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‘This is barbarism’: shock at Russian strike on Odesa cathedral
(www.theguardian.com)
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this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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You contradicted yourself in just six words, that's some impressive gymnastics.
The reason whataboutism is such a lame debating "tactic" is that you're literally agreeing with the position that you're supposedly trying to argue against. "Doing X is terrible." "Yeah, well, America does X, so America is terrible too." Yes... so?
Take it one step further next time you're in a polling both, and actually vote for people who are against it. Think about all of the things other countries have that we don't because we ship a trillion dollars off to war each year, like health care for example.
Canada is a good example. They spend a mere 24 billion a year on war. The UK doesn't have enough funding or material to sustain war at an American rate for more than four months. Both countries have robust health care systems.
Americans can pretend that, since this is a proxy war, that no one here in our country is negatively affected, but the neglect we inflict upon our people to make war in eight countries at once means our people end up dead here. Remember that this week when the heat wave kills Americans who might otherwise have lived if they could have gotten a piece of the hundred billion in charity we gifted Ukraine.
It just so happens that I am Canadian. So I can't vote for whatever it is you want me to vote for that would somehow "fix" America. Which is still irrelevant to the issue of Russia's barbarism, the actual topic that this thread is about. Not America.
One thing I can do to oppose Russia's barbarism is to support more military aid for Ukraine. Which I do. And Canada, despite its smaller military budget, has been doing plenty in that regard. So that all seems to be in order.
Americans don't need to pretend about it. We are well aware that our war machine is what keeps the dollar on top, and keeps our place on the world stage. Adversarial countries are well aware. The reason China has publicly stated they want a military that can compete with the US by 2050, is because the smartest people in government understand your influence only goes as far as your military can reach. That military ability has come at a cost of basic things a world leading country should have at home: healthcare, affordable higher education, etc. Imagine if all of those brilliant minds in the military were instead focused on the issues that face an average citizen!