A Ukrainian soldier named Serhiy, returning from Russian captivity, has reportedly been found mutilated with swastikas carved into his forehead, as disclosed by Dr. Olexandr Turkevich, who is treating him.
The soldier, blindfolded during the ordeal, claimed Russian soldiers threatened to dismember him, citing accusations of fascism.
Russians truly are the bad guys on this planet.
I just want to draw an important distinction between the Russian government, military leadership, & voluntary/willing soldiery and the average Russian citizen. It would be wrong to call the latter “the bad guys”, but not the former.
Removed by mod
As a Lithuanian, I actually disagree. We always knew that a day like February 24 would come. We kept telling that to our allies and they thought we were being paranoid.
You have to address the deep sense of Russian imperialism before we can take you seriously. Even the Russians who have lived in my country for 30 years or more have it. “We are Russians” they say. “We want the world; we want it and we won’t stop until we have all of it.”
I also know that people like you exist, and some people resisted, but our collective fear is that people like you are a smaller minority than you would think.
Same here, as a Czech, the Russian narrative that all Slavic people should be united under them doesn’t really help with a good night sleep. I’ve been just waiting for Russia to wage another of its wars for at least 15 years. I’m not happy that I was right, but this was very much expected.
Removed by mod
I’m very much against. Like, we have nothing in common with Russians, except our languages sharing the same roots.
That’s not exactly true, we also watched Krtek and Nu Pogodi in out childhoods, and both nations are considered “glum” (as never smiling) and cynical (and the correlation between being educated and being cynical, sometimes to the point of dark humor), relatively recent urbanisation. Otherwise, yes, of course, things are different, there is almost as much common with Bulgaria or Croatia
Removed by mod
Removed by mod
We are not anti-Russia, we are simply pro-survival. Even before the Soviet occupation, tsarist Russia did a lot to destroy our national identities, in Lithuania, they forbade writing our language in Roman alphabet and hunted smugglers that carried books written in it. The ban and other repressions caused several massive rebellions including 1830s and 1860s ones.
The Tsar later sent his hound, Muravjov, who hanged so many men that the line of gallows went from Kaunas to Vilnius (~90 km). They have put a statue of Muravjov outside of Lithuanian consulate in Kaliningrad. I guess they are going to put a statue of Adolf Hitler outside the Israeli consulate next /s
And imperialism is common among big countries, sure, but it is Russians who enflame their local minorities in neighbouring countries and then rush to save them. And we do have a Russian minority.
Removed by mod
Russian hostilities are not open until they are.
Belarus sent a lot of immigrants from 3rd countries to Baltic states and Poland to cause problems for us.
Russian propaganda machine was to blame for enflaming a lot of marginal political movements, like antivax, anti-LGBT and now anti-Ukraine.
Russian backed propaganda machines were cutting up Baltic states and inventing non-existant separatist movements since 2010. But unlike in Ukraine, none of them stuck.
The problem with Russians in the Baltics is how many of them still think that they are either in charge or that Russian army will be back soon. They completely refuse to integrate, refuse to learn our language, our customs, our values, despite living here for over 50 years. In comparison , I spent 9 months in Sweden, I can give directions and haggle in the market in Swedish.
The whole “but every country is imperialist” is kinda weird to say, dude, considering Russia is the only one atm currently involved in an invasion
Removed by mod
Honestly, discussing Russia’s economy as large in the same breath as the US and China is a bit disingenuous. US GDP is around 27 trillion USD, China around 18 trillion USD. Russia? 2 trillion USD.
Source for figures: https://www.forbesindia.com/article/explainers/top-10-largest-economies-in-the-world/86159/1. Even if we dispute the specific numbers, an order of magnitude is an order of magnitude.
Edit: typo
Removed by mod
I could try to address that disagreement. I’m inclined to assume that you, and citizens of other European countries that had a substantial number of Russians living there, tend to get this impressions exactly from those Russians. Russians who doesn’t live in Russia, and social media related to them. My impression is that they are much more crazy than average Russian living in Russia. The latter are uneducated enough to believe that the west wants to conquer Russia, but the former are idiotic enough to assume they are in some privileged position, and that mist Russians think the same. In reality the rest of Russians don’t have time to indulge in such fantasies and really busy with their lives.
So I’m saying the imperialism exists in a minority of Russians. The irony is that the president is with the minority and that’s why we are in current situation. He got crazy enough with time that he disconnected with majority of the Russians.
I think it’s useless to blame regular Russians in imperialism. But it might be useful to put some pressure on those Russians living outside Russia to make sure they think less about possibility to improve their lives by conquering some country.
A lot of Russians I deal with are young and well adjusted, only the old and the poor believe in Russian propaganda. My hometown, sadly, was home to both. When Lithuanians tell them to go to Russia if they love it so much, they get really quiet though.
The Russians from Russia who afford to travel are also notorious for being annoying and disrespectful tourists throughout Southeast Asia and various other places. Even in online games they stick to each other instead of playing with people from various countries.
