I’m American, and yes, people have a right to be racist if that’s really what they want to do with their lives. If the KKK went off to fight in an armed conflict, even if it was against the worst villain in the world, my hope would be that they failed miserably (interpret that however you want, I know you’re not supposed to wish harm upon anyone on this board.) It wouldn’t mean I’d be in FAVOR of whoever they were fighting against, just that I would be less than sympathetic to those particular participants in the war.
I would also like to add that one mechanism for change is:
- Become friendly with a person.
- Explain to them what they really mean when they say X.
For example, someone wants be proud of his national heritage. Looking for that, he discovers some works that describe the Ukrainians as awesome heroes, connected to the spirit realm through a magic tree, and so on. Awesome! Except…the works also explain how the Jews or whatever other groups are evil. Bummer.
Except that the true ancient works had no reference to the Jews. That’s a Christian thing and Ukrainian identity preceded that. You can immediately tell that those works are just fake trash, invented by 1940s scumbags, rather than by people truly devoted to learning Ukrainian history and coming to an understanding of the original, ancient beliefs.
So here (you hand them a book) is the real deal, properly researched, and without all those Christian and Nazi influences.
Voila, you’ve helped to improve the world by taking some young idiot and forcing them to go a different direction, by simply using friendliness, trust, force of personality, and superior knowledge to give them no freedom on the question of racism, and an absolute command to do a better job of living up to their aims.
So if aliens from outer space invaded America and started destroying cities, while approaching yours, and some far-right militia started kicking their butts, you’d want the aliens to win and destroy your city?
Judge people by their actions.
The Russian state invades sovereign nations, while fomenting unrest in others in order to try and reincorporate them into its empire at some later date. It brings death and destruction wherever it goes.
The Russians as individuals, as soldiers in their army, have shown themselves to be significantly composed of looters, rapists and murderers. They are looting, raping and killing in the country they invaded every day.
You want them to win over the side with the tattoos?
Whatever you think of Azov, their heroism in Mariupol has saved large parts of Ukraine from being captured by the fascist invaders.
Also remember that the Azov Battalion are/were not the only defenders at Mariupol. There are/were also Naval Infantry, Ground Forces and Territorial Defense Forces there. As co-defenders, their fates are/were linked.
It’s like with the Battle of Thermopylae - everyone remembers the 300 Spartans, but few recall the 700 Thespians.
But they kept acting up.
I’ll let myself out
Seriously, most sources agree there were 400 Thebans as well. The Spartans just had better PR.
I wonder how big is the anti-war movement? I assume it’ll gain members as the war drags on.
Guardian blog
‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.’
The Spartan state was one of the most fascistic and totalitarian entities the world has ever seen, and the Spartans were disliked by other Greeks. Yet they fought together to repel the Persian invaders. When the invasion was defeated, they could go back to being enemies again.
Maxim 29: The enemy of my enemy is my enemy’s enemy. No more. No less.
Dammit, you beat me by 30 minutes!!
But it bears repeating, to many people forget this addendum and make assumptions/plans based on their new ‘friends’. See Afghanistan and Iraq for further lessons.
Don’t get me wrong. My enemy is still my enemy. But if he’s fighting my enemy, he can be a ‘friend’ for as long as needed.
Heroes come in all ages and walks of life. Yuliia Paievska helped train Ukraine’s volunteer medics. She participated in the Invictus Games and was given a camera last year to film a Netflix documentary. She used it to document her experiences as a medic in Mariupol. She smuggled out a data card with 256 gigabytes of bodycam video and gave to AP Journalists. Yuliia was captured by the Russians the next day.
It sounds like a very powerful documentary may come from this footage. I hope it airs on Netflix.
The video shows Yuliia compassionately treating Ukrainians and Russian soldiers. She was shown on tv bruised and battered after her arrest.
Top. Men.
Turns out there’s a good chance the video’s a fake, and uses several unrelated videos spliced together to fit a narrative.
But yeah, Mikhail clearly got a ‘talking to’ earlier this week.
Looks like Russia is mobilizing older folks in recognition of their loses.
Somehow I don’t think that’s going to work out all that well.
Video on Twitter:
From the Yahoo article:
The security camera footage showed a group of nine Ukrainians hunched over, holding the pants of the person in front of them and some with their hands placed over their heads, crossing a street in a single file. Two Russian soldiers with guns can be seen at the front and back of the group, directing the line.
Eight witnesses told The Times the captives were then taken behind an office building, gunshots were heard, and the group did not reappear.
Additional drone footage obtained by The Times confirmed the witness accounts, showing the groups’ bodies beside an office building as Russian soldiers stood over them.
four 9M120 Ataka missile launchers, two 30 mm 2A42 autocannons, two AG-17D grenade launchers, and one coaxial 7.62 mm PKTM machine gun.
That sounds very impressive to this absolute non-expert. But it also sounds like an awful lot of varying ammunition to supply and aren’t the Russians having some issues with that?
For all the logistics challenges the Russians face supplying their own weapons platforms, the Ukrainians have it far worse, owing to them receiving donated weapons and equipment from a host of countries; some using NATO standard, and others Russian gear.
Intense fighting around Donetsk. Russian forces still trying to bridge Severskyi Donets River. Getting troops across is a priority to take Severodonetsk.
Imho It’s hard to tell if the Ukrainians are holding back forces or just hanging on. The Russians are focusing a lot of troops into a small area. The fighting isn’t getting a lot of press coverage.
May 20 Institute Study of War