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.
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.
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.