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Comment by piaste | Hacker News Reader

Although the size of the attacker is obviously critical, I wouldn't ignore the choice of targets either.

I'm not American and I opposed the invasion at the time, but it was harder to argue because Saddam's Iraq had very few redeeming qualities, had been waging aggressive wars of its own, and its main role in international trade was as a member of the OPEC cartel.

Whereas Ukraine, for all its problems, is a far more democratic county with far more friends, no history of aggression, and a critical source of food for many nations.

If Russia had invaded Belarus or Tajikistan instead of Ukraine, I doubt there would have been any real consequences.

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> If Russia had invaded Belarus or Tajikistan instead of Ukraine, I doubt there would have been any real consequences.

You don't need to speculate. There were no real consequences when Russia invaded Georgia, and that's even a democracy, although unfortunately too small to be relevant.

People like to compare the US (Iraq) with Russia, but the difference is that in the US, you can still vote and change governments. People could demonstrate and did. Newspapers could poke holes in narratives. In Russia there is no choice. It’s Putin all the way with no options for protest.

Laughable point. The US government is so controlled by the war machine that every new president systematically finds new countries to bomb.

War making is the universal party in the US.

But not my point. Even if true what you are saying (and not saying either way) , I could still do a hundred things I could do in protest or as agent for change as an individual or as a group that I cannot do in Russia.

Does this really matter though? I mean - you can cry and shout as much as you want but this will only satisfy your own ego.

This is like shouting at a wall.

Yes it does, and it has nothing to do with ego, and I am not at least emotional about it. Let’s turn it around, so there is absolutely no distinction between Russia and the US?

So let’s demonstrate near the White House and the Kremlin. I assure you both outcomes are different. Let’s set up a fund that allows me to criticize the government, pretty sure I can do that in the US, and good luck doing that for Russia.

You get the idea. There is definitely a difference.

> Let’s turn it around, so there is absolutely no distinction between Russia and the US?

This depends on what one finds importand and what not. My wife says, for example, that there is no difference except for nature, climate and a few minor thigs.

I say - there is more than a few differences, but still two countries have more in common than people think.

>let’s demonstrate >I assure you both outcomes are different.

If the result if the same (the government changing or not changing its policy or decisions) than there is no difference.

Yes in one scenario you may end up dead (and not necessarily in Russia) but this is not what's important here.

> hundred things I could do in protest or as agent for change as an individual or as a group that I cannot do in Russia.

yet I fail to see any single example in recent US history where citizen action has been able to stop a war in foreign lands. They were not even to stop an actual invasion of Iraq, so let me question the point of potential protests.

That, in my opinion, just makes people more accountable and sanctions on them more justified.

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