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Biden administration moves toward allowing American military contractors to deploy to Ukraine (www.cnn.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/news@lemmy.world
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CNN —

The Biden administration is moving toward lifting a de facto ban on American military contractors deploying to Ukraine, four US officials familiar with the matter told CNN, to help the country’s military maintain and repair US-provided weapons systems.

The change would mark another significant shift in the Biden administration’s Ukraine policy, as the US looks for ways to give Ukraine’s military an upper hand against Russia.

The policy is still being worked on by administration officials and has not received final sign-off yet from President Joe Biden, officials said.

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[–] 14 points 2 years ago (1 child)

I think you're conflating "maintaining a global hegemonic order" with "fucking up a nation that has actively tried to harm the United States AND is provably committing war crimes."

Is American hegemony all sunshine and roses? Fuck no lol

At least it is built more on consensus of member states than a hegemony built up by dictatorships like Russia (which, let's be real, isn't ever gonna be a global hegemon) or China?

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  • [+] -13 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    I don't think there's such a thing as a moral or ethical hegemony. They're all immoral, even if some are less immoral than others. But that doesn't mean that I want to end all hegemony in favor of international lawlessness. I believe in democracy and the rule of law, but that is not the same as a single nation achieving military supremacy to such a degree as to allow them to declare themselves the globe's judge, jury, and executioner. If we believe in democracy based on consent of the governed and the rule of law, we must support it not only within nations but between nations, as well.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Guess that would be a good reason for the rest of the world to get involved, right? Stopping a country from trying to use military supremacy to impose their will on another nation? Like Russia is doing right now in Ukraine?

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  • [+] -8 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Guess that would be a good reason for the rest of the world to get involved, right?

    Yes, I think the international community should get involved when a nation invades another without justification, like the US invasion of Iraq, for instance. However, NATO is not "the rest of the world." NATO consists of 32 nations (out of 195), all of which are located in Europe and North America, and more than 2/3 of its funding comes from just one country: the United States.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Ok, how about 141 members of the UN general assembly? I know we've only given Russia 27 months to comply since that vote, but I feel that's long enough.

    https://press.un.org/en/2022/ga12407.doc.htm#:~:text=Member%20States%20today%20overwhelmingly%20adopted,emergency%20session%20on%20the%20crisis.

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  • [–] -2 points 2 years ago

    I think that's great. I agree with the majority consensus. However, I don't know enough about how the UN GA operates to know if that institution has any meaningful way of enforcing their demands, or if any means of enforcement apply to all nations equally. The US, for instance, doesn't recognize the authority of the international criminal court, even though president Biden praised the ICC for talking about prosecuting Putin for war crimes. Biden condemned the ICC when it talked about Benjamin Netanyahu being prosecuted for war crimes. The rule of law can't only apply to some, it must apply to all, equally.

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