[FRIAM] war footing

[Steve Smith]

Glen -

I really appreciate your outlining this so well.

It is always easier to imagine that *other people* can magically do 
things that we know from our own experience that we cannot (or choose 
not to) do.   I also felt very impotent to do much of anything about 
Trump's tenure except commit to myself (and encourage other fence 
sitters) to put aside petty ideals and vote *effectively* against Trump 
in 2020.   I voted against Trump in 2016 but also Hillary by voting for 
Green Jill Stein (before I discovered what an anti-vaxxer she is, even 
as an MD).  I would not have done so if I thought NM could fall to 
Trump, but if I'd lived in another state where he was a shoo-in I might 
have also thrown my vote into the "protest" category.  Biden was easier 
for me than Hillary to accept, even though I'd have chosen any one of 
about half the big slate in the primaries.  Bernie near the top. I may 
have talked a few of my more curmudgeonly friends out of voting for a 
write-in simply because they didn't get Bernie (or Mayor Pete or Tulsi 
or ...) .   This was one election where the total "popular vote" was 
important even if it didn't "count" as such.   There were a couple of 
candidates I'd have had a hard time not passing over in "protest" but 
not if it was going to change the outcome.

I do think, however, that gumming up Russia's gears, even if it hits the 
populace hard is important.   Making the clear, unequivocal statement 
that Authoritarian Belligerence isn't welcome.   I was shamed by the US 
under Trump (and Bush for that matter) but did not begrudge my 
shamers... I did (do) feel responsible for what my country does in my 
name, even if/though I feel fairly disempowered in most specific ways.

I doubt that the Russian citizenry is suffering any more than the 
Ukranian citizenry, and insomuch as many of them are friends/family, 
there are surely things *they* can do to help Ukrainians that is hard 
for the likes of you or me to do.  That doesn't mean I shouldn't try, 
though I do moderate that by the myriad *other* things i should be doing 
both domestic and foreign with my first-world privilege.

If we can make it out the other side of this without a devastating (or 
even trivial but earthshaking) nuclear exchange, I hope it leads to many 
rethinking the size of the world's nuclear stockpile.   I just saw a 
headline that implied that Belarus was going to host some of Russia's 
nukes.  It was *the right thing* for Ukraine to give up the nukes on 
it's soil at the end of cold war, but imagine how things would look 
(better or worse) if Russia knew that Ukraine held a handful of nukes?   
Time to disarm ourselves...

-Steve

> This video brings home, to me, the inherent conflict with "do what it 
> takes to ...":
>
> I'm Russian I want the rest of the world to hear me out
> https://youtu.be/FUE40mkEYeo
>
> Even though I'm worried she's a plant, she makes the valid point that 
> things like sanctions don't hurt the ultra wealthy. And in a country 
> where the elections really are rigged (or you're young enough to have 
> had no way to intervene before the gravity well became inescapable), 
> what does it mean to "do what it takes to ..."? The last number I 
> heard was Russian authorities arrested 2700 protesters. And given guys 
> like Magomed Tushayev 
> <https://www.jpost.com/international/article-699032>, the gods only 
> know what else has happened.
>
> I mean, I felt pretty impotent with Trump as President. And I'm a 
> relatively well-off white male in a relatively trustworthy democracy. 
> What hope do those fed up with Putin and his government have? Only the 
> hopes of coming years, if not decades of poverty, protesting, and 
> bearing the risk of dying in jail or at the hands of a Tushayev?
>
>
> On 3/2/22 14:59, Steve Smith wrote:
>>
>> I like to hope that the net effect of Putin's nonsense on the heels 
>> of Trump&Co's nonsense is that everyone else might actually get fed 
>> up with Authoritarian capriciousness and do what it takes to shove it 
>> out the airlock and get on with our lives w/o so much of the toxic 
>> something-ulinity.
>>
>
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