@steven_pifer Minus the hipsterisms, "Everyone wants to avoid a major war in Europe, right?" is a restatement of classic appeasement of an aggressor at the expense of the victim. All one needs to add is a "quarrel in a far away country, between people of whom we know nothing", especially:
@steven_pifer "there's no plausible amount of whacking (or threatened whacking) that would fundamentally alter Russia's calculus unless...there's a negotiation in which they get some of what they want."
I.e., we get "Peace in our time", if we give the Russians/Nazis, some of what they want.
I.e., we get "Peace in our time", if we give the Russians/Nazis, some of what they want.
@steven_pifer For one, it didn't work too well the first time, did it?
Instead it merely encouraged them.
Secondly, the whole point of the Post WWII is you don't arrogantly decide -- a la Munich, Molotov-Ribbentrop, Yalta -- the fates of nations over their heads.
Instead it merely encouraged them.
Secondly, the whole point of the Post WWII is you don't arrogantly decide -- a la Munich, Molotov-Ribbentrop, Yalta -- the fates of nations over their heads.
@steven_pifer Indeed the unfortunate and ultimately ridiculous Minsk is a major back step to 1938, this time with Germany and France imposing a bad deal on Ukraine. Not as bad as dismembering Czechoslovakia but a modern, hipster version of the same.
@steven_pifer Ultimately, tho, it is the sheer and utterly appalling arrogance that we Europeans cannot abide by: the leap from "No one wants a major war in Europe, right?"
to: so the US and Russia need to make a deal in which the Russians get some of what they want in a country in Europe.
to: so the US and Russia need to make a deal in which the Russians get some of what they want in a country in Europe.
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