Of course we should. Russians elected their leaders, followed and cheered them for decades and supported most of their decisions including this war. Don’t get fooled into thinking Russians are just poor, innocent people send to war by their mad leader. It’s an underdeveloped, sick country that uses violence and terror to get what they want. They got what they deserved.
You take away their ability to harm others. In this case you destroy their ability to wage wars. You sanction the shit out of them so that they don’t have enough money to arm themselves and you destroy whatever military they have now. No one is proposing extermination, they just have to become harmless. When they are civilized enough to re-join the international community they are welcomed to do so.
After WW1 Germany was made the scapegoat for the whole war because they lost. It’s not like they actually had aggressively started WW1 but they were treated as if, which was way too much and german people felt treated unfairly rightfully.
I would argue that those sanctions, if general, shouldn’t include necessities like food or medicine. Also, I feel that sanctions against specific figures in the government might be relatively effective (many countries are doing this already). Make it difficult to enjoy the fortune they stole from their people.
I also don’t like the idea of sanctions that aren’t based on specific/ongoing actions, but the existence of a certain government/regime, though I see where you are coming from.
I would also still argue that the Russian people chose that government, back when they did choose, because they didn’t see many other options, and keeping them in perpetual destitution long term isn’t likely to change that.
Of course we should. Russians elected their leaders, followed and cheered them for decades and supported most of their decisions including this war. Don’t get fooled into thinking Russians are just poor, innocent people send to war by their mad leader. It’s an underdeveloped, sick country that uses violence and terror to get what they want. They got what they deserved.
Demonising a whole people like this is in itself wrong.
What is your supposed solution, then? How does one deal with tens of millions of people who are supposedly evil and wrong?
You take away their ability to harm others. In this case you destroy their ability to wage wars. You sanction the shit out of them so that they don’t have enough money to arm themselves and you destroy whatever military they have now. No one is proposing extermination, they just have to become harmless. When they are civilized enough to re-join the international community they are welcomed to do so.
And what’s the difference between that and the approach that was taken with Germany after WW1, which was a contribution to the rise of the Nazis?
The difference would be that if they start growing their army again we would do a preemptive strike, not just sit and watch.
After WW1 Germany was made the scapegoat for the whole war because they lost. It’s not like they actually had aggressively started WW1 but they were treated as if, which was way too much and german people felt treated unfairly rightfully.
I would argue that those sanctions, if general, shouldn’t include necessities like food or medicine. Also, I feel that sanctions against specific figures in the government might be relatively effective (many countries are doing this already). Make it difficult to enjoy the fortune they stole from their people.
I also don’t like the idea of sanctions that aren’t based on specific/ongoing actions, but the existence of a certain government/regime, though I see where you are coming from.
I would also still argue that the Russian people chose that government, back when they did choose, because they didn’t see many other options, and keeping them in perpetual destitution long term isn’t likely to change that.