different people can come to the same conclusions for different reasons.

• reactionaries sometimes come to the conclusion that capitalism is bad. Not because of bourgeoisie vs. proletariat or theft of surplus value, but because it’s “destroying the family” or “turning everyone woke” or it’s “run by the jews” or it’s “bringing too many immigrants to my country”
• communists come to the conclusion that capitalism is bad because it oppresses the proletariat and is closely linked with imperialism and colonialism, and various oppressions and phobias against vulnerable and marginalized groups.
• same conclusion, different reasons behind it.

different people can also come to different conclusions for the same reasons.

• pacifists come to the conclusion that it is wrong to use violence because they are against oppression.
• communists come to the conclusion that it is correct to use violence because they are against oppression.
• different conclusions, same reasons behind it.

so looking at Ukraine. You often see conservative foreign policy realists like John Mearsheimer for example, calling out America’s role in this conflict. Why does he disagree with it? Is it because he’s against American imperialism in Eastern Europe? No. Is it because he’s against NATO? No. Is it because he wants Russia to win? No. He loves American imperialism. He’s in favor of NATO. He wants America to win. He views America’s role in Ukraine as a strategic failure. The empire overextending itself and accelerating its own decline by biting off more than it can chew. His critique is entirely strategic. He thinks America has strategically failed to do imperialism competently. He wants the imperialism to be more competent. Compare that with a Communist critique which is against NATO expansion, which recognizes the NED’s role in funding right wing extremism in Ukraine for decades, which understands that the Neo-Nazi Banderites used Euromaidan as a Trojan horse to coup the Yanukovich government, which understands that America is trying to balkanize and isolate countries that have a history of socialism, even if that history is long over.

Some people childishly see Communists and Conservatives coming to similar conclusions, but for different reasons, and moving from opposite directions. They are unable to do vector calculus on our political positions. All they see is two people occupying the same point on the graph. They don’t see what direction they’re moving towards, where they came from, or any other nuance, and they conclude “these people are allied with each other because they agree on this one thing.”