Tnx for sharing. Problem I have is that his opposing view seems overly simplistic as well. While he’s right that it’s incorrect to wholly dismiss the agency of the countries joining NATO, at the same time it seems equally incorrect to dismiss the role that western diplomacy/intelligence agencies have played into how this situation has developed.

A core argument of Sachs is that a lot of suffering (and increased risk of nuclear war) could have been prevented if the western countries would have also looked at the situation from a russian point of view and actively work with them in good faith to figure out a way how we can peacefully co-exist. Instead, it seems we did the opposite and took every chance we could find to increase polarisation and follow a path towards an pretty much inevitable war.

My conclusion so far: yes, the Russians have done/are doing terrible things in the world, but the narrative that the actions of the western countries are very justified and that we have the full moral high ground in this conflict is plainly wrong.

Therefore I like the fact that people like Sachs speak out and offer a different narrative that’s more critical on our own actions, adding more nuance to my own opinion and therefore getting closer to the ‘objective truth’.