@Alexandra2001
It's interesting that there are conflicts all over the world - but when the people involved look like us, it means it's WW3
Probably because this one is super power against super power, on our doorstep... nothing to do with "they look like us" thats just stupid.
Be the same if China invaded Taiwan or do they "look like us too?"
We are standing aside as Putin brings in his heavy guns and destroys cities.
How many in Kyiv will leave if there is a humanitarian corridor?
Shameful, all Putin has to do is raise the spectre of Nuclear war and we all run away, might as well unilaterally disarm.
In fact - not on here - but in the wider media; by news presenters and politicians this opinion has been expressed during the past week. Phrases along the lines of "not what you expect to see in Europe", "They have blond hair and blue eyes", "These people drive cars just like ours, they have instagram accounts". I can't remember the specific quotes and can't be bothered looking them up, but an article here covers it:
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/02/civilised-european-look-like-us-racist-coverage-ukraine
I find it hard not to see something similar at work in people falsely declaring this a world war.
With regards to, "We may as well unilaterally disarm". We don't have a nuclear arsenal in order to police the rest of the world nor enforce human rights elsewhere. As Barack Obama argued in 2016, we need to be clear about where our read lines are. The reality is that with nuclear weapons, the red line is not Ukraine.
@MarshaBradyo @Lonelycrab
This is why I said something like "To the extent that we're able to determine it." For example, a nation could request to join NATO, it could be refused on the base that it would destabilise a region in which we're committed to detente. It would need to have conditions, such as any military build up against them is accompanied by corresponding measures in support. As you say, they may opt against neutrality anyway. But I do believe that we have to try to analyse how to change structural factors which may reduce the chance of armed conflict.