The false dichotomy of Ukraine or Russia

 Its very strange to me to see some sort of weird binary set up where you have to be either Pro Ukraine or Pro Russia.  You are perceived as either Pro Nazi or Pro Putin/Pro Invasion depending on what your detractors think of you.  Frankly, I'm not sure where I land on this one.  The Nazi thing is more complicated than people realize.  I've read something online (which means it must be true?) that the Nazi imagery goes back to WWII era when the Soviets were very enthusiastically killing Ukrainians and the Nazis were actually stopping them from doing so.  Ukrainians decided to join the Nazis to stop the slaughter.  So it may be this is not really about racial purity or Nazism per se but about countering Soviet aggression.  Is this true?  I don't know but it's possible.  

On the other side you have Russians who think the Ukrainians are indeed Nazis and therefore dangerous and need clearing out or this is a convenient fig leaf for re-establishing Greater Russia.  You decide which to believe because frankly, I think most of the "news" reported from there is either propaganda or misinformation.  Perhaps a bit of both.  

Recent reports have Russian troops slaughtering civilians after they've been rounded up.   That's a war crime.  Right?  Yes and no. 

Other reports show Ukranians bragging about poisoning Russian troops with food.  That's a war crime.  If that occurred first, that muddies the waters considerably.  Poison is a war crime.  Civilians who take up arms without wearing distinct unit insignia and/or flags fall into a gray area that may put them outside the protection of Geneva Conventions much like what we saw with Al Qaeda and ISIL.  

I cannot take a side in this conflict because I don't know enough about what's true.  I do think Russia had no business invading so in that regard I support Ukraine.  That doesn't mean that Ukraine is without fault or blame just that Russia tipped this thing over.  

Either way, its a mess.  The biggest impact might be the pegging of the Ruble to gold and oil.  This is a shrewd move to force Europe to buy Rubles to pay for Russian oil which, if this works, supplants the US Dollar as the petrodollar.  I really don't want to see what happens if they succeed.  

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Welcome back.

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