I agree entirely.

I do struggle to afford time to those whose absolute commitment to a position renders them unable to see logic or admit fault in their position when it is sufficiently countered whether that be a 'left wing nut-job' or 'right wing lunatic'.

Very much a summary of society for me these days in that there are ideological wars being raged by members on both sides who I would be inclined to think, but not fully committed to (and willing to admit it may be a very cruel statement), have failed to garner attention or find solace via their personalities or achievements in life, hence attaching and identifying themselves through no doubt somebody else's thoughts and opinions who they ultimately trust and believe in more than their own.

In this instance, I myself believe I have a healthy scepticism for both the mainstream and alternate media and choose to reach my own conclusions. In this particular situation, I do find it lunacy to invest belief in absolute truth of either Western or Eastern media/reporting/motives however struggle to bring myself to justify any war or human suffering, let alone this one.

I prefer to break it down to it's simplest component, and happy to factually state I struggle to feel to deeply for things that do not directly affect me (as I'd suggest many do), but seeing the displacement of peoples, death, panic etc. does ignite a primal instinct in me to condemn it, especially when I am very far from convinced by the reasoning behind it. A punch up at football, drunkenly in a pub etc. are not beyond me to comprehend or claim innocence from being involved in (embarrassingly I don't have a great track record with abstaining from violence in confrontations, although that was in the main as a younger man growing up in Lewisham.. and never at football) but this whole thing stinks to high heaven and any justification of it seems to be either weak or almost fictitious if not completely so.

War is, and almost always will be, an epic f**king failure on behalf of human beings.

Another good post.

Far too many good posts being written....someone should start swearing!

I agree entirely.

I do struggle to afford time to those whose absolute commitment to a position renders them unable to see logic or admit fault in their position when it is sufficiently countered whether that be a 'left wing nut-job' or 'right wing lunatic'.

Very much a summary of society for me these days in that there are ideological wars being raged by members on both sides who I would be inclined to think, but not fully committed to (and willing to admit it may be a very cruel statement), have failed to garner attention or find solace via their personalities or achievements in life, hence attaching and identifying themselves through no doubt somebody else's thoughts and opinions who they ultimately trust and believe in more than their own.

In this instance, I myself believe I have a healthy scepticism for both the mainstream and alternate media and choose to reach my own conclusions. In this particular situation, I do find it lunacy to invest belief in absolute truth of either Western or Eastern media/reporting/motives however struggle to bring myself to justify any war or human suffering, let alone this one.

I prefer to break it down to it's simplest component, and happy to factually state I struggle to feel to deeply for things that do not directly affect me (as I'd suggest many do), but seeing the displacement of peoples, death, panic etc. does ignite a primal instinct in me to condemn it, especially when I am very far from convinced by the reasoning behind it. A punch up at football, drunkenly in a pub etc. are not beyond me to comprehend or claim innocence from being involved in (embarrassingly I don't have a great track record with abstaining from violence in confrontations, although that was in the main as a younger man growing up in Lewisham.. and never at football) but this whole thing stinks to high heaven and any justification of it seems to be either weak or almost fictitious if not completely so.

War is, and almost always will be, an epic f**king failure on behalf of human beings.

Yep, I'd say give him a few listens before judgement.

Obviously on the left but not a supporter of the establishment.

I haven't heard his take on the war though, I should imagine it's balanced and I'll get to it....mostly listened to Academic Agent on the war so far.

Yes, he would.

The difference would be in the response.

Trump admires, even envies, Putin. His America First agenda and lack of appetite for Nato (and the UN) means he would have been reluctant to commit to supporting Ukraine, seeing it as within Russia's sphere of influence and a European rather than an American problem.

The divisions in the USA that Trump has exacerbated, especially following the refusal to accept the election result, has weakened the country. Putin not only knows this, he was partly instrumental in creating it.

So he would have still invaded under a pretext but not faced the same degree of international resolve to ostracise. Trump would not have joined in with the financial sanctions, and would have resisted the strengthening of Nato force in Eastern Europe.