It seems to me I keep being evenhanded (admitting Russia armed rebels against a government, for instance, while saying USA does it routinely) while you’re being super one sided (focused solely on bad actions by Russia and NONE by the USA, like at all, including the ones that contributed to this very conflict, but in general you don’t seem to care if USA does the kinds of things you denounce, nor think it should face the consequences you advocate, nor believe that the same level of drastic response should be taken, sacrificing civilians and so on).

“Russian colonists” is an extremely biased way of labeling people who moved to a region while living in a federation, and wound up living there after the federation allowed the regions to secede. By contrast, the USA fought a civil war and killed millions of people to “preserve the union” and prevent anyone from ever seceding. The USA conquered territory, eg the state you live in (California) is part of a huge swarh down to Texas which was simply TAKEN from Mexico, and that’s why so many spanish speakers live there and so many cities have spanish names. That’s far more egregious (as is taking an entire continent from Native American nations, invading, enslaving people etc etc.) than voluntarily allowing secession (eg Brexit) and then having a lot of Russian-speakers there.

Over half of the people I see in Latvia speak Russian as I pass by. Including in the capitol, Riga. That was also the case in Kyiv in 2018 when I was there last. To you they are a “fifth column” — that’s very telling. Because by speaking Russian they undermind the anti-Russian agenda you seem to support (??) It’s like an anti-vaxxer or an old school liberal being “on the wrong side of history”.

This “fifth column” includes grandparents in Latvia who will soon be forced out of the country because due to new laws because they won’t learn the language. They don’t have citizenship and were never granted it, much like Palestinians in Lebanon or Syri, but to be fair they are treated MUCH better. Still, they aren’t exactly “fully welcome”, and may have to be deported in their old age soon. That’s the kind of stuff I heard from Latvians who grew up in Latvia and whose elderly parents haven’t mastered the language. (When Donald Trump insists that IMMIGRANTS learn English, he is excoriated.) I mean, maybe have a carve-our for elderly and infirm peolle at least? But the anti-Russian-language crowd has been emboldened of late. They already outlawed SPEAKING it on a job (even a private job) and teaching it in schools (even private schools).

It’s nothing new, after the Ottoman empire fell apart many people were pissed at Turkey, especially Christians who got essentially genocided (Armenians, Greeks, etc). I can understand Latvians wanting to preserve their language. That’s because I can understand where people are coming from on MULTIPLE sides. Why not try it in the case of Russia and USA? The majority of the Russian public supports this war just as the US public supported the Iraq war — and rather than caricature them all, or say they’re deluded by one man, it’s crucial to understand why they do support it.

As far as your criteria, it sounds EXACTLY like what NATO has been doing in Ukraine as well, further supporting my point about a symmetric proxy war:

providing weapons and military equipment

Significant influence on military strategy

political and economic support

So by this logic, NATO is involved in the war, at the least, and “has boots on the ground fighting in Ukraine”. And Ukraine is already a de-facto NATO member, said its own leaders.

USA didn’t havs boots on the ground when we did the above things to Syrian rebels, or Contras, or Mujahideen etc etc etc.? CIA made sure we didnt have official soldiers there but did that make it “boots on the ground”?

Of course that’s mostly rhetorical nonsense. USA didn’t have boots on the ground when its military contractors and volunteers from USA were in Iraq? No one knows how many military contractors were in Iraq.

This is all wordplay. I condemn Russia for supporting terrorists but USA does it all day long and very curiously you always seem to avoid the subject of how do we stop that. You don’t seem to care that “great powers” destabilize smaller countries, but care deeply if Russia does it.

To take a proxy war going on at the same time that has been actually even more destructive, but has nothing to do with Russia… Yemen. Maybe then you will see it really was a proxy war in Ukriane. In Yemen, Iran, playing the role of USA in Ukraine, fomented a revolution by Houthi Rebels, and provided support for them, but less than USA did for Ukraine’s paramilitary and military. Saudis responded worse than Russia did to maintain their power — they blockaded the country and millions of people are starving. For every hospital Russia bombed in Ukraine, the Saudi coalition using US planes bombed multiple hospitals, markets, mosques, schools.

We heard about the maternity ward with a couple causalties endlessly, but do you remember seeing any stories of hospitals bombed in Yemen? Yet we help the Saudis continue, what is the consistent logic…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/20...

Beirut got attacked by the same group (ISIS) as Paris did, on the same day, same number of causalties. Yet the world lit up in French colors and hardly anyone remembered Lebanon: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/16/world/middleeast/beirut-l...

The reasons people treat the Ukraine war specially from everything else, even wars that lead to even more misery, are:

1. European Lives Matter More

2. Opportunity to blame Russia and finally isolate it and prove it’s the worst actor in the world

It’s like when Republicans welcome refugees from Cuba with open arms (because they can blame socialism) but hate allowing refugees from central America seek asylum. It’s a double standard with a clear agenda.