Sure that’s it. Anyone on the internet who disagrees with you must be stupid. You’re just the smartest person in the whole world. Good for you.

Caving to the Moscow regime’s nuclear threats now will only make nuclear confrontation inevitable.

No reasonable person will ever be convinced by this unhinged wall of text that tries to equivocate between European colonialism in North America over the past 400 years, and Russian imperialism happening literally right now.

Insane whataboutism - but in any case, it doesn’t change the fact that what the Moscow regime is doing is wrong.

Right, so we all better just let the Russian regime take whatever it wants, such as Ukrainian territory, in this case. Or else they will use nuclear bombs. And it’ll be everyone else’s fault, because we didn’t want to let them take whatever they wanted.

Russia is totally the good guy here, and if we don’t let them do whatever they want, they’ll use nukes and we will deserve it.

Am I getting that right?

To the great surprise of no one.

Remember this is the man who, during the Covid pandemic, was handed a softball question from a reporter “What do you say to Americans who are scared… millions who are scared right now?” Basically set him up to provide a reassuring, caring response, to sound presidential for once in his life.

Except his response was: “I say that you’re a terrible reporter,” Trump snapped aggressively. “That’s what I say. I think that’s a very nasty question. You’re doing sensationalism.”

He’s a hateful, divisive, incompetent person who consistently reminds us how terrible humans being can be.

the uprising in DPR and LPR where people rebelled against the regime.

You mean these people, right? The ones Russia sent in?

The fact that the west ran a coup in Ukraine is well documented,

It most certainly is not. If it were you’d have provided a source.

and it’s very clear that the fascist regime there does not represent the majority o the people.

Citation needed. The events of 2005, 2013/2014, 2022-present beg to differ.

The very fact that Ukraine no longer has elections underscores just how unpopular this regime is.

Oh you got me, I definitely can’t think of ANY other reasons why elections would be challenging in Ukraine right now.

Go spread your propaganda elsewhere.

Pot, meet kettle.

This perspective is just the casual erasure of the free agency of people living in the democracies of central and Eastern Europe, Ukraine, Georgia, the Baltic states.

Instead of seeing it as NATO expanding, why can’t you see it that many countries are afraid of Russia and are voluntarily joining? Why would they be afraid of Russia? Sweden and Finland held out for a long time, and when they joined it was not because NATO “expanded into” them, it’s because they wanted to join! Aren’t you capable of seeing all these people as making their own choices?

Ukraine has a long yet alternating history of good relations with Russia alongside the desire for greater integration with the west. You are just absolutely incapable of acknowledging that they made their own choice for themselves to move away from Russia. They expressed their collective will with Yushchenko in 2005, with Maidan in 2013-2014, and still to this day. Russia was perfectly fine with a neutral Ukraine as long as the Ukrainians only do what Russia wants them to do, and when they don’t (or when Georgia didn’t), they get the tanks.

Citation needed. Don’t worry, I already found one for you: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-as-a-ukrainian-im-not-surprised-by-volodymyr-zelenskys-declining/

According to KIIS, his approval rating has declined sharply, to 60%. Hardly “in the gutter”.

But wait, isn’t KIIS a biased regime source?! They were the same whose survey showed that the majority of Ukrainians support the fight against the Russian invasion. Hmm, I guess regime polls and stats agencies are only biased when they demonstrate facts that don’t support your narrative. As long as they support your pro-Russian message then you can use their data freely.

Of course it is challenging to conduct polls during wartime. Countries tend toward authoritarianism when they are at war. But unlike the invaders, Zelensky’s government was elected in free and fair elections in 2019. This election, as well as the Maidan protests in 2013, make it pretty obvious to me that Ukrainians support their independence from Russia.

The sources are Gallup and KIIS.

Let me know when you can find a source that shows the majority of Ukrainians do not support the war against Russian invasion. I’ll wait.

The source is unbiased and objective in terms of demonstrating that the majority of Ukrainians support the fight against the Russian invasion.

I don’t expect moral perfection from a country that is fighting for its survival against a more powerful aggressor. Yes, conscription is awful. Ukraine has allowed many exceptions but the alternative is to surrender their country to the real ghouls here, which is the Moscow regime that has raped and murdered innocent civilians from Bucha to Mariupol.

There would be no need for conscription if Russia had not invaded Ukraine, and conscription would end tomorrow if Russia would turn around and go home.

