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Comment by bonchibuji | Hacker News Reader

There are protests organized in London, Paris, Berlin, Helsinki, The Hague, Rome, SF, Riga, Krakow etc. If you wish to join one of them, please check out here:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=237875373062939&set=...

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I don't want to sound like a downer, but what could these protests could actually achieve? It is very unlikely that even an important mobilization of citizens would change the decisions that each country will take, considering the incentives driven by the diplomatic context. And that's a genuine question, I would be interested in reading an answer.

This sort of "protests" can be useful in granting political capital to this or that politician to come out in favour of (or refrain from adopting) this or that position, eventually snowballing into official government policy.

Yes, that's the purpose of a demonstration (it's a way to demonstrate the political power lent by the people to an opinion). However, I just don't see how this would change anything in the current situation since the incentives of avoiding a war already seems the predominant objective.

I wouldn't be so sure. Drawing the Russian military in a lengthy and expensive campaign to pacify a huge country is actually a very compelling scenario from a certain point of view. Yes, Europe would be short on gas for a while, but quoting one Ms. Nuland, "F*ck the EU", right?

There are a lot of incentives on all sides, at this point.

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