Posts by Amanda Hill4

First off, I’ve always been impressed by how much depth Jeffrey Wood brings to the table.
He’s always trying to lead with the facts like a scientist before jumping in as a fan.

I can only offer a little bit of context on this topic.
Ukraine was a member of the UN back during the Soviet Union era.

So, one question for the group:
If the population in Ukraine is a melting pot today, I’m guessing it was pretty mixed back then too.

Meaning, it wasn't just Ukrainians and a large number of Russians; there were tons of mixed marriages, plus plenty of people who didn't really identify with any specific nationality at all.

Were people even that obsessed with national identity back in those days?

Also, at what point in history did a Ukrainian actually start seeing themselves as a Ukrainian?

One thing that sticks out to me about the communist era is that nationality wasn't the driving force—ideology was.

Hopefully, these questions help move the conversation forward.

Gregory Booth48 said:The USA backed the Afghans when the country was under Soviet occupation, but back then we weren't dealing with the Taliban—we were dealing with the Mujahideen, who paved the way for them. Looking back, it's clear we made a massive miscalculation. We should have let local tribal dynamics play out naturally. Instead, the financial aid sent to Pakistan turned into a geopolitical boomerang that hit us right where it hurts on 9/11, when Al Qaeda launched suicide attacks from Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan against the USA. Reagan's policy succeeded in breaking communism and the Soviet Union through a foreign policy built on "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," but it failed to account for the fact that those very same allies would eventually become our number one threat.

I have to ask, do you actually believe what you're writing here?

No offense intended, I'm just genuinely curious.🙂

Personally, I think NATO is a much larger terrorist organization than the Taliban or Al-Qaeda...
I suppose we can only hope that Pakistan finally cuts ties with that messy NATO group and decides to align themselves with Russia instead.

NATO

------------North American Terror Organisation---------------
Look, a country ends up clashing with the USA because they pull some stupid stunt, or maybe they realize they aren't in on the same shady deals, and suddenly they're labeled a Rogue state. Then you sit there thinking capitalist Russia is going to step in and protect those idiots.
That's just not how it works.
Russia has its own national interests to worry about, but they don't have an ideology to push anymore—and honestly, that's probably best for them.

Moved all the stuff about Russia to its own forum