#russian exceptionalism

[ohsalome]

I'm sure that when Karel Havlíček Borovský said "russians call everything russian slavic to call everything slavic russian", he wasn't talking about videogames; but the shoe fits

[tomorrowusa]

The obstacles keeping Western allies from providing Ukrainian troops with proper aid are not financial, technical, or logistical. Rather, they are of a mental nature - the Western world still cannot come to terms with the idea that it is at war with Russia, which has once again become what it was in the Soviet era: a rogue, authoritarian dictatorship that hates liberal democracy and considers the West to be its mortal enemy.

Wojciech Maziarski, Senior Opinion Editor at Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza in an English-language piece.

Many people in the West don’t understand that Vladimir Putin is not just at war with Ukraine, he has been at war with Western democratic values since he took office.

Putin has always had a fascist mindset. But the West had preferred to view him as just another strongman who would occasionally cross the line but was still someone we could deal with.

We need to get rid of any comforting delusions about Putin. He is a dictator with unlimited powers who wishes to restore the Soviet Union in form; and he doesn’t care how he does it or what you think of it.

He is acting in a way that can only be described as neo-Stalinist. He has a 19th century view of the world order which features empires and spheres of influence. Sadly, he has no intention of being as reasonable as 19th century European statesmen like Talleyrand, Metternich, or even Bismarck.

We foolishly took our eyes off of Eastern Europe for several decades. Now we need to do a lot of remedial learning and work to make up for that previous omission. 

[greencheekconure27]

At this point whenever I see someone making memes about Poking The (Russian) Bear I just block them. Either they're a deeply unoriginal idiot, an outright Russia simp who think Putin is the big strong manly leader their country needs classic fascism trope, or both.

At least find a different joke that one's 200 years old and still neither true nor funny 🙄

[tomorrowusa]

Yes, I called it genocide. It has become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being — being able to be Ukrainian.

President Joe Biden on Putin’s war crimes in Ukraine. Quoted during a trip to Iowa and published by the White House Press Office.

It’s helpful that the president is calling it like it is. It’s become increasingly clear that Vladimir Putin is trying to destroy the whole idea of Ukrainian identity.

The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, has been in effect since 1951. Putin needs to read it – and maybe hire some defense lawyers for his trial.

Attorney Raphael Lemkin became a refugee after Hitler invaded Poland. He fled to the US via Lithuania and Sweden and quickly became highly regarded for his legal writings on crimes by the Axis powers in Europe.

In 1943 as the war was still raging, Lemkin wrote the book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation, Analysis of Government, Proposals for Redress. It was in this 700+ page volume he became the first person to use the word genocide. Here is how he defined the term in that book.

Chapter IX of his book describes in detail what is meant by genocide. The concept goes beyond mass murder.

The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups.

Vladimir Putin has made clear that he doesn’t think Ukraine is real. He oddly claims that the Bolsheviks invented Ukraine. Unfortunately for the Russian dictator, there’s plenty of evidence that Ukrainians were speaking Ukrainian and had developed an identity of their own well before the Russian Revolution. For example: what is now the Ukrainian National Anthem Державний Гімн України was written before Lenin and most Bolsheviks were even born.

Putin wrote a semi-coherent 5,000 word article last year attacking Ukraine’s right to exist. The article was described as “a masterclass in disinformation” by Swedish economist Anders Åslund. Putin followed up that article with an unhinged public rant on the eve of his illegal invasion.

It doesn’t matter whether Putin thinks Ukraine is a country. It has a right to exist under international laws and treaties which Russia has violated. He wants to wipe out Ukraine as a separate national entity because it interferes with his ambition to restore a Communist-era or tsarist empire for Russia.

So President Biden is correct. He stands on the right side of history — unlike Putin apologists and totalitarian fanboys Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson, and J.D. Vance. 

Standing with Ukraine is standing against genocide.