Except that's not a direct quote from Arakhmiya - now is it?
Rather, it's a characterization of what he said -- whose original provenance seems to be difficult to track down, and there are conflicting versions available, which of course got copy-pasted all over in both left- and right-wing outlets (as well as by the Kremlin of course). But both Johnson and Arakhmiya have strenuously denied this characterization in any case, when directly asked about the topic:
“This is nothing more than nonsense and Russian propaganda,” Johnson said in an interview with the Times.
His words were confirmed by the head of the pro-presidential Servant of the People party faction, David Arakhamia, who headed the Ukrainian delegation at the Ukraine-Russia talks in Istanbul in March 2022. ... Arakhamia denied that the Ukrainian delegation was allegedly ready to sign such a document, and Johnson stopped Kyiv.
And yet somehow you've come to believe that the first characterization you came across was "absolutely true". Why is that?It's evil, no I will not forget Dick Cheney.
You can build an anti-shrine to him on your bedroom wall, and throw darts at it every night if you want to. The unfortunate point here is that it seems you've allowed him to become a bogeyman, just like the big bad old MIC. And when I'm saying "forget about him", I don't mean in the literal sense. Of course we have to remember assholes like Cheney and the evil they did, what Eisenhower said way back when and all that.
But the bigger point is: that doesn't mean we have to let these ghosts not only dictate our narratives, but completely override our understanding of events in the present moment. More to the point -- if you'd like to yourself a huge favor, and just forget about all these good/evil narratives altogether. Instead focus on the facts of who said what, and when, and what really happened as a result.
Which in the case of the current Ukraine war, really aren't that complicated or hard to figure out.
Original provenance was Ukrainska Pravda. https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/articles/2022/05/5/7344096/
At some point a name was put to the anonymous source, could be one of the many journalists who have investigated this quote, as you yourself admit there are lots of sources on this topic.
But that single quote aside, it's not like they're saying this in secret. Even Victoria Nuland and Foreign Affairs said some version of the same thing.
Nuland says the West didn't want to basically disarm Ukraine, and Foreign Affairs did an investigation of the negotiations (Ukrainska Pravda's investigation was better) and said the West didn't want to provide security guarantees to Ukraine.
And they all say it out loud that they don't want give an inch.
Good/evil moral compass is enormously important, especially when faced with war. It's precisely this flippant view towards morality that leads normal people to justify horrific acts of violence.
Murder, war, invasion bad.
Family, health, love, business good.
It really is that simple and the moment you stray from that, you stray towards everything we want to avoid.
I understand there are moments you MUST go to war. If I were Ukrainian I would be 100% on the war effort.
But I'm not Ukrainian. I'm American. Russia didn't attack America and I have a say in where my tax dollars go.