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Ukraine Sees Risk of Russia Breaking Through Defenses by Summer
(www.bloomberg.com)
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this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2024
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Very likely, they're desperately trying to reignite support that the war enjoyed in the first few months. The problem with emotional manipulation of this sort is that most people can only stay emotionally invested in a particular topic for so long because it's exhausting. Eventually, people just grow numb and even if they still support your cause, they're no longer fervent about it. On top of that, it's becoming increasingly clear that the writing is on the wall, and people are now able to engage with the subject more rationally precisely because they're emotionally exhausted.
I honestly can’t tell if the student body is receptive to this anymore, I know I’m not. This definitely feels like a desperate attempt to keep support up but at the end of the day it doesn’t seem to be as effective anymore, at least to me. People don’t linger around the display and when Ukraine is brought up in my classes people don’t get super feral over it either, at worst they’re still annoying about it but not in the “send weapons and troops” way. I do wonder if Canada will be desperate enough to start drafting considering how leadership acts towards Zelensky and Ukraine in general, they just won’t let up.
My impression is also that public support is drying up. One visible indicator is Ukraine flags that were plastered everywhere quietly disappearing. My anecdotal experience is talking to people at parks when I go out to do photography. At first I was kind of reluctant to talk to random people because I assumed my Russian accent could lead to some unpleasantness. But I was surprised to discover that pretty much everyone I've talked to was pretty upset with Canada being involved in this. General mood seems to be that people think the government should be focusing addressing domestic problems such as cost of living, housing, etc. Nobody understands why we should be sending billions to Ukraine while our own standard of living keeps declining. People are starting to connect the cost of the war with their own material conditions.
I do think that Freeland is very personally invested in the whole project, and will try to do whatever is in her power to keep this going. However, I simply don't see how this thing can keep going for much longer. Importantly, US is clearly losing interest in Ukraine now, and it's simply not realistic that the war can keep going without them. Trying to institute a draft would be incredibly unpopular, and there's no chance they could push that through to make any difference.
I also haven’t seen many Ukraine flags, the ones that I do I think just belong to Ukrainian people (like hanging on a house). I have seen a few cars with weird trident stickers but they’re so few and far between that they barely register. In 2022 I saw quite a few demonstrations on street corners, but I haven’t seen a single one since. Your anecdote breaks my heart but I’m glad it seems to be getting better (besides that weirdo harassing you and your wife). Russophobia is such a horrible reality here, I don’t think I will ever get over how at a heritage festival, the Russian display was banned.
Freeland is a huge problem but I also think Trudeau is too, even without US support of Ukraine I believe Trudeau would still be invested in this losing battle. I only think this due to how he acts towards Zelenskyy and this article. I hope this whole thing comes to an end before 2025, the sooner the better, but who knows at this point. If they do implement conscription I will gladly go to jail for draft dodging, but yes historically it is not a popular concept at all (especially for the French).
Yeah, the harassment thing was something else. Seems to have stopped at least, but we still don't know who the weirdo is.
And my view on Trudeau is that he's just an airhead. He strikes me as a really superficial person without any real understanding of how the world works. He's been pampered his whole life, and he's your stereotypical liberal who thinks that everybody in Canada is living their best lives, that Canada is the pinnacle of democracy, and nothing better is possible. People like Freeland are much more dangerous because they're actually intelligent, and they know exactly what they're doing.
I'm also hoping that this whole thing ends sooner than later, but like you say, very hard to predict such things. A lot of western leaders staked their whole political careers on this proxy war, and there will be disastrous consequences for them once Ukraine loses. They will go to any length to try and salvage this somehow. Their big problem is that without US this project is dead in the water.
Honestly, my take on the issue is that it's not just a Freeland and Trudeau issue (though both are particularly terrible). The problem stems much deeper than the present lot of politicians; the very culture within our political institutions are deeply compromised, by Banderites and many other "special interest groups" like the Khalistanis, Tibetan theocrats, Falun Gong, etc. in a manner similar to the influence of Zionists (which goes beyond and predates AIPAC, of course) across the west and particularly the US.
What we have is an issue where these reactionary circles have, and will continue to until weeded out (or until the present political system is overthrown altogether), produced generations of political talking heads drawn directly from their number, and countless sympathizers- the process has been a positive feedback loop which originates from the long history of Canada (and the west) directly welcoming all the worst examples of humanity into the halls of power in the first place- basically collecting reactionaries from around the world like playing cards. The political elites' culture as such is a world of difference (and not for the better) from mainstream Canadian culture as a result- Liberal, NDP, Conservative, I don't expect things to change till the US backs out- they have the two (or three) party monopoly, after all.