FSU Politics/Current Events V

We have so many different points of confirmation about war atrocies that you have to be an absolute imbecile to believe that the Russians didn't do it. Russia is a pathological state. They deny everything; admit to nothig; make counter accusations.
They lied about Crimea; they lied about MH17; they lied about invading Ukraine; they murder or jail political opposition; state sponsored doping; mass repression on free speech (and no you don't get canceled on twitter, you get jail time or comprimised future if your a young protestor).
You equate Zelenskiy to Putin because Zelenskiy banned 12 parties. You probably read that meme somewhere without understanding how the Ukrainian political party system works. There are no stable political parties (such as Republican, Democrat, Labour, CDP). When Ukrainian politicians run they create their own party. Tymoshenko - Batkovshina; Klitschko - Udar; Zelenskiy- Servant of the People. The party rises and falls with their leaders. Although, there is one notable exception, Party of Regions, which was the one party that kept chugging along despite change in leadership likely because that party was proped up by Russia. Medvechuk, and by extension his party, look to be a Russian plant. The other parties don't have seats in the Rada. There was much hand wringing about far right Svoboda, which currently holds no seats and has won 3 seats over 4-5 election cycles. I would assume that far right parties will make a comeback in Ukraine only because of Russia's invasion.

You talked about Ukraine "standing on its own and not being a slave to IMF." What world are you living in. Ukraine doesn't have the capability of "standing on its own." It needs to cooperate within the system to benefit. The IMF, global capitalist system has holes but certainly an upgrade over previous systems. I do wish we can see a reduction in capital accumulation and corporations domestic dictating policy. But ask Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia about the benefits of global cooperation.

All this stuff with Kyivan Rus is ridiculous. Neither Russia, nor Ukraine, nor Belarus is the heir to fuedal Kyiv. In fact, it was only in the 13th century that chroniclers referred to Kyiv as Kyivan Rus. The identity of feudal Kyiv is complex. Their rulers were Rurik, Scandinavian. The chroniclers, clergy were Slavic but spoke Church Slavonic, cosmopolitan (majority were taught in Constantinople, Greek speaking) exclusively wrote in Church Slavonic. The people consisted of local tribes incorporated into the economic, social, political structure of Kyiv. The people were different (dialect, class, maintaining some pagan beliefs) in comparison to the rulers and the clergy. You have 3 layers of identity to sift through and thats BEFORE the Mongol invasion. Feudal Kyiv/Kyivan Rus belongs to time.

I don't know what kind of dopamine kick you get from being contrarian but your opinions are very clearly taken from memes, random youtube videos because they lack depth.

And what's this about "Marines that exposed WMD." What the ******** are you talking about. How could a marine, a common marine, lead an investigation across the entirety of Iraq and its military aparartus to confirm no WMD. Also, in the early 90s Iraq said it was developing defensive bioweapons, turns out they were mostly lying as a deterrent. Anyway, the UN security council was the party that first stated that there was "no smoking gun" regarding WMD, no some intrepid Marine

The world is relatively stable because of systems. You seem to think there's some James Bond types running around and cutting wires on bombs preventing all hell from breaking loose. Which is why you value opinion of random guy with a camera in Mariupol over the New York Times, which has editors and professionals. Are they biased, do they make mistakes yes but they are more reliable, own up to mistakes. Random youtuber or Tucker Carslon can move onto the next topic in a matter of days without addressing mistakes.

 

I read Volkoff's Vladimir the Russian Viking during Soviet times.

 

90% of Ukrainian tanks & fighter jets are destroyed, Ukraine fought well destroying 2,000 Russian tanks, unfortunately that's only about 10% of their overall amount. If it was USAS invading they would've destroyed all the infrastructure on Day 1, Russia only doing it as they need to, trying to preserve as much as possible

Russia will encircle the 50,000 Ukrainian soldiers in Donbas in the coming weeks after they rest & regroup from urban warfare and prepare for the pontic steppe campaign, and hopefully this nightmare can end. Ukraine will sadly lose Donbas (our own fault for not honoring Minsk accords) but on the bright side we might get Trandsnistria (which is ethnically majority Ukrainian & Russian). It will be illegal to praise Bandera soon, and all Bandera statues will be toppled of course. The fun and games are over.

 

How are you so sure that Russia will enricle Ukraine. You seemed plenty sure that Ukraine could not last a week. You seemed pretty share that the Russians were "holding back their elite units." Has Russia demonstrated that they are capable of coordinating an encirlement?
90% loss of equipment. Forbes reported Ukraine has a net positive due to all the armored vehicles they have captured. Russia gets to reset but so does Ukraine and Ukraine can reset with Nato/American hardware
Russia may have only lost 10% of their tanks but how do you know the other 90% are operational. The Russians probably don't know. Also, what good is a tank if you keep losing tank crews. Footy, maybe you can enlist in a tank crew, try your luck against the javelins, save the Rus lands from Black Lives Matter and Goerge Soros.
I'm not sure how the next battle will play out. Different terrain, different strategy but the nightmare won't end regardless who wins the next battle

 

Important to remember this war was totally avoidable, USA, EU & most importantly Ukraine had almost a year to negotiate & compromise with Russia. Instead of yearning to be a prostitute to EU could've remained independent as Ukraine was always meant to be. Like Pep Guardiola said in the 1st week of the war, the politicians are absolute failures. He also spoke about how if money was not involved would be no wars, name dropped Libya, Syria & Yugoslavia...wonder who he was referring to? Ukraine is the new Bosnia now, we're so smart.

