Sorry to say, NATO membership is just the carrot on the stick that the US uses to lead Ukraine around.

Do you really believe the US considers Ukraine a “true ally”? All the evidence shows that Ukraine is just another useful tool to weaken Russia. US Senators admit this reality from the Senate floor.

Not everyone wants this conflict to end, some are getting very rich.

I have no idea what could have given you that silly idea. I’m being realistic about the issues that go along with US military support.

The US is treating Ukraine the same way it treated Afghanistan during the Soviet war. Afghanistan, just like Ukraine, was the victim of an unjust invasion. We (the US) supported the opposition to the Soviets, and we handed them billions in weapons. We were on the right side.

But we also sabotaged peace deals to prolong the war. We increased the ferocity and brutality of the fighting. We meddled in local politics, choosing winners and losers. This pattern did not end well for the people of Afghanistan, and I fear a similar fate for the people of Ukraine.

So you’re saying the west is providing enough weapons to keep the conflict going, but not providing the weapons Ukraine says it needs to win the war? Hmmm

You would know what I’m talking about if you actually read the sources I linked to.

If I am spreading lies, it is because I believed those lies when I read them in reputable publications like The New York Times and The Nation.

So how do you feel about the US and UK ending the peace talks? You seem to be avoiding the subject here.

Are you responding to the wrong person? The Russian invasion of Ukraine is horrible and unjustified; I disagree with nothing you said.

What I am pointing out is the US and Western interest in the conflict. The US does not support Ukraine for moral reasons, it supports Ukraine for profit.

The US has an interest in extending the war. For example, the closest Ukraine has come to peace were the talks during spring of 2022. The influence of the US, and specifically Boris Johnson, ended those talks.

Whenever someone is convicted of criminal export and trade sanction violations they are subject to 20 years in prison.

Yes none of the current sanctions regimes constitute a complete embargo. That does not change the underlying logic that they are enforced by violence.

Thankfully Iran’s interests align with ethics in this case.

If any tanker tried to defy US sanctions on Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, or Russia it would be sunk the same way.

Good.

Iran and the Houthis are doing what every ethical nation should be doing: enforcing a trade embargo on Israel for the crime of genocide.

The military industrial complex is committed to fight to the last Ukrainian. Its simply good for business.

You’re right, and none of that gives me hope that Harris will pivot.

The re-elect Harris campaign will start on January 20th, and the political reality you just described will still exist.

Changing stances on Israel’s genocide will take leadership, which is something we haven’t seen from the Harris campaign. It is not Harris leading a campaign on principle, it is the polls leading the Harris campaign, just as you described it.

Those suburban moderates’ views can be changed, they just have never been exposed to an opposing message. The news says Israel is the good guys and Hamas is the bad guys; only those on the fringes say otherwise. If Harris would show leadership and take a principled stance on the side of humanity, she could bring most of these low information moderate voters with her.

How do you explain things like her refusal to let a Palestinian speak at the DNC? Or how she re-commits herself to Israel’s “defense” whenever asked?

I want some of that hope, but it seems like facts are pointing in the other direction.

When a culture completely oppresses another people, then that culture naturally attempts to annihilate any empathy for its victims.

You can see the same pattern in how Nazis treated their victims, and how Americans treated their slaves.

No one can justify war crimes quite like the boys at West Point.

So is your argument that the Biden/Harris administration is blind, or stupid?

If I give my kid an AR-15 and they shoot up a school, I may or may not be culpable.

But if I hand them another AR after the first shooting, they kill again, and then I give them another, and another, and keep handing them weapons for months, and theres a pile of 15,000 dead children, then I am definitely culpable.

It doesn’t matter how many times I tell the kid “this AR is for defense only”.

You are like a block away from Pike Place Chowder! best soup place in the world i think

I think we are in agreement on almost everything here.

The middle class can do nothing in the face of a regional offensive by Islamist warlords. When it gets to that point it’s already too late.

My argument is in agreement with what you have said: a strong middle class is a bulwark against the formation and expansion of warlords.

As for the second issue, I fear my words were unclear here- when I referred to “two decades-long invasions” I was speaking of two separate invasions, each decades long. Namely the Soviet invasion in 1979 and the American invasion in 2001. The 2001 invasion was brutal and unjustified, but we can agree it was not the root cause of Afghanistan’s problems.

One issue we may find disagreement on is the attempts at creating a firm national government. I am not aware of any serious attempts at such a thing since the 70s. Each government has been either a puppet government set up to suit foreign interests, or a reactionary warlord. It may be true that the peculiar circumstances of Afghanistan prevent it from having a firm national government, but that hypothesis goes untested in the face of overwhelming foreign meddling.

Yes not everything is down to ecominics, the bombs and bullets are probably a more significant factor. Being unable to feed your family is bad, burying your family is worse.

And yes, the middle class Afghanis can’t put up a fight for many reasons, one of which is that they largely stopped existing. The moment they are locked out of their personal and business savings, they become poor desperate Afghanis.

Can you explain your disagreement or argument? I dont understand what you are getting at, and “elaborate on pre-2001 afghanistan” is a very broad topic.