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by sva_11 hours ago |
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upvoteby no-name-here11 hours ago|
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Is the argument that the U.S. should only militarily intervene when conflicts are internal within another country, as opposed to when it’s one country invading another? As that’s the opposite of the established international laws around prohibiting one state from attacking another vs the principle of non-intervention.
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upvoteby lurk210 hours ago|
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They haven’t had an election since the war started and routinely force unwilling conscripts into vans.
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upvoteby ceejayoz10 hours ago|
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> They haven’t had an election since the war started

Because that’s what their constitution says. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/ukraines-presidential...

> routinely force unwilling conscripts into vans

Can you clarify what you understand conscription to be?

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upvoteby nullocator9 hours ago|
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What does the Iranian say? If we're all about respecting documents, we should make sure we assess them all equally. The U.S. constitution has a lot to say about many of the things that are happening right now, but those are being happily ignored. We can't even respect our own constitution, the idea that we'd respect others is laughable.
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upvoteby ceejayoz6 hours ago|
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Trump’s disregard for both constitutions is not a good reason for Zelensky to ignore his own.
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upvoteby Peanuts9910 hours ago|
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How do you even securely hold an election during a full scale war? Thousands are outside the country or on the front lines. You'd also be creating huge targets at polling stations. Luckily their constitution recognises it's a bad idea to try.
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upvoteby CapricornNoble10 hours ago|
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1. The Russian position in 2014 was that the Ukrainian people in Donbas were being oppressed by the new Ukrainian central government.

2. There's a lot of domestic political/information suppression in Ukraine but I consider this somewhat normal for a nation in a pretty existential conflict.

3. The Ukrainian military is 70-80% conscripts, increasingly of the "forcibly mobilized" variety (look up "TCC busification" for examples), with almost all military-age males banned from leaving the country. Dudes are getting beaten up, stuffed into vans, and sent to trenches to eat Russian artillery and FABs (air-to-ground bombs)....against their will. I think that definitely counts as suppression.

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upvoteby cylemons10 hours ago|
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What is Ukraine supposed to do then?
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upvoteby klibertp7 hours ago|
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Lose. Evacuate the government. Then mount a guerrilla, and wait for an opportunity. It'll come, most likely sooner rather than later.

Why is that unthinkable? I can understand people in the US being unable to process such a scenario, but here in Europe, there's not a single nation that wasn't off the map for some time.

I know why Ukrainians don't want that, but the demographic costs of tens to hundreds of thousands of "military age men" dying are so huge that any plausible alternative should be considered, even if it's very unpleasant.

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upvoteby ceejayoz6 hours ago|
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> Why is that unthinkable?

Because it’s unthinkably stupid.

> I know why Ukrainians don't want that, but the demographic costs of tens to hundreds of thousands of "military age men" dying are so huge that any plausible alternative should be considered, even if it's very unpleasant.

And you imagine they won’t die in your guerrilla war? Or the next invasion after an emboldened Russia regroups?

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upvoteby von_lohengramm10 hours ago|
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[flagged]
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upvoteby ceejayoz10 hours ago|
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> armed men wearing balaclavas drive up in vans and abduct people off the street to draft them into the military

Every country with conscription will do this if you refuse to show up.

> Both the west and the east have been pressuring them to hold elections to no avail.

Their own constitution and laws forbids it during martial law.

“Both Putin and Trump want Zelensky to violate the Ukrainian Constitution” is not the grand slam take you imagine it to be.

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upvoteby von_lohengramm9 hours ago|
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> Every country with conscription will do this if you refuse to show up.

Was that MP a draft dodger? The issue isn't them picking draft dodgers, it's them picking up anybody that looks like they might be a draft dodger and the tactics they employ to do it.

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