I traveled all over Ukraine during Euro 2012, from Lviv to Donetsk & Yalta, it was all love everywhere. Fell in love with Lviv in 2009, it was all love. Speak Ukrainian, Russian or whatever the fvck you want. Funny how the day after Maidan the Rada hastily passed a new law that Russian was no longer an official language. As if that was so important haha. When you look what Biden puppet-masters did as their 1st move after assuming power you start to see certain patterns

 

The fact you think this clip proves Russia did it and not the Gestapochenko's is insane

But that's good they're doing an investigation at least. Too bad its not a 3rd party investigation that Russia called for @ UN meeting in which England shockingly voted against. Funny how the ones who committed the crime are now solving the case haha

Actually its not shocking England voted against it if you remember the video I shared of C-14 leader Yevhen Karas (nazi) who mentioned the new alliance growing between England, Turkey, Poland & Ukraine

 

It's his ego you're arguing with, at this point.

 

Ukraine is the only one in this war using Tochka-U rockets, what happened today in Kramatorsk is the same thing that happened in Donetsk 3 weeks ago that killed 26 people. Only difference is Donetsk is under Russian control so the innocent lives lost are unworthy victims. Kramatorsk is still in Ukrainian control so those innocent lives lost are broadcast worldwide. Not one fvcking news source mentioned about Donetsk 3 weeks ago. Did that even actually happen Yasik??

How stupid must one be to think Russia, who is in a massive military operation to liberate Kramatorsk (ethnic Russians from Donbas), would shoot rockets at their civilians, and write 'For Kids' on them. Like I've said before, Ukraine is holding its own on the battlefield and absolutely dominating the propaganda game

Hey where in Ukraine are you from btw? Kyiv or elsewhere?

 

Hey where in Ukraine are you from btw? Kyiv or elsewhere?[/QUOTE]


I dont know why it matters. Do you have preconceived ideas about who/how I should be viewing this conflict.

I was born in Odessa. Moved to Northern Cal in the early 90s. Have mostly lived in Sacramento suburbs aside from brief stays in Bay Area and Bloomington. I'm 90% American assimilated but understand the context and culture post soviet world. We have a huge Slavic (mostly belarussian, Ukrainian) diaspora. I know Ukrainians and Lithuanians that supported Putin prior to this war. They've walked away from the support, have empathy for the people, but still dismissive of Ukraine as a culture. They also happen to have huge knowledge gaps in understanding the humanities, they are Trump supporters, and get there opinions from memes. Theyre still my friends and great people, but if they held opinions similalry to Footy, we just wouldnt be friends anymore.

My mom, when I told her about the Bucha massacre responded "this is the mark of the Chechens." She accepted it was units from Russia proper. There's certainly cognitive dissonance going on.
Sorokin described these types as homoseveticus - identity wrapped in Russo-dominated Soviet culture. I think you, Footy, fall into that category.

 

Does video evidence of the recently killed dead civilians laying around Donetsk count? I've already shared this before I think, its 3 weeks old. The fact you don't know about this war crime given you seem to be so aghast about war crimes in Ukraine is kinda insane. But shows how misinformed you are. Donetsk is Ukraine in your opinion right? Vso budit Ukraina as the saying goes right??

 

Of course it matters where you're from. It also matters what sacrifices and experiences your family made during WW2, all of those would shape your views. But I was just curious where you are from as I like to travel. Ukraine has a very deep and complicated history that you only know slightly about given your simplification and incorrect notions about Kievan Rus. so you're from Odessa too, cool.

The fact you wouldn't be friends with someone given certain views about Ukraine shows you are shallow and haven't accepted true American values even tho you grew up here/ Freedom as many Ukrainians falsely assume, doesn't come from a flag or a national anthem or whatever they obsess about. True freedom is Individual Liberty and freedom of expression. Even tho you lived here for so long that hasn't seemed to get through to you. Given you grew up in Cali, think I know why

Drake4444 a former poster here became a good friend of mine. We met @ Final 4 game in Indy then @ Notre Dame gridiron game. I got him hooked on LaLiga and we became shareholders of Eibar, we sat in the VIP box v. Valencia and with the ultras v. Real Madrid, locals treated us like kings. As soon as my views changed in 2016 and I voted for Trump he's boycotted me cold turkey. Used to talk sports on fbook etc, nothing now haha. He's from Cali btw, makes perfect sense!