Honestly, the nuclear non-proliferation movement is dead and gone, and has been since February 2022 (really, since February 2014):
If Ukraine had managed to keep their hands on even a handful of nukes instead of handing them off to Russia as a result of the Budapest Memorandum, Russia would not be invading Ukraine right now, because the consequence would be “Russian cities start turning into glass”.
If the other signatories of the Budapest memorandum (the US and UK - I’m intentionally leaving Russia out for obvious reasons) had done more than effectively nothing in 2014, and had provided much more robust support - up to and including direct intervention to support Ukraine - in 2022, Russia would not be fucking around like this.
The Ukraine War has proven that nuclear weapons are the absolute final word in maintaining sovereignty, territorial integrity, and unilateral geopolitical power.
If Ukraine had any, Russia would not be able to prosecute the war without wildly disproportionate negative (nuclear) consequences from Ukraine.
If Russia didn’t have any, they would not be able to prosecute the war without proportionate negative (conventional; regime-change) internationally-driven consequences.
TL;DR: nuclear non-proliferation doesn’t work if you don’t strictly and vigorously enforce defense arrangements that are directly related to said non-proliferation.
You'd be surprised how much a concrete pillar holding up an overpass can actually take. They don't break like in the movies, they are specifically designed to take big truck impacts and not fail. Anybody crashing a Cybertruck at highway speeds into one of those is instantly turned into red colored mashed potatoes.
Because it's crucial to have eyes on the ground objectively reporting the reality of the conflict and getting first-hand accounts from people they otherwise wouldn't reach from afar.
It's only thanks to these journalists that we know of the devastation as it is. If we relied solely on Hamas or IDF, we'd get muddied information.
Throughout this conflict, and after having watched very closely the war in Ukraine the past 2 years... The rhetoric coming out of Israel matches very closely with the same sort of propaganda and denialism Russia uses.
Emir Massar Aseel, an Arab tribal leader in El Geneina, dismissed the rape allegations as “empty lies.” Aseel is a leader of the Rizeigat – one of the largest Arab tribes in West Darfur and the group from which many RSF leaders hail. Arab tribal traditions prohibit sexual assault and bar Arabs from marrying Masalit, Aseel said in a phone interview, and thus his people couldn’t have committed mass rape.
“If I can’t bring myself to marry” a Masalit woman, Aseel said, “why would I go and take her by force?”
If not for the horrific context, the sheer idiocy of the above comment would be truly hilarious.
100%, more world leader should be tried for war crimes. The surviving members of the last 5 US administrations for sure. Erdogan himself, of course, Merkel and Macron. Probably a few thousand others.
This would be such a stupid, self destructive move. Even worse than Russias attempt to invade Ukraine. Hopefully it never happens but seems like there are no guarantees.
I don't get tankies obsession with defending China and Russia. They've done more to hurt the communist cause than all the rabid right wing crazies put together.
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