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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 9, 2023

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Does the idea that disarmament, mutually agreed restraint and maintenance of norms are positive-sum not pop up in those discussions at all?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Memorandum has indicated that it works poorly with Russia.

The Iran deal, the US expanding right into Eastern Europe after Russia pulled back and the long list of self proclaimed US exceptionalism gives the rest of the world strong reasons not to trust the US.

after Russia pulled back

After Russia was kicked out of areas it occupied/controlled by force. Large part of that conquests was result of alliance with Third Reich and Hitler.

the US expanding right into Eastern Europe

They were invited by nearly everyone for obvious reasons.

You do know that Slovakia and Croatia entirely owe their existence to Hitler's legacy, don't you? Without him and his decisions, neither country would exist.

Do you still hold their independence to be legitimate?

You also know that Poland signed a nonaggression pact with the Third Reich, and took part in the partition of Czechoslovakia, don't you?

entirely owe their existence to Hitler's legacy

That is blatantly false, for multiple reasons. Dropping "entirely" would help a bit but still would be untrue.

And I am not calling for rolling back anything communist adjacent - I would not support undoing electrification of many rural areas of Poland on basis "it happened under communism". And I am not going to kill myself because I was born during communist rule. Or deconstruct motorways where construction started under Hitler.

But i would support undoing things done by Third Reich and USSR regimes that were unwanted.

Do you still hold their independence to be legitimate?

Yes.

You also know that Poland signed a nonaggression pact with the Third Reich, and took part in the partition of Czechoslovakia, don't you?

Yes. BTW, Trans-Olza is nowadays in Czechia.

But i would support things done by Third Reich and USSR regimes that were unwanted.

Huh?

But i would support undoing things done by

whooops!

It was supposed to be "But i would support undoing things done by(...)"

Then I suppose attaching Crimea to Soviet Ukraine in 1954, without consulting or even asking pretty much anyone involved, falls into the category of "things done by the USSR that were wanted" in your eyes.

To fix the historical wrongs, Russia should have given Crimea independence as Crimean Khanate. First they destroyed its statehood, then they deported most Crimean Tartars to the Central Asia.