I see a common pattern in your arguments. Ukraine never did large scale repression against Russian speakers—“but they would’ve done it”. Europe didn’t start sanctioning Russian resources until several months into the war—“but they would’ve done it anyway”. The US reduced troops and warheads in Europe every year from 1991 to 2021 - “but they would have attacked us”. 141 countries vote in the UN to condemn Russian aggression—“but they’re all US puppets, just waiting for a chance to harm us”.
There’s a name for this kind of irrationality: paranoia. Dictators often drum up paranoia to stay in power, which has the side effect of making the country aggressive.
I disagree with the first part, but I’m not sure if this is the right place to discuss the details. We can discuss it in DM if you want.
You are spot on with the second, though. Exploiting fears of real or perceived threats is an extremely effective tool to control people and nations by posing as their protector.
The champion in this regard is the USA, of course. It fuels and exploits Europe’s fear of Russia, Japan’s fear of China, India’s and China’s mutual fear, and so on.
Domestically, the USA’s elites exploit an extremely wide range of fears. Fear of terrorists, fear of Russia, fear of China, fear of Nazis, fear of people of different parties, races, sexuality, and even fear of people who fear LGBTQ+ or specific races.
The USA has been using the “divide and conquer” strategy liberally for at least a century now. This will likely have catastrophic consequences, as a divided world will have much less chance of surviving the acute risk period.
Putin also exploits fears, such as fears of LGBT “propaganda”, Nazis, and the USA. But I don’t think his position before 2022 was so shaky that he would have to resort to war to hold it
I see a common pattern in your arguments. Ukraine never did large scale repression against Russian speakers—“but they would’ve done it”. Europe didn’t start sanctioning Russian resources until several months into the war—“but they would’ve done it anyway”. The US reduced troops and warheads in Europe every year from 1991 to 2021 - “but they would have attacked us”. 141 countries vote in the UN to condemn Russian aggression—“but they’re all US puppets, just waiting for a chance to harm us”.
There’s a name for this kind of irrationality: paranoia. Dictators often drum up paranoia to stay in power, which has the side effect of making the country aggressive.
I disagree with the first part, but I’m not sure if this is the right place to discuss the details. We can discuss it in DM if you want.
You are spot on with the second, though. Exploiting fears of real or perceived threats is an extremely effective tool to control people and nations by posing as their protector.
The champion in this regard is the USA, of course. It fuels and exploits Europe’s fear of Russia, Japan’s fear of China, India’s and China’s mutual fear, and so on.
Domestically, the USA’s elites exploit an extremely wide range of fears. Fear of terrorists, fear of Russia, fear of China, fear of Nazis, fear of people of different parties, races, sexuality, and even fear of people who fear LGBTQ+ or specific races.
The USA has been using the “divide and conquer” strategy liberally for at least a century now. This will likely have catastrophic consequences, as a divided world will have much less chance of surviving the acute risk period.
Putin also exploits fears, such as fears of LGBT “propaganda”, Nazis, and the USA. But I don’t think his position before 2022 was so shaky that he would have to resort to war to hold it