I am in awe

[elisi]

So, there are SO MANY downsides to living In Interesting Times. But sometimes. Sometimes it's worth it.

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Slava Ukraini! 👏👏👏 This man is a legend.

And it's crazy to think that this is the same man - this music video is from back when he was an actor.

Антитіла (Antytila) - Lego / Official Video

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The band (Antytila) all joined up and are paramedics in the army.

Comments

And now, I'm gonna be the bad guy, and go "nuance! context! *Everyone* is a piece of shit here etc

[(Anonymous)]

So.

I honestly don’t agree with most of your takes on this war (p.e I found the whole Eurovision thing insulting, hypocritical and ridiculous, and I thought that Kaja Kallas article you had recommended once was frankly, gross etc); but your heart is so obviously in the right place in regards to both this, and many, *many other* issues that I really can’t fault you for it.

Also, I could be wrong. (And I am (much) young(er), so it feels a bit weird to go up to everyone and go ‘ah, you NAÏVE motherfuckers’). I’m not saying I’m sure on this, that I totally know what I’m saying, cause I *could* look into these things more and I haven’t. But many people have pointed out some serious reasons to not trust this narrative too, it’s not just me being inherently incredibly suspicious and trusting nobody; so here goes.

Why I am against this whole uncritical lionization of Zelensky, and why I don’t think highly of him at all, let me count the ways (+ some general opinions):


1. He gave a speech in the Greek parliament where he said some *seriously* ahistorical things and brought along a neo-Nazi. And oh my God did you see what happened in the Canadian parliament that other time, (though ok, that was not his fault, he was not the one who invited Yaroslav Hunka, the literal, original Nazi there; but he praised him, didn’t say anything about it, and didn’t apologise afterwards).

2. Zelensky’s government has used the war to roll back labour rights, crack down on unions, ban political parties, and rights in general. Yeah, war is war, but.

3. His wife was doing photoshoots for Vogue a year and a half ago, how seriously can I take their personal struggle and sufferring. Yeah I know, no such thing as bad publicity, but come on, this is low, even for a world that has social media.

4. Also, the Ukrainian government has thrown its whole support behind two separate ethnic cleansings (Azerbaijan, Israel) while simultaneously bitching about how it’s “distracting” from their war.

5. That whole disgusting thing were they put military targets among civilians, even Amnesty International called them out on it.

6. The whole propaganda had reached ridiculous proportions back then too. “Russia wants to reform the Soviet Union/Russian Empire and take over all of Europe!!!” is cartoonishly stupid. ¾ of Europe are part of NATO, which Russia has made clear they do not want to fight. And oh yeah, Israel was being its usual terrible self even back in 2022, but who cares about that right, they can still come to Eurovision! (Also, because I am pedantic, they are not even in Europe!) Speaking of which, I had found the whole Eurovision thing particularly ludicrous cause even if one believes that Ukraine is 1000% in the right, well it’s not like its people are gonna say “gee, oh boy, our country is probably gonna be ruined for like a generation or two, everything is terrible, refugees and stuff and people are dying, but we got this pity-win, so. Worth it!!!!”

7. (And wow, speaking of, do I hate being a literal prophet about this regarding Biden in the post above, cough Palestine cough).

8. I mean, that doesn’t mean that Russia is a saint here, I’m not saying that. But when there’s this huge propaganda effort from nations that *do* have something to gain from all this, you naturally put me off from the righteous cause, and make me not trust its righteousness, or that you’re doing everything you can to help and stop the war (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z6gWVmmK-g )

9. Btw, China of all people was trying to mediate for peace (which Zelensky himself was open to) and the US and EU did everything in their power to stifle peace talks and keep the war going. Please don’t give modern China the moral high ground, come on, I know, the bar is in Hell, but still, etc.

10. Look into what the people of the Donbass, Lunetck etc who consider themselves Russian have been going through for the last decade. (And though I’m not sure about it, I’ve heard many people in Crimea wanted to secede too). Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Putin’s motives are altruistic in any way, shape, or form, fuck him and every Russian big politician of the last like 40 years. I’m just saying this attacker/pure, innocent victim dichotomy is not really as clear cut as it is presented.

11. There are indeed Nazis. Is that a reason to invade, or why Russia is doing it? No; I’m just saying that fact is not in question. One might say “many militaries have Nazis” but that is not an argument; there is a *substantial* presence or a total lack of historical knowledge here if you have large bunches of people white-washing WW2 collaborators (Look up Stepan Bandera etc). And if you, as the government are not doing anything about them, and deny you have them in the first place and pretend you are complete saints, and are collaborating with and using said Nazis, these are the options, you can pick more than one:
a) you don’t mind Nazis, I don’t need to explain why that is a bad thing,
b) you are not as brave as you pretend to be,
c) you think they’re harmless, which makes me question your intelligence and political savvy, and it’s not the first time, so don’t do that,
d) you are someone who is willing to severely compromise their morals by declaring them the lesser evil and having them fight for you,
e) you hate using them but are unable to do anything about it because of their strength and numbers; in which case Russia has a point about the whole denazification thing.
I’m leaning towards C, he has been described as a “useful idiot”, and god help me, I do want to believe his heart is in the right place for some reason, pfffff.

