Russell Brand on the Ukraine crisis

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"Fight back"? "Strike after giving 10 warnings"?
I think you are talking about some other historical event.

As for China…..no matter the “Chinese” viewpoint,” there’s no justification for its treatment of the Uyghurs and the Tibetans.

The Chinese are bad communists….communists are not supposed to be ethnic nationalists.

I don't think the propaganda on this issue in the western world is true.
I'm preparing a thread to talk about my opinion. It won't take too long.

But the last sentence is an interesting point.
Now China does have groups that oppose the government under the banner of communism.
I'm not sure how far I've leaned to the left. But I am an internationalist.

“You don’t understand officer, I had to punch my neighbour, he wasn’t doing anything wrong but I don’t like his friends, and I warned him I was going to do it, and anyway, you let me off last time I punched him, and when I punched my other neighbour.”

I plan a response to what Kraftie said but don't have time to do it now as my workday is beginning.

Hehe.

Perhaps a much better analogy, given there are actually weapon systems and armed troops involved in the real world is the man waving a knife or a firearm in his face.

Saying - don't attack me or I'll use them.
Yes officer, he waved his pistol and called for his friends when I was telling him he has no right to exist, while standing at his fence with my machine gun.
It's clearly his friends' fault! If they rejected him, I'd just still be using his backyard and do what I please in his home, just like I used to.

OK so in another thread I had stated an opinion that I found it hard as an American to take the moral high ground in view of what the US did in Iraq. I also want to say that I find the moral high ground hard to attain in view of the fact that the West is refusing to give Ukraine the sort of support they're begging for.

Just because we screwed up in Iraq.....doesn't mean we should also screw up in Ukraine.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

Yeah.....we screwed up in Iraq and Syria-----and, probably, some sort of racism was involved in that. And some sort of favoritism in terms of Ukraine being "European" is at play here.

Still, I still wouldn't back off from aiding Ukraine because it's "racist," somehow.

I would seek to do better in places which really need the help---like in Syria....or in the Somali area.....or in Myanmar.

A perception of "hypocrisy" should not color our response to Ukraine.

Problem is the "sort of support they're begging for" would involve direct combat between NATO forces and Russia. That's a no-no due to the threat of nuclear war.

So the best we can do is a Cold War-style proxy war, i.e. aid Ukraine the same ways the Soviet Union and China aided Vietnam against the U.S.A. back in the 1950's-1970's.

That is the future, that does not help anybody now.




I never said you did. As the saying goes it is what it is. What it is very different from the ‘90s when America was the sole superpower who could bend everybody to its will. While those decisions lead to bad choices today, lesser of evils choices need to be made. Doing nothing but regretting the prior bad choices is also a choice with bad consequences.

You're right but I still feel bad about it .

I’m into the “proxy war” situation, too.

Not direct military intervention in Ukraine.

Unfortunately, as often happens, I don't recall exactly what I wanted to say. But regarding Communism, it's popular to say that Communism and Fascism are 2 sides of the same coin, but I see a fundamental distinction in that Communism has always professed a lofty goal of opposing exploitation whereas Fascism has never made any sort of Humanitarian appeal. This is how historical figures such as Fidel Castro and Salvador Allende Gossens have been able to attract admirers in the West. Nevertheless I don't see any relevance to dismissing the CCP as "bad Communists", like who would be a "good Communist" in your view, especially as somebody who grew up in a society that categorically rejects Communism in any form?

The other point is about propaganda. Let's assume anything we are told about China, Russia, etc. is somebody's propaganda. But bear in mind that over the last 7 years or so we in the US have been exposed to a lot of Russia inspired propaganda, whereas all propaganda we encounter regarding China is anti-Chinese so we've been trained to take a dim view of anything China or the CCP does.

My post about Xinjiang has been published in the PPR section.

Communists are not supposed to be into nationalism, and discrimination against “minority” ethnic groups.

“Two sides of the same coin” as far as extremism is concerned—is quite applicable.

The CCP has an authoritarian form of government—no matter the “propaganda.”
The Chinese people are usually quite decent folks.