ALAMO wrote: SeigSoloyvov wrote:Naw I ain't downplaying the Nazi's made my position clear they need to be shot.
My comment was about your generalization and comparing Ukraine's forces to the Wehrmacht, "Wehrmacht tank, plane" etc
I am just calling out what you are pulling and both know why your doing it, so don't play innocent.
If we take for granted that you are perfectly right (and that is my opinion either), then it makes them a perfect match for Wehrmacht.
They were just conscripted soldiers fighting for their country.
And sure that there was a nazi element among them, but not everybody was a nazi.
Even the nazis were back for duty, in West Germany, as soon as the late 40s.
Russia won't be able to "denazify" Ukraine, just the same way the Soviet Union failed even with enormous efforts.
Nazi ideology was active in the Ukrainian SSSR masqueraded as "nationalist", and the Soviet Union even cheered.
The most radical elements hold their heads up as only SU ceased to exist, and the first marches with torches were performed in 1992 already.
They can reduce the number of nazis, pushing them to emigrate to other EU countries, which will just repeat the case of the US and Canada-based Ukrainian nazi diaspora, ending with generations of nationalized nazis among the population of nominally normal countries.
Erasing the nazi ideology would require another nation-building material, which they lack at the moment because throwing away any participation of Poland and Russia in the process.
My vision for an ultimate political solution to the conflict, if we are to be realistic, is as follows
- Ukrainian nationalism is here to stay, and the Ukraine will always be defined by it at least throughout the 21st century. It did not arrive by accident, and the loyalty of Ukrainians will be to their own elites, no matter how oligarchial, sell-out of otherwise they are. It should be noted however that the Ukrainian elites do promise their lower classes something Russia does not - and that is the freedom to work and live in the EU, earn a European-level wage and then buy whatever home or invest in whatever business in the Ukraine. Russia could have competed with this in time, to win back over the Ukrainian elites, or enough of the population to bring pressure on the elites. However, the West did not need a Ukraine that can pick and choose for its own prosperity, but one that's an armed bulwark against Russia, and thus pushed it towards conflict instead before its usefulness ended.
- Nazism is a thing in the Ukraine but at present time it's incorrect to call the Ukraine any more Nazi than Cuba or Vietnam were communist (at least at first). It's mainly a banner for them, decided upon by the elite who has decided that the US/EU proposal of becoming an anti-Russia is profitable. And during the conflict with Russia it becomes an ideology of national-liberation for the elite and the wider population. Hence it is problematic to liberate the Ukraine from Nazism as such, the population does not itself ask Russia for this. The population wants Russia gone. It is however a major problem one way or the other, as if the Ukrainian state continues under this ideology, it will solidify - just as Cuba and Vietnam became revolutionary socialist countries growing from out of their anti-colonial movements against the Americans & French respectively
Liberation is applicable mainly to the ethnic Russian areas in the Ukraine, for whom living in a Ukrainian state that's defined by Ukrainian ethno-nationalism is pretty undesirable. Such territory includes most of the Donbass region; with the exception of the northern part of Lugansk obl. which was not part of the LNR initially and which belongs to a historically different region than the Donbass does. It includes part of the Kharkov region, if not Kharkov itself. Includes Melitopol, Berdyansk. Probably not Kherson and Zaporozhie themselves though, and doubtfully Odessa by now either.
So we're left with a certain territory that has a desire to be absorbed into Russia and that are loyal to Russia. This is basically a Donbass expanded west well into the Kharkov region (minus the Lugansk region's northern area) + a slim land bridge to the Crimea.
As for the rest, absorbing it into Russia against its will, can prove problematic and should best be avoided. But it is necessary to demilitarize and denazify this territory, so as to prevent any continuation of the war. When this is done, some sort of political agreement can be reached, in return for a withdrawal of Russian forces, and the integration of Russia with Pridnestrovie over Ukraine's territory. This Ukraine can then do what it wants and join whatever economic union it wants, as long as it keeps to the strictest military neutrality, and does not rearm.
What's more likely to happen though is that Russia will in addition to the Donbass, directly annex in their entirety the Kherson, Zaporozhie, Nikolayev, Odessa, and Kharkov regions at a minimum. Which will bring problems as there are a considerable amount of anti-Russians there, including the relatives of many soldiers who've died in this war.
But it's still basically manageable for Russia over time.