I disagree about the Russians in Russia, I think the blame is on Russians, they are the ones who have kept Putin in power for so long. If the Dutch government started taking about retaking Indonesia or Belgian goverment wanted to take Congo back, they would be gone from power tomorrow.
I think one issue with your last argument is that the Dutch and Belgians are democratic and have the ability to remove government officials from power peacefully.
Despite what Russia pretends to be it is not Democratic. It is authoritarian. Putin is the ruler and no Russian can get rid of him by voting, it would have to be a violent revolution or civil war.
That’s much more to expect for an average Russian than simply showing up to a ballot box. Although I don’t excuse their complacency I do understand it.
Lithuania was not democratic in the 80’s and then it became democratic in 1990. All it took was a barehanded unarmed standoff against the Soviet tanks for a night. In a miracle, it only cost 14 lives.
The real problem is not the revolution, it is what comes afterwards. Most Russians do not understand democracy, they don’t understand how western countries function. They don’t have strong institutions or media organisations either. They will have to build those and do what they failed at it back in the 90’s.
When Lithuanians tell them to go to Russia if they love it so much, they get really quiet though.
Thanks. I think they need to be reminded of that more frequently.
The Russians from Russia who afford to travel are also notorious for being annoying and disrespectful tourists throughout Southeast Asia and various other places. Even in online games they stick to each other instead of playing with people from various countries.
Yes. I’m not sure what can be done about this though, except proper education.
I disagree about the Russians in Russia, I think the blame is on Russians, they are the ones who have kept Putin in power for so long.
I could agree but this is different from the imperialism in my book. At least one big reason for that happening is how well constructed the state propaganda was from the very beginning. It’s like most actors are acting out of fear mostly, while not really being obligated to follow the narrative. And the education problem, of course.
Wow thanks for sharing this. Mind if I ask, from your personal perspective/experience, how is the situation now? Did the propaganda work at brainwashing people over the past years?
Removed by mod
:(
You use TOR to share this?
So sorry mate!
Removed by mod
Oh wow, I wonder whether something happened before Feb 24th that might have caught your attention? Any idea? I certainly remember there was something…
Removed by mod
I’m not Russian so I have a limited perspective of this, but I remember people pointing out good indicators that the invasion was really going to happen during the weeks leading up to it, like how the Russian military was setting up field hospitals along the border. Obviously, hindsight makes reflecting on this difficult, and I’m not sure what information was available to Russian citizens at that time.
Removed by mod
okay, but did a majority of you vote him or not? multiple times? after opposition got kilked or disappeared?
you think the elections were rigged? then why isn’t he beeing toppled and democracy restored?
maybe russians got the dictator they wanted and deserved
Removed by mod
- U make an assumption that Russian elections weren’t rigged for the last 20 years.
- Even if the majority of Russians actually voted for Putin, what about the minority of Russians who chose to do the right thing? Do their efforts not count? These people went up against a brutal authoritarian purely because it was the right thing to do (and also knowing that doing so wasn’t going to change anything). Do their efforts not count?
Bruh, remember that time 110% of Russians voted for Putin?
But anyway, in my grandparental comment, I phrased it specifically to not blame anyone who did support Putin as long as they’re not actively engaged in the military. If they’re not causing direct harm, I’m not going to blame people for falling for Russian state propaganda.
Mate come on. A person willing to protest the Russian government in Russia does not deserve your vitriol. Even if every Russian except Allero supported everything Putin did, it wouldn’t make Allero guilty by association
Keep in mind, the IDF has killed more civilians in 2 months than Russia has killed in 2 years.
Not a fair comparison. The Ukrainian military is actively moving civilians out of combat areas and not choosing to wage guerilla war from densely populated urban centers.
This exactly. One can absolutely debate the methods of IDF, but literally no one could wage war in Gaza with few civilian casualties. Gaza is almost one huge city while Ukraine have massive rural areas around every city. Had Russia waged war in Gaza, they’d have killed at least as many civilians, and in my opinion probably a lot more as well.
Maybe don’t wage war in Gaza then? It is not truly needed, there are ways to combat terrorism without leveling a city. And let’s not forget Netanyahu funded Hamas because they benefit of the war.
This is not the point. The point is that comparing civilian casualties between a war in Gaza and a war in Ukraine is an apples and pears comparison.
You know, apples and pears are both very closely related fruits that serve very similar culinary functions. Comparing the two is a perfectly valid thing to do.
So you think Israel is justified in killing more civilians in 2 months than Russia has killed in 2 years?
This thread is about Russia. I was not the one bringing Israel up.
But no, I don’t think that is a good thing. But it has nothing to do with Israel being “more evil” than Russia. Russia cares zero about civilians and would have killed at least as many had Ukraine been a mostly urban warzone with Russian air superiority. But Ukraine isn’t, so therefore less civilian deaths.
Out of curiosity, what would have been your recommended response to the 7 October attack? I’m not saying Israