I haven’t read the full text, but I am perplexed by the second paragraph.
“When Russia invaded Ukraine last February, my faith in democracy was shaken. One country decided to start blowing up citizens of another. I expected and waited for an international response that would quickly stop the madness. But no response materialized. What if democracy isn’t actually all that good”
Why? What is the connection between Russia invading Ukraine an democracy? Do you mean that other democracies should have intervened? There was a massive response coming mainly from the Western world (in the form of sanctions and military help). Would you have been less disappointing if the democracies had sent their armies? Sorry, I might be totally missing your point, I just want to understand
That was my idealism/naivete: that the league of liberal democracies is so mature and strong that they could flip a switch and the war would cease. Maybe they would just tell Putin to stop and he would have to. Because for me, democracy was always a guarantee of peace. But the war made me realize my map was way off from the territory, and Popper’s book, in turn, helped to replace my fantasy with something closer to the territory.
I haven’t read the full text, but I am perplexed by the second paragraph.
“When Russia invaded Ukraine last February, my faith in democracy was shaken. One country decided to start blowing up citizens of another. I expected and waited for an international response that would quickly stop the madness. But no response materialized. What if democracy isn’t actually all that good”
Why? What is the connection between Russia invading Ukraine an democracy? Do you mean that other democracies should have intervened? There was a massive response coming mainly from the Western world (in the form of sanctions and military help). Would you have been less disappointing if the democracies had sent their armies? Sorry, I might be totally missing your point, I just want to understand
That was my idealism/naivete: that the league of liberal democracies is so mature and strong that they could flip a switch and the war would cease. Maybe they would just tell Putin to stop and he would have to. Because for me, democracy was always a guarantee of peace. But the war made me realize my map was way off from the territory, and Popper’s book, in turn, helped to replace my fantasy with something closer to the territory.
I see, thanks for clarifying