What people believe in the privacy of their minds is between them and their conscience. What people do is as much a representation of their beliefs, and more fundamentally representative of themselves than anything else. In other words, i do not have to prove anything about Putin’s beliefs or Russia’s beliefs (as if such a thing were possible). I merely have to prove that they act as if they have. That is much easier and more relevant - and most crucially, it is already evident.
What people believe in the privacy of their minds is between them and their conscience. What people do is as much a representation of their beliefs, and more fundamentally representative of themselves than anything else. In other words, i do not have to prove anything about Putin’s beliefs or Russia’s beliefs (as if such a thing were possible). I merely have to prove that they act as if they have. That is much easier and more relevant - and most crucially, it is already evident.
I disagree. But I see now that this whole discussion is stupid.
I’ll let you and your motivated reasoning alone.