Overall, Putin’s war may turn out to save Russian lifes in the long run!
Yea I wouldn’t say Russians are committing genocide. They are doing bog standard colonialism though. Occupy a territory, kill anyone who might be a threat, find collaborators and install a puppet government.
The occupying authorities devoted particular attention to the city’s schools, which had been closed for in-person classes since the first day of the invasion. Many students and their families had left town; others were studying online, joining lessons conducted elsewhere in Ukraine. The basements of a number of schools had been turned into bomb shelters. Reopening the facilities would be a way to signal to Melitopol’s residents that life was returning to normal. It would also provide a forum for a central aspect of the invasion—namely, installing Russia’s preferred version of Ukrainian history and ideology.
Artem Shulyatyev, the director of a performing-arts school in Melitopol, told me that he was visited by an officer from the F.S.B., who introduced himself as Vladislav. The conversation began politely enough. “You are governed by fascists,” Vladislav told him. “They oppress Russians. But this is wrong, and we are Slavic brothers.” Shulyatyev replied that he didn’t think there were any fascists in Melitopol. “You don’t understand anything,” Vladislav said. “You don’t know about the global plans of fascists.” He then asked if the school had a library, and whether it carried the collected writings of Lenin. “These are very important works,” he said. Shulyatyev said that there wasn’t any Lenin on hand, but, then again, why should a performing-arts school have his works? “Lenin didn’t dance or sing.”
Vladislav moved on to his main point: it was imperative that the school resume in-person classes. Shulyatyev said that this wasn’t possible—it wasn’t safe, and many families had left. Vladislav grew frustrated. “It doesn’t interest us what you want,” he said. “What matters is what we want.”
No, its clearly more. Complete destruction of cities, forced resettlement outside Ukraine, stealing all the grain - this isn’t colonialism, this is conquest in the ancient style. This is Nebuchadnezzar scattering the 10 tribes of Israel level shit.
This is off topic. But colonialism was typically of those things, and more often than not genocide as well.
Ok yeah fair point.
Yeah, I think Hue is understating the horrors of colonialism, and not really acknowledging that genocide is much more contemporary as a word than it is as a practice.
https://twitter.com/BrettKollmann/status/1526445069854597120
https://twitter.com/BrettKollmann/status/1526445785415487491
https://twitter.com/BrettKollmann/status/1526448029225496577
What’s the definition based on? Like not nitpicking just curious because iirc cultural genocide is a thing (which I’m sure is happening in Ukraine)?
Seems NATO expansion is not as provocative as we’ve been told.
Seems more likely that Russia is starting to realize no one is taking their saber rattling seriously any more. Unless they’re going to nuke Finland - they are not a military threat to them.
Surprise to absolutely no one, probably not even the Mearsheimers that said for 30 years NATO aggression would cause a war.
Admitting they were wrong doesn’t happen on the internets.
" genocide , the deliberate and systematic destruction of a group of people because of their [ethnicity] - [nationality] - religion, or [race]"
Mass deportations of Ukrainians into Russia, mass rapes, intentional starvation of civilians, murdering innocent civilians. Intentional destruction of occupied cities.
Hmmmm not sure genocide!
I remember as a kid hearing about the first Mickey D’s in Russia, it was heralded as a sign that the Cold War had ended and we were all going to be consumerist buddies together. Very different era from where we’re at now.
I also remember Gorby in a Pizza Hut ad.
