The freedoms that you refer to are only selective. The war in Gaza has exposed how limited freedoms are. You are not allowed to protest nor share your opinions. The truth is that we already knew this a long time ago. Even during the Iraq war, it became very clear that freedoms are only for certain groups and people. There is no such thing as absolute freedom.
Mate, absolute freedom is not feasible as it leads to chaos and anarchy. A country must have governance and laws to protect all residents and provide rights to them. My point is that a European country provides higher level of individual freedoms and benefits to residents in comparison to many countries around the world. Let's have a look at HDI of each country mentioned in your post.
Netherlands HDI (2022) = 0.946
United States HDI (2022) = 0.927
Israel HDI (2022) = 0.915
Russia HDI (2022) = 0.821
Ukraine HDI (2022) = 0.734
Pakistan HDI (2022) = 0.54
Afghanistan HDI (2022) = 0.462
Link
Even Russian HDI is much better than that of many countries in the world. Pakistan and Afghanistan are in Mashallah category (sarcasm).
Russia has no desire to expand its territory. The Europeans and Americans have always treated Russia as a foe and a threat. The Cold War was the true beginning of this enmity. When you poke and constantly treat countries like they are a threat, they are bound to react if they have the means and ability to do so. Western hegemony cannot be enforced onto Russia. Russia is too big and too powerful to be dictated and bullied.
The Korean War set the stage for Cold War between the US and Soviet Union. Who started the Korean War? The US persuaded North Korea to invade South Korea?
Modern-age Russia seeks to impose its geopolitical ideals on smaller neighboring countries. Russia annexed parts of Georgia in 2008 and is trying to do the same in Ukraine in the present.
Russian intervention in Moldvoa
Russian intervention in Georgia
Russian intervention in Ukraine
Russian intervention in Syria
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Russia is too big and powerful to be dictated and bullied? US-led forces liberated South Korea from the trio of North Korea, China, and Soviet Union in the 1950s. US and Pakistan collectively worked to defeat Soviet designs in Afghanistan in the 1980s. NATO is making it very costly for Russia to hold lands in Ukraine in the present. Do you disagree with these developments and achievements?
Ukraine had sane leadership, but as always, it was removed through American meddling. Do we really think that Russia was going to sit it out and let the Europeans/Americans transform Ukraine into a bulwark of anti-Russian activity? Russia acted as expected. The Americans and Europeans shouldn’t cry foul now. It is due to their own mischief that Russia reacted and took matters into its own hands.
Sane leadership is supposed to respect reasonable demands of the public.
"The protests were sparked by President Viktor Yanukovych's sudden decision not to sign the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement, instead choosing closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union. Ukraine's parliament had overwhelmingly approved of finalizing the Agreement with the EU, but Russia had put pressure on Ukraine to reject it. The scope of the protests widened, with calls for the resignation of Yanukovych and the Azarov government. Protesters opposed what they saw as widespread government corruption, abuse of power, human rights violations, and the influence of oligarchs. Transparency International named Yanukovych as the top example of corruption in the world. The violent dispersal of protesters on 30 November caused further anger. Euromaidan was the largest democratic mass movement in Europe since 1989 and led to the 2014 Revolution of Dignity."
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Russia seeks to impose its geopolitical ideals on smaller neighboring countries. This is what we see in Ukraine. Rest is noise.
It is a bit like our own situation in Afghanistan. Was Pakistan going to allow India and the US/NATO to run amok in Afghanistan? They ganged up for 20 years, and Pakistan knew the score. It had to react, and it did. The US/NATO admission that Pakistan was not sincere is correct. How could Pakistan be sincere when the US/NATO installed India in Afghanistan against our wishes? Every single action by the US/NATO was destabilizing for Pakistan.
The so-called Mujahideen who fought Soviet forces and Soviet-backed Afghan setup created different power groups in the region. One of these groups was the Al-Qaeda Network that brought war to our region due to its
involvement in global terrorism to put pressure on the US to withdraw its forces from the Middle East. Did it work? No, because the US has bilateral relations with several countries in the Middle East. Pakistan should have put pressure on Afghan Taliban to stop Al-Qaeda Network but chose to ignore this issue until 9/11. The US invaded Afghanistan to dismantle Al-Qaeda Network in the region and the last known operation to this end was carried out in 2022
to assassinate Ayman al-Zawihiri in Kabul. Many in Pakistan wanted to preserve Afghan Taliban and Donald Trump accepted this position after Afghan Taliban agreed to not support Al-Qaeda Network in Doha Accords in 2020.
So Pakistan has found a good solution for Afghanistan?
The Pakistani has responded to a resurgence of the Tehrek-e-Taliban Pakistan insurgency with shifting approaches, from labeling the group a "menace" and alleging foreign funding to negotiations and hints of amnesty. Madiha Afzal urges a clearer policy of accountability.
www.brookings.edu
Pakistan’s two border provinces have seen 93 percent rise in attacks since the TTP ended ceasefire last year.
www.aljazeera.com
Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban are teetering on the brink of a major crisis. Since coming into power, the Taliban has defied Pakistan — its main state benefactor during the insurgency against the United States military and the deposed Afghan government. It has done so by challenging the status...
www.usip.org
The US provided a window of opportunity to reshape political landscape of Afghanistan but many in Pakistan were happy to see return of Afghan Taliban to power only for the latter to continue to host and support TTP because both are close to each other.
India is able to exploit Afghan-Pak tensions but India does not have direct access to Afghanistan and its capacity to influence Afghanistan is limited. Pakistan was lacking in vision and national consensus on how to reshape political landscape of Afghanistan. The Intra-Afghan Dialogue was the way forward but Pakistan was too late to push for this solution. I recall a member of this forum asserting that a weak and backward Afghanistan is better for Pakistan but this assumption ignore the fact that a weak and backward Afghanistan will remain a staging ground for terrorism with the potential to spark another massive conflict in the region and Pakistan might not be able to handle it. Some don't learn from the past, right? Both Pakistan and Afghanistan have reverted to the 1990s statusquo internally. Great achievement, right?
Russia isn't perfect, but who is? All the accusations and excuses to tackle and contain Russia are terrible ideas. You cannot contain Russia. History has reminded time and time again. You don't destabilise countries because you don't like them. That is the problem with Western powers. The Western powers believe in military intervention, regime change and other unorthodox methods that are counterproductive. The current world situation should serve as a stark reminder.
We don’t have to fear anything in the Netherlands. Russia won’t invade.
Russia is a part of the current world order and doing everything that you have correctly pointed out to be counteproductive. It is not easy for Russia to invade Netherlands but Russia will find a way to affect Netherlands:
The Netherlands says it plans to increase its defence budget by €2.4 billion to a total of €24 billion in response to Russian military threat.
www.brusselstimes.com
Russia is looking to target vital Dutch maritime and energy infrastructure in the North Sea, the country's military intelligence warned Feb. 20.
www.spglobal.com
Amsterdam needs to increase defense budget for peace, security of country, says defense minister - Anadolu Ajansı
www.aa.com.tr
Dutch intelligence apparatus is pointing out the obvious.
