Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Mr Mephisto
Trying to understand is one thing. Defending the current actions of those terrorists in the school in North Ossetia is an entirely different thing.
|
I haven't defended anything. But you have denied that Chechens are suffering from a Stalinist dictatorship. Is that a defense of the Russians?
Quote:
|
OK.... I understand the logical progression, but I don't see the point. It just doesn't make sense. A is like B. B is like C. Therefore A is like C. Logically correctly, but meaningless in the current argument. It wouldn't happen, so why mention it?
|
I'm asking a question. What would you do? I would expect that the answer you give would be an action which you think would solve the problem. I do not have such an answer, so faced with the situation the only thing I could do would be to fight the Russian military. The result would be my death. If that were the action taken by Chechens who do not wish to live under a Stalinist dictatorship, the end result would be the death of all those who do not wish to live under a Stalinist dictatorship.
Clearly that is not a morally correct solution.
Quote:
So that therefore justifies abandoning the political process? There's a fundamental moral issue here. I think some things are completely unjustified. Always. The current actions of the hostage takers is an example.
You asked what other options there were. I gave two. I don't have a crystal ball to see into the future and see what will happen. Putin will not be in power forever. Maybe the next President will not care if political parties in Chechnya want to secede from the Federation. You can't say it won't work. So basing your justification for child-kidnapping and the murder of civilians on this is not valid.
|
I think the current actions of the Russians are completely unjustified. And those actions will continue for as long as the Russians feel like continuing them.
How long should the Chechens wait it out in the Stalinist dictatorship, as you require? 10 years? 50 years? 100 years?
There is an easy solution which does not involve what the Chechens should or should not do - it requires the Russians to stop. That is the solution. There is no other morally correct solution. If the Russians stop, the terrorists will stop.
You've said it yourself - maybe the next President of Russia will let the Chechens secede.
Let's take it one step further and demand that the Russians let the Chechens secede RIGHT NOW.
Quote:
|
Well, it seems to me that you are justifying their actions. What else would you call your repeated defence of their attack?
|
If I have defended the Chechens, then you have defended the Russians, who are equally morally bankrupt in this situation.
Quote:
|
You also seem to be repeating the same error again and again. I am not discussing the pros and cons of Chechen seperatism in general. I am denouncing, in the strongest possible terms, the actions of those particular terrorists in North Ossetia today. It's quite simple really.
|
It's even simpler: if you denounced the Russians with the intended result that they stop their actions, the result of that would be no terrorists taking children hostage.
Quote:
|
Everything seems to be black and white in your book. It's not.
|
Hah! That's comedy gold.