OT: War / Media / NATO / Balance of Power
The media coverage/discussion of Russia/Ukraine has indeed been absurdly one-sided and non-nuanced.
But I guess that has always been the case, when it comes to war (especially when there's one clear 'agressor' and "bad guy").
In times of war, critical thinking is temporarily suspended, propaganda and group-think taking its place.
(True critical thinking is of course always very much frowned upon –– not only in times of war –– as it risks disturbing the precious status quo...)
One should aways look for the capital T Truth. And the truth is, of course, always much more complicated than yes/no, good/bad, black/white. I, for my part, have learned a lot about Russia these past months, and have realized how naïve we were to expand NATO into Russia's backyard, and so quickly too, right after the fall of Soviet. I can understand how Putin feels betrayed by that, especially after the supposed handshake agreement in the 90's of "no NATO expansion to the east". Imagine having Mexico (or Cuba) become members in the Warsaw pact or something... I'm not wild about Sweden and Finland becoming NATO members. But I'm not really against it either; I honestly don't know what to think. I like the expansion of the European zone of trade, peace, liberality and democracy. But at the same time, I can understand that Russia feels threatened by the rapid expansion into its old territories and ongoing sphere of interest. |
