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Notes -
'some', not 'same'; it was a typo. Yes, it's plain observable fact that the Ukrainian army has engaged in futile operations like the Kursk incursion, plus counterattacks and defensive operations with no chance of success (trying to establish a Dniepr bridgehead etc). And yes, nameless conscripts get sacrificed. All of this then gets conveniently forgotten in Western mainstream media.
(Also I find it curious that you responded to just one half-sentence.)
Who actually believes unironically in the universality of such norms anyway? Do the same people oppose Israel as well, as an expansionist regime with genocidal aspirations? Or Azerbaijan? I doubt.
I quoted that part because it's the fundamental crux of our disagreement. You believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that the Ukrainian state should just surrender because fighting is, in your words, futile. I don't think it should, unless the people wish it (which they don't).
It's also worth pointing out that IGI-111 was claiming that Ukrainian soldiers were being blown up by the Ukrainian government.
Why are you hung up on this, I wonder. Very obviously he(?) was just making a somewhat cynical, snarky statement, that's all. I'm pretty sure he isn't literally claiming that the Ukrainian army is blowing up its own conscript soldiers with sticks of dynamite or something. If men are conscripted into an army to fight in a war the end of which nobody sees and the chances of victory are rather murky, with many of them getting blown up by drones, mines etc., then yes, in the everyday sense of the word, in layman's terms, it's sending them to get blown up. Just let it go please.
My view is that continued Ukrainian resistance is not futile as long as a string of miracles takes place which hands them victory in the end. This is rather unlikely though.
What can I say? I don't have much patience for the water carriers of genocidal dicatatorships, which there are unfortunately quite a few of around here.
So far all of Putin's negotiations have been obviously in bad faith, so the diplomatic options for the Ukrainian state are either:
Given those two options, when someone flippantly argues that the Ukrainian state defending itself is illegitimate, it merits pushback in my view.
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How do you figure that? I do not think the brutal extent of conscription in Ukraine is currently deniable. If the people wish it, how come volunteers are so insufficient? And it's not like you can ask them because elections were suspended.
Perhaps it is a noble and un-futile fight, but from what it seems, the people (as opposed to the leadership) are sorely lacking the will to fight it.
Conscription in existential wars is a normal thing for states to do, hell, lots of states conscripts young men (and in some cases young women) even in peacetime. Obviously any individual will have an incentive to freeride on his comrades and let them fight the war, but the existence of conscription does not, a priori, make a country defending itself illegitimate. If you believe that, then you'd have to believe that Britain and America fighting against Hitler was illegitimate, since they both used conscription.
There is a difference between the kind of conscription where no one really wants to be the first to volunteer, yet will acquiesce if/when voluntold, and Ukraine. Men of apparent fighting age are being ganged up on and forcibly packed into buses by recruiting officers. Either the people do not want to fight or the government is being very stupid by overreaching where a gentler hand would work.
Also, it being a "normal" or "legitimate" thing to do or not has nothing to do with whether the people want to fight or not. You asserted they do. I see little evidence of such, and ample evidence to the contrary.
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