You do know that the USSR signed a trade deal with Nazi Germany even in 1940, right? When the rest of the world was already blockading Nazi Germany for… being Nazi’s. In fact, in 1940 the Soviet Union delivered about 75% of Nazi Germany’s imports, mostly in oil & steel. Stalin could’ve joined that blockade, and not supplied the necessary materials for the Nazi war maschine – but he didn’t.

You can acknowledge that, and still acknowledge the USSR took the brunt of the force fighting the Nazi’s. It’s not a sports game, you don’t have to pick sides.

Yes and the 33 million people whose lives have been uprooted by the invasion, are undoubtedly very happy Russia is ‘fixing’ this with violence.

The reason I am interested in the Ukrainian people is because I am European and volunteer in refugee relief. I am confronted with the human cost of this invasion on a very, very regular basis. The lives of 33 million people have been violently uprooted by the decision of a foreign state, and the only socialist stance to take in that regard is clear condemnation. It is that simple.

My question was: how does the violence of the invasion help the self determination of Ukrainian people?

I’ll be more explicit: why not simply acknowledge that the invasion is not only unlawful, but deeply immoral – and completely contradictory to the self determination of a people?

Right, so how does the full scale, violent invasion by a foreign state help the self determination of both Ukrainian peoples?

Question: do you believe in the self-determination of Ukrainians?