From here: https://theconversation.com/what-latest-polling-says-about-the-mood-in-ukraine-and-the-desire-to-remain-optimistic-amid-the-suffering-221559

And here: https://news.gallup.com/poll/512258/ukrainians-stand-behind-war-effort-despite-fatigue.aspx

And here: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/beyond-the-counteroffensive-84-of-ukrainians-are-ready-for-a-long-war/

As a matter of fact, your article shows the conscription is unpopular, particularly among people being conscripted. It does not show that the majority of people in Ukraine do not support the fight against the Russian invasion. It was disingenuous of you to provide that article to infer otherwise.

It seems to me that the Ukrainians themselves want to fight this invasion as well.

Lol thanks, you got it. I’ll wear the downvotes as a badge of shame, and a reminder to take the time to think before I shoot off a stupid comment.

Bah, who am I kidding. It’s not the first time this happened and it won’t be the last. I once got downvotes in a newiran subreddit because the OP compared the Iran govt to neanderthals - I felt that homo sapiens neanderthalensis is a bit misunderstood and didn’t deserve to be insulted by the comparison.

Hey is this the part where we ask for proof?

Cuz all I’ve been hearing is that Canada’s allegations are totally baseless until we provide proof. Isn’t that how it works? Or is proof only required when India is being accused?

I understand, it sounds like you are concerned for India’s international reputation in light of these allegations, and rightfully so. It’s unfair from the perspective of a common citizen that your country gets flamed like this without proof, and insulting that people just say “well it’s Canada, they aren’t lying”.

It’s just that I trust my government and institutions and I believe them. Biden and Trudeau both spoke to Modi before this was released. Journalists in Canada were going to release this if the government didn’t. I truly believe that handling it this way was bad for Canada too, so I don’t see an incentive for Canada to lie which I do see for the Indian govt. Don’t forget that other countries have their own relationships with India and will make their own decisions about supporting the allegations, not necessarily in light of the quality of proof but rather for pragmatic reasons. I think this whole affair will be painful for normal people in both countries, so in that sense you’re absolutely right that diplomacy failed.

Still I’m curious: what do you think would be the reaction if the allegations turn out to be true?

Fair enough, I see where you’re coming from and fully expect some proof. I do however have doubts that any proof will ever be conclusive enough to convince people and certainly not enough to get Modi to admit the truth if his govt is truly behind it. So what will providing proof accomplish anyway? Not providing proof might be a tactic to elicit lies that can be demonstrated as such through a trickle release of proof, enough to prove that the deniers are liars.

At the end of the day, Canada is a sovereign country and they are free to level a number of consequences against a foreign government if they so desire, including sanctions, visa restrictions, and so on. The only proof they need is for themselves, and to take action that will protect Canadians from foreign assassinations in the future. Canada really does not have to prove anything to India, especially if they do not believe the Indian govt is acting in good faith.

But it’s not exactly a threat is it? It’s a very reasonable observation about how Ukrainian refugees might feel and behave.

Wouldn’t you feel the same way? Your country gets invaded, you flee to a generous supporting friendly country. That country stops being supporting, and your chances to return home start to vanish. You didn’t choose to be here. Now you’re stuck in a foreign country that you feel could be doing more to fight injustice and give you a chance to return home.

He’s the president of a democracy, not a mind controller. People will feel a certain way. He’s simply observing this potential situation, as a warning to the allies not to slide into complacency.

I don’t think it’s fair to the other athletes who also worked super hard to make it to the Olympics. It’s not a prestigious competition if it’s full of cheaters.

Meanwhile cannabis beverages are required to have:

-Nutrition facts including calories, sugar, etc.

-Gigantic yellow warning with random health warning (e.g., don’t use if pregnant)

-Huge red stop sign cannabis leaf logo

-KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN

-Big pain in the ass plastic childproof thing

None of these required on a can of beer.

From a harm reduction perspective, it’s a massive failure. Many cannabis beverages have very low nearly zero calories, sugar-free. For your physical health they are almost certainly less harmful than alcohol and I know many people would enjoy them as an alternative to alcohol.

We have faced a similar failure in harm reduction strategy regarding vaping versus tobacco. I think in both cases it’s a result of vested interests (tax revenue, lobbying, don’t know) trumping what is best for people.