Re: And now, I'm gonna be the bad guy, and go "nuance! context! *Everyone* is a piece of shit here e

[(Anonymous)]

12. The whole background with NATO, and its expansion, and the possible Ukraine membership paints a very, very shady game, even or especially if Ukraine membership was never a serious option. That doesn’t mean the war is Ukraine’s fault of course, but it does mean that NATO is also culpable, not just Russia. And in my opinion no, you can’t solemnly declare joining a necessary evil, needs must and all that. (You might even say it’s better for *everyone* if you don’t –glares at Finland-- cause Russia doesn’t want to share a border with NATO, escalation, nuclear war, what do you not understand etc) And in case you *don’t* think it’s a necessary evil -because they don’t-- and just think joining NATO would be a good thing for some reason, well, see below.

13. I believe in a people’s right of self-determination. So yes, Ukraine has the right to join NATO if it wants and Russia doesn’t get a say (Though, to quote a great tumblr, “saying you have the right to join NATO is like saying you have the right to join the mafia. Yes, you do, but that isn’t an argument”). But… *this* is the hill you literally wanna die on? As in, I don’t believe peace is an absolute good, always, under any terms. There *are* causes that are worth going to war over, there are certain demands you should not accept; see WW2, and like half the history of Greece, which is basically “hey, you’re a tiny country, appease us or we invade” –“how dare you, no deal, you will never take OUR FREEDOM!” (Bravehearts alla over the place). But again… this is the hill you wanna die on? Putin had said he would stop (Now of course, he will say, in for a penny, in for a pound, duh). You’re willing to turn your country into a wasteland in a proxy-war, destroy its infrastructure for the foreseeable future, fan nationalism, have millions of people be displaced, and god knows how many killed, just to get to join NATO, because hey, when *they* do imperialism, it’s good, let’s have some military bases in our country, why not? (Ukraine, is a region of "vital strategic concern" to Russia, and as such Russia will be willing to pay almost any price to keep it out of NATO; sanctions will not deter it. Russia's strategy is that, if NATO will not accept the status quo ante and the existence of a neutral Ukraine, Russia will "wreck" the country, rendering it militarily and economically impotent and indefinitely trapped in internal conflict and instability, quoth John Mearsheimer). I mean, you do you. There *are* causes that are worth fighting for, and joining the bane of the Third World, the arm of the most dangerous imperial power that exists right now, that council of the scum of the earth that I promise, doesn’t give a single flying fuck about you… is not one of them.

14. And I say this as Greek person; we worry about Turkey like all the time. And if I had the power, I would have us leave NATO tomorrow because a) fuck those murdering shitheads, don’t be part of imperialism kids, b) it’s not like they actually do anything whenever Turkey threatens to invade, trespasses on our borders etc, and it’s entirely possible they *still* wouldn’t in case of a full scale war either, and c) I believe *there are* other ways to be safe in this case; they may not be as easy, but still.

15. And oh yeah, surprise, surprise, The US Congressional delegation in Munich just offered Zelensky to sign a document on the transfer of 50% of Ukraine's future mineral resources, which he, credit where it’s due, very reasonably refused, because what the fuck, and now Trump is blaming him for the war and calling him a dictator
(https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/02/17/revealed-trump-confidential-plan-ukraine-stranglehold/ ). Remember a couple years ago when every communist on tumblr was getting called a Putin-loving fascist for pointing out that this was very obviously going to happen, oh the unbearable weight of being right all the time
(Ok, no, *I* was not right about Rowling, wooooow, has the transphobia gone through the roof, Jesus Christ Superstar, there’s the benefit of the doubt, and then there’s 5 years of this; can discuss that at some other point, I’m sure she’ll do/say something else in two weeks, so no rush.)

16. And if anyone brings up Crimea as it pertains to everything discussed in the previous points, well, you’re not getting that back either. It sucks, I know, but if you could, you would have already. That ship has sailed since 2014, don't fight for that. And NATO doesn’t care if you do, because the point is to put you in a debt trap, turn the country into a permanent warzone and bleed Russia so a handful of US energy oligarchs can keep selling oil to the EU, and create the Red Scare 2.1 so they get the excuse to keep expanding and look good in comparison. Besides, know when to fold them, you could have just given up Crimea, now they want to annex even more.)

17. Also also, for anyone not convinced of the evil after Palestine, or that Russia has a point to not want a nuclear armed NATO member on its doorstep, look into NATO meddling in elections and basically facilitating regime change in Ukraine back in the 2010s, Euromaidan etc.

18. Now one might say “aaah, propaganda!” What, everything? All of it? And what do you think is more likely to reach an average European, Russian propaganda, or EU/NATO propaganda?

19. And one might say aaah, Whataboutism! No, because I am not *for* the invasion (and shame to those parties who are, see CPRF etc). I’m just saying, it’s not black and white, Putin didn’t just wake up one day and go “aah, time to do a Hitler”, the US has been meddling in Ukraine since like 2011 and has rejected diplomatic solutions despite it being the only feasible way this war ends, a horrific conflict has been artificially prolonged, and I *hope* Zelensky is what they call a “useful idiot”, because I wanna be generous with him. Look into Roger Waters, and the aforementioned John Mearsheimer, and others.

20. All this LITERALLY DOES NOT MATTER because as I said in the original post, modern Russia is not worth defending either, I’m too much of a communist to care about any imperialist state, and kids and innocent people are dying. At the end of the day wars are really waged over raw materials, mineral wealth, commodity transport routes, geopolitical pillars, and market shares. And the people of Ukraine will not benefit from those if the Russian government and corporations control them, and they will not benefit if *their* government and corporations control them either. So who cares? So, *everyone* get over yourselves and do a peace now.


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Did I have to write all this? Does it matter if I’m wrong, since I am the most average of Joes, especially at this point? Most importantly, do we have to agree on everything?

No, I just like it when we do.

(dies)