The Collective Guilt Trap

Western governments should be welcoming Russians fleeing from their government for humanitarian reasons above all.

The Baltic states are making a mistake:

The three Baltic states say they are not prepared to automatically offer asylum to Russians fleeing mobilization into the military, hoping that discontent with the Russian authorities will grow at home instead.

If Russian men want to flee rather than be conscripted into fighting in an awful war, that is something that Western governments should want to encourage and assist as much as possible. The Baltic state governments are getting this exactly wrong. Western governments should be welcoming Russians fleeing from their government for humanitarian reasons above all, but doing this should also help to undermine the Russian war effort. If Russia’s neighbors close their doors to them, what are they supposed to do next? They will either be shipped off to get killed in Ukraine or they will refuse to serve and be imprisoned. That seems like a shameful waste when there is a better alternative staring us in the face.