Verbose
Deity
I know it' a pet peeve of mine but...:Yep, i know that guys, the real threat is for Putin regime and Putin himself, I think most of the posters here know it with some pretended exceptions. I wonder not about reality which is pretty evident but about Russian narrative (usually oposed things). What is Russian reasoning to claim this war (started by Russia itself) is a struggle for the survival of 'the motherland'?
Nasty human logic of tribalism and circular reasoning – IF we have taken this momentous plunge, and IF we are in fact doing terrible things as a consequence, well, it then stands to reason that we only did so because we absolutely had to. We were so compelled against our own wishes, and the proof of how we are free of guilt of our own actions is precisely that we do them. Because given how ominous and terrible they are, obviously as The Good Guys we would never engage in this unless it was absolutely necessary. Necessity overtakes morality. And when it does, that Outer Force of Our Implacable Enemies are responsible.
(It's part of the general problem that people tend to think thar bad acts stem from a lack of morals – when in reality most bad actors can be perfectly moral, even acting only out of stark necessity, in their own eyes – because what is decisive is not whether there is a moral consciousness there, but what quality the premises behind their morality is. The Nazis in WWII were perfectly moral people to themselves, according to the premises underlying the Nazi world-view – what was in those premises otoh...)
It's not that uncommon historically. Anything can be rationalized by humans after all – slavery, geneocide – bit of hamfisted imperialistic warfare (if that was all it was) is not so hard to deal with then.