[ttybird2]

"In your interview to Jeremy Scahill at The Intercept from April 14, 2022 you claimed: “The fact of the matter is Crimea is off the table. We may not like it. Crimeans apparently do like it.” We wish to bring to your attention several historical facts:"

It then mentions the Budapest memorandum which has nothing to do with whether the people living in Crimea like it or not. Then it mentions that "Crimeans" is not a thing, it is clear that by "Crimeans" Chomsky meant the people living in Crimea. Then he mentions that Crimean Tatars are the indigenous people of Crimea, which while I expect it to be considered as true by most people, I do not think that it really matters, after all nobody really cares about the Anatolian Greeks in Turkey. It then mentions that the referendum was held at gunpoint, which I am not sure what it is supposed to mean, could they not vote whatever they wanted in it? As for whether it was declared invalid by the UN assembly, this is irrelevant as to whether the people living in Crimea like it or not.

"In contrast, we argue that prosecuting Putin for the war crimes that are being deliberately committed in Ukraine would set an international precedent for the world leaders attempting to do the same in the future."

This open letter does not try to justify this argument. I would claim that it is false, just consider the various attempts to charge various fighters (in Iraq and other places) against the US with war crimes while at the same time the US refuses to do the same for its own solders.

"Unconditional surrender and then elimination of Ukrainians off the face of the Earth (see above)?"

Here they try to imply that the objective is to kill every Ukrainian while not explicitly mentioning it, while it seems that the goal is to instead eliminate the idea of Ukrainian separatism. (kinda like Spain and Catalonia)

"If you truly value Ukrainian lives as you claim to, we would like to kindly ask you to refrain from adding further fuel to the Russian war machine"

This open letter does not try to justify why they think that providing military assistance to Ukraine will lead to less deaths compared to what Chomsky thinks.

Edit: Please do not take this post as a sign of support of any side. Rather it is just criticism of the specific open letter.

[tgv]

> kinda like Spain and Catalonia

What an utterly inappropriate comparison.

[ttybird2]

Why do you think that?

[dantyti]

>It then mentions that the referendum was held at gunpoint, which I am not sure what it is supposed to mean, could they not vote whatever they wanted in it?

Yes, this usually means exactly that. For example, that Crimean Tartar community members were kidnapped, arrested, disappeared, deported or killed before, during and after the referendum. It also means that vote counting was rigged, ballot stuffing was prevalent, people were coerced into voting, and that the very question posed in the referendum was completely biased.

> Here they try to imply that the objective is to kill every Ukrainian while not explicitly mentioning it, while it seems that the goal is to instead eliminate the idea of Ukrainian separatism. (kinda like Spain and Catalonia)

Your statement seems to imply that Ukraine is not a sovereign country, otherwise it pains me to understand how it could be 'separatist'. Care to elaborate?

Russia's official statements regarding Ukrainian sovereignty, nationhood, and nationality do speak of 'elimination'. Russian actions in occupied territories of Ukraine indicate that this is, indeed, one of their war aims. Since the elimination of a nationality and its culture is what's known as committing a genocide, I have to ask: are you saying that Spain is committing a genocide in Catalonia?

[ttybird2]

"Crimean Tartar community members were kidnapped, arrested, disappeared, deported or killed before, during and after the referendum"

Even if this is true[1] I do not see how this would alert the result of the referendum, given the amount of people who voted in support of joining Russia.

[1] this article is the first time that I saw such a claim. I might search about it later.

"and that the very question posed in the referendum was completely biased"

The question as posted in Wikipedia seems reasonable to me.

"Your statement seems to imply that Ukraine is not a sovereign country, otherwise it pains me to understand how it could be 'separatist'. Care to elaborate?"

I mean regarding the currently occupied territories/after a future annexation of Ukraine.

"do speak of 'elimination'"

Sure, of the ideas of "sovereignty, nationhood, and nationality", not of the people themselves.

"Since the elimination of a nationality and its culture is what's known as committing a genocide"

I (and as I perceive it, the majority of the people) do not personally consider the elimination of the idea of a nationality as genocide. I could perhaps be willing to entertain the idea of a cultural genocide (it is however questionable that this is what is planned for the Ukrainians) but I would not equate it to an actual genocide.

"are you saying that Spain is committing a genocide in Catalonia?"

I have seen some arguing it, but it is not something that I personally believe.