Quote:
Originally Posted by Bitey
1) Genocide doesn't require exterminating an entire people (or attempt to do so) to constitute genocide;
2) Ukraine has already ceded territory to Russia twice in 12 years. That still wasn't enough for Russia. Ukraine has zero reason to believe they can achieve a long-term peace with Russia by ceding even more. This has become an existential war for Ukraine and they have no moral, legal, or practical obligation to refrain from attacking military targets within their aggressor's borders.
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Yes you are certainly correct that genocide is a rather broad term , however I must question why some refer to the ongoing Russian bombardment of civilian infrastructure as being an example of genocide , when ( while it can certainly be classed as a war crime ) the mere act of doing so has never been classed as such throughout various points in history .
As we all know bombardment of civilian infrastructure comparable to what is going on now has occurred numerous times in the past and yet it isn't commonplace ( quite rightly I might add ) to see the bombing of Dresden or even that of the FRY in 1999 being referred to as an act of genocide , in spite of many people calling those specific acts prime examples of war crimes .
Of course one may object that this is mere nit picking , yet I still take the stance of it being highly necessary in tense situations like this to not exaggerate , since nothing good can come out of making things out to be more than what they actually are .
To further illustrate my point , in spite of unequivocally condemning the conduct of the USA with respect to the bombings of Laos/Cambodia , I ( and many others no doubt ) would never dream of referring to those events as examples of genocide since there is no evidence of the USA having deliberately targeted the Laotian/Cambodian people for extermination in spite of all the deaths it caused .
So until concrete proof emerges of there being more Ukrainian civilian casualties that would be indicative of an actual genocide , in the sense that certain critics of Russia are using now , along with ( f.ex ) daily announcements from the Russian press about there being a vast need to exterminate Ukrainians , I must hold to my position of simply referring to current Russian actions as being examples of war crimes as opposed to genocide in the sense that it's being currently used in .
With regard to the issue of ceding territory , I do not believe that either side should cede territory to the other in a unilateral way , on the contrary I believe that popular referendums concerning territorial status should have been held at least as far back as 2014 .
To this very day people continue to debate whether or not the population of regions like the Crimea or Donbas want to remain in Ukraine or join Russia , which is precisely why I insist that they should have been allowed to vote on the matter under the auspices of a proper internationally monitored referendum .
If the UN , OSCE , EU , USA , and of course Russia and Ukraine themselves had pushed for this back in the day , then there would at least be a sliver of a chance that we wouldn't be seeing this carnage .
Naturally there is a whole lot more to this ongoing conflict than a mere territorial dispute related to ethnic composition , but I do hope that I've given a sufficient enough response for now .
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