)

Not 100% true: I know some places in Norway that have unreliable internet connectivity. They have terminals in the store that will save your purchase and wire it to the bank when connection is restored. Of course, this means you can over-draw your card, but I’ve never heard of that being a big issue in those small places.

I was with you until “they should be looking east”.

No, we shouldn’t. We should be looking to strengthen Europe. If anywhere, we should be looking south, to the decent countries that do exist in South America and Africa. Despite all the issues with the US you point out (that I largely agree with), they’re still a quasi-democracy, that doesn’t regularly disappear dissidents or wipe out ethnic groups. They’ve shown that they’re volatile and untrustworthy, that doesn’t make China or russia a better alternative.

It honestly feels like we somehow have to take back the (very loaded) word “antisemitism”, as Israel and its supporters seem intent on making it mean “anything the Israeli government disagrees with”.

I’m not an antisemite, and have no hate whatsoever for anyone because of theirs religious beliefs or where they come from. My views are antizionist and antigenocide. Which are strictly political views, not tied to any specific demographic of people.

This take just baffles me… you can disapprove of a war, and still respect people willing to put their life on the line for something they believe is right. Even in war, opposing sides have a long history of showing their enemy a certain amount of personal respect, even though they clearly disagree about something to the point of killing each other over it.

Your take is just condescending and unempathetic. You can respect someone for sacrificing themselves without agreeing with them about what they’re sacrificing themselves for. Regardless, it shouldn’t be hard to see how someone fighting to depose an infamously brutal dictator (Iraq) or a fundamentalist regime that stones women for wanting a divorce (Afghanistan) can believe that they are doing something good.