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So, Curtis Yarvin just dropped a long essay about why he doesn't like the West's support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia: https://graymirror.substack.com/p/ukraine-the-tomb-of-liberal-nationalism
Or, at least, that's what I think his point is. As usual with his writings, it can be hard to tell.
FWIW, reading Unqualified Reservations was probably the single most important event in my journey to this weird part of the internet that we call the Ratsphere, even though Yarvin probably doesn't consider himself a rationalist (and I neither do I, really).
However, on this particular point (Ukraine), I find myself quite frustrated. All those words, and he never once (as far as I can tell - I admit that I only had time to skim the article) addressed what I would think would be the most obvious point if you're trying to convince a bog-standard Westerner why they shouldn't support Ukraine: Ukraine was invaded by Russia. Not a "regime change" type invasion, a la USA vs. Iraq '03, not a "peacekeeping" invasion. A "Russia wants some of the land currently controlled by Ukraine to be controlled by Russia instead" invasion. A good, old-fashioned war of conquest for resources. The kind of war that, since 1945, the industrialized West (or "first world") has tried very hard to make sure nobody is allowed to wage, especially not in Europe. And therefore, the West's support for Ukraine is entirely justified by the desire to make sure nobody is allowed to get away with just seizing territory because they want it.
Like I said, maybe he does try to convince the reader why this policy is wrong, but in true Moldbuggian fashion, he uses 10,000 words to say what would be better said with 100.
Or maybe he assumes that anybody paying attention knows why the standard narrative is wrong. Maybe I'm wrong about how and why Russia invaded Ukraine.
As a side note, I do think it's interesting that the both the most radically right-wing Substack author I follow (Yarvin) and the most radically left-wing Substack author I follow (Freddie DeBoer) both think the West's support for Ukraine is bad. Is this just horseshoe theory? They both hate the United States for different reasons and anything it does is wrong by default?
It's not that surprising. Russia still has vestiges of communism, hence why some on the left support it, or at least are not gung ho about supporting Ukraine. Also, America helping Ukraine is an extension of US interventionism. Likewise, some on the right opposite American interventionism and see Russia as a traditional country and Putin as a strong nationalist.
I have never seen anyone on the left argue this. Can you provide an example? What I see is more along the lines of reflexive anti-Americanism, where a leftist dislikes America, so criticizes everything it supports.
This article last year suggests some echoes of the mentality within the Russian Army.
https://www.newsweek.com/russian-state-tv-analyst-urges-military-socialism-amid-ukraine-invasion-1704540
My reading of the situation is that the USSR has been subsumed into a narrative of Russian Nationalism, with some of the mindset hanging around among older people.
Sure, the Russian Army. But you're arguing that left-leaning people are supporting it out of love of communism, not reflexive anti-Americanism. Can you show me an example of that?
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