Yes, but key differences of questionable validity. Afghanistan was apparently (its all down to evidence and believability in these instances.) due to the Taliban allowing/enabling Osama to train, plan and carry out the Sept 11th attacks. Bush had demanded his arrest and extradition to the USA, which they refused, and so war was declared. Reading more of the Wiki it all becomes a real mess.greypanther wrote: ↑Tue, 22. Feb 22, 20:47 BUT...
Listening to the oh so great liar BOJO this afternoon, muttering on about harsh sanctions, ( which it turns out are not even new ones! ) how Putin is doing evil, I couldn't help but notice a huge amount of hypocrisy in the " West. " Wasn't Iraq or Afghanistan " ( et al ) sovereign states then?![]()
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Af ... 80%932021)
Whether Taliban or Osama ever had any real "alliance" or even shared viewpoint is questionable. Furthermore, I believe USA doesn't tend to extradite it's citizens, nor does Russia. So...
Iraq, on the other hand, was nothing more than desired regime change under the supposed WMD claims, which turned out to be "bad intelligence" (believe that if you wish... does anyone not believe it was fabricated?). Absolutely 100% hypocrisy of a certain flavour, but at the same time, hypocrisy doesn't mean the criticism being levied is invalid or wrong.
Should be noted though - USA wasn't trying to annex another nation. Whether people believe "installing democracy" is code for puppet Government, depends upon whether you'd believe elections would be free and fair. I mean, USA has led by example that other nations use to declare people "terrorist organisations". Other nations readily apply this tag to various factions/organisations to limit their ability to enter any political arena after all (again, make no comment on validity, just that political engagement with things is nullified for some)... but if Russia is annexing another nations sovereign territory, then...
@Aut
How do you feel about Putin claiming the Ukraine isn't really a state anyway? It was never a country, it was something created by Russia and therefore Russia can determine it's fate? I'm curious on your views to this. How does this tally with his prior claims that troops being massed in unprecedented numbers was only due to training and had no fore-planning for an invasion of a nation he has now spoken about not being a real nation?
Do you think Russia should invade and annex Ukraine because of the desire Ukraine expressed to join NATO? Therefore do you believe military DEFENCE pacts should not exist, and if so, why not? What is so negative about a defence only pact? Do countries not have a right to defend themselves and ask for help when they're not able to stand alone in the face of a much stronger adversary?