Tensions
US President Joe Biden has labelled Russian leader Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” in a move likely to escalate diplomatic tensions even further.
Ya think? Putin won’t agree? Sharp analysis there.
The Kremlin, however, said it was “unforgiveable rhetoric”.
“We believe such rhetoric to be unacceptable and unforgivable on the part of the head of a state, whose bombs have killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state news agency Tass.
It’s true about the bombs, it’s true that we haven’t always done it in self-defense or the defense of others, it’s true that we’ve done a lot of bad shit since WW2, but it’s also true that Putin is a war criminal.
That’s the thing isn’t it? It’s entirely possible for two things to be true at once. Western countries have over the years done some terrible things. Sometimes for ‘good’ reasons and sometimes for very bad reasons. Putin is still undeniably a war criminal though. It’s not a defence to say the other guy is just as bad. Personally, I’d be pretty relaxed about seeing a number of western leaders over the years face war crimes charges and not a few soldiers as well. Admittedly the average soldier seems to be cooler under threat or provocation than the average US cop, but there a re still some who seem to revel in blood just a bit too much.
I knew a soldier like that: he threatened me over my anti-Iraq war views, got rapey with my girlfriend, and bragged about killing people to impress chicks.
Probably won’t surprise anyone that he goes by Sophia now…
Putin’s defence is simply “yeah but so are you”. Which is a fair point, but America’s hypocrisy does not make the accusation untrue.
We’re not the Good Guys, we’re the Somewhat Better Guys. Nothing to sing praises about but *our* neighbors don’t have to worry about us invading them. Being Somewhat Better is still better than being the Bad Guy.
Mind you, Cuba had to worry about us invading them, and British troops in Northern Ireland were seen as invasive by many, and then there’s Guatemala, and…
Canada may be the only neighbor we haven’t threatened, at least not since the French and Indian War, and we weren’t even a country then. (They kicked our butts and will tell us if we ask them.)
Trump tried to make up for it by insulting Trudeau every chance he got.
If you want to condemn western countries for current bad actions, look up the support for Saudi Arabia while it commits atrocities in Yemen.
Mike: actually the most recent US-Canada dispute that actually became a war was the ‘War of 1812’. The US was a country, but Canada was a few separate British colonies.
Thanks for the correction. I should have looked it up to refresh my memory before posting that.