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Putin said Russia has delivered tactical nuclear warheads to Belarus and said Russia could use similar weapons in Ukraine, but there was no need to do so more than a year into the invasion. (www.ft.com)

submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] DevCat 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

There is a nazi problem in pretty much every country, it may just have a different label. This does not justify declaring war.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I'll just quote myself though honestly I shouldn't respond:

I wasn’t commenting on whether or not that was Putin’s motivation.

Note also that did I did not comment on the justness of declaring war.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Was it justified in WWII?

[–] DevCat 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If simply having nazis in your country is a justification, the US could have attacked itself as well. Today, we still have nazis, by one label or another, in pretty much every country. Declaring war is justified only when their actions reach a certain level.

And remember, countries don't have friends, they have interests.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

I see. I'm glad you answered this in the spirit it was intended. On reflection, it may have come across a bit sarcastic, which was not intended.

At what point would the shelling of ethnic Russians in Ukraine have justified war? This doesn't seem to have been the tipping point, as it happens, which seems to have been the threat of Ukraine joining NATO. But it is an important factor that goes well beyond 'just' having a Nazi presence, which I agree does not justify war (which can only be justified in self defence, in my view).

The US may have interests rather than friends, but China does things differently. Participation in the BRI, I believe, depends on a willingness to act as 'partners'. That concept seems closer to friendship than to mere interests. From a class perspective, a country's bourgeoisie will have interests rather than friends, but their workers can, must, be friends.

This would be clear cut where there were a dictatorship of the proletariat, which Russia is far from, nowadays. Still, if the notion of interests-not-friends is not universal, then a more subtle analysis of Russian actions may be required.