Question: What work does the word "conflict" do? I've used it somewhat tongue-in-cheek ("ethnic conflict") but it does convey the wrong impression. Just as it is misleading to speak of a Middle East "conflict" when one side steals the land and oppresses the people of another.
https://twitter.com/CyrilRamaphosa/status/1501970614646714374
"Conflict" implies competing legitimacies that need to be resolved. But there is no justifying either the Russian invasion or the Apartheid Israel occupation (and no, that's not bothsideism or whatabouttery). The solution is clear in both cases. The aggressor should withdraw.
One can accept that both Russia and Apartheid Israel can have legitimate security concerns without justifying either brutal invasion or murderous occupation (just as one need not believe in the pristineness of either Palestinians or Ukrainians to acknowledge their oppression).
Describing either invasion or occupation as a "conflict" that needs resolving covers up the fact that neither is a legitimate response.
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