Have you arrived at your verdict regarding the war between Russia and Ukraine? Who is the good guy, and who is the bad guy? Who is the victim, and who is the villain?
As I’ve already said in the Open Threads, there is much to this conflict that is not known because it is not widely available in the media. If you limit yourself to one source of “news”, the opinion of that news outlet, becomes your opinion, as well.
The most sensible path would be to look for evidence from different trusted and reliable news streams, thus avoiding the misinformation from the mainstream media and those with biased agendas.
As facts, expert analysis and details begin to flow in, I thought it may help those of us at this blog, who are serious about objective assessment and independent thinking, to have posts on this subject. So, if I come across information that may help this process, I will share them here. If you have other good, relevant material, please add to this fact-finding venture.
In the following video, Michael J Matt (from The Remnant) reviews some of the issues from around the world such as the Digital ID for Canadians, implanted microchips for the Swedes and the war in Eastern Europe.
Also courtesy of The Remnant, this video from a Ukrainian National who is challenging the narrative.
When good information is difficult to obtain, then the sensible response is to fall back to known safe ground, or First Principles. One set of which is known as Just War Theory.
1. The war must be proportionate. The harm that the war seeks to redress must be equal or greater than the harm cause by the war itself.
2. The war must not be tainted by the self-interest of those promoting it.
3. The war must be as a last resort…
Russia has failed to meet these three criteria.
Note that as the aggressor, the onus is on Russia to provide adequate justification. The benefit of the doubt goes to the nation attacked.
Another standard is that of the legal obligations of the Parties involved.
In 1991, Russia signed an agreement guaranteeing the sovereign independence of Ukraine, including Ukraine’s unfettered right to enter into alliances and treaties.
When the UN set the criteria for recognising the sovereignty and independence of former Soviet satellite states, Russia agreed.
By these standards, the Russian claim to Ukrainian territory is invalid and theRussian invasion is illegal.
Finally, the Russian claim that Ukraine as a member of NATO would threaten Russia is patently false. NATO is a defensive alliance, and the number of scenarios in which NATO invades a nuclear-armed Russia that are NOT the result of Russian aggression, is effectively zero.
Framing this as a good-guys vs. bad-guys conflict is not necessary. We have ample reason to conclude that Russia is in the wrong, and that most of the Russian justifications offered so far are spurious.
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