While I support Ukraine against Russia, and believe that the time to stop Putin is always “right now”, this post seems as out of place on LessWrong as ebrodey’s. Is some meta-troll sockpuppetting both of them to work up a critique of LW based on the differing responses they get?
Well, there's at least one obvious difference... ebrodey's account was created the same day the post was published, while here we have a user joined on 2017.
Do note that this post (and others like it) are not on the frontpage. So while we might still have some disagreement on that specific thread, we seem to agree on posts like this being on the other side of the line.
1. Helping Ukraine is morally right. But it's also rational for you - the world without Putin will be a safer place.
It's hard to see how helping Ukraine will lead to a world without Putin. As far as donating money rationally goes, donating it with models about the effect that is unlikely to be true is not rational.
If you want to make a case that it's rational you should go through the standard EA lense of donations, and make the case why the donation is suitable according to those.
2. Prefer helping the military. It's the most important now. If we win or achieve some sort of peace - fewer people will die, fewer people lose their homes. And our children will have a future.
Helping the Ukrainian military has some chance of making the Ukrainian military win the conflict. It has also a chance of making it able to wage war against Russia for longer.
That doesn't mean that it's bad to help the Ukrainian army, but when engaging in help it's always useful to think about the cause and effect of what one is doing.
Hi, my name is Dmytro. I'm from Ukraine, Kyiv. You've probably heard about what's going on here now. It's not "crisis" or "conflict" it's a WAR.
People are dying, thousands, cities are bombed, millions of refugees, millions left their homes. The government is trying to control the situation and it's doing well. But we have tons of needs in many places: the front is a thousand kilometers long, soldiers need a lot of stuff. We are equipping new soldiers, in many places, simultaneously. We lack equipment. And of course humanitarian crisis: millions of people have left war zones and moved to relatively safe cities. They need places to live, food, etc. The government is trying its best, but it's slow, lacks effective management + situation is extremely difficult.
We have networks of volunteers. Many of them emerged during the war in 2014. They are trying to help. But they need money NOW. Every day, every hour is important.
Here is a list of verified organizations you can donate to:
https://supportukrainenow.org/donate
I'm asking for your help. Do it now. We need money now. In a month Ukraine will not be as hot a topic as now, people in the West will get used to this war, unfortunately. So I'm asking you for help NOW.
A couple of additional things:
1. Helping Ukraine is morally right. But it's also rational for you - the world without Putin will be a safer place.
2. Prefer helping the military. It's the most important now. If we win or achieve some sort of peace - fewer people will die, fewer people lose their homes. And our children will have a future.
3. Prefer smaller organizations. Big ones are usually slower. I've donated a big part of my money to "Democratic Axe". They are pretty efficient.
4. Share this post with your friends, Facebook, Twitter, etc please.
5. If you have contacts of some bloggers, podcasters, etc - text me. I will try to use every channel
If you have some questions I will gladly answer.
Thank you!