I’m for rebuilding west Ukraine and for the return of refugees who wanna rebuild it. This war didn’t start with the Russian invasion though, but with a civil war. I also support east Ukraine in its efforts to rebuild. This is the side that, rather than submit to the will of Kiev, decided to revert to the Federation. Given all the shelling in Donetsk, many other grievances, they get my empathy as well. Too bad outsiders on both sides each felt the need to escalate to the brink of a world war. That was unnecessary.
Commenting on Keith McHenry's post (March 2, 2025):
Replying to David Cassandra Mertz's post (March 1, 2025):I'm for a neutral Ukraine, which was and still is a popular position outside of a more extremist inner circle. NATO dangled the carrot of membership and one political faction (what I'd call the far right) fell for it, betting all its chips. That faction lost.Rebuilding Ukraine is what's up now. The oblasts who asked Russia to come to their defense are already rebuilding. Mariupol is looking a lot better.Some still call that city part of "occupied Ukraine". I don't. When Ukraine has elections sometime soon (we hope, for their sake), these eastern folks won't be voting (part of the reason for putting off elections is no one wants to face the new limits to Kiev's jurisdiction). They'll have their own elections.
I see these events through a different lens. Trump is correct in his diagnosis: anyone who hates Putin that much is going to have a hard time negotiating the future. I’m for a neutral Ukraine, like most Ukrainians (last we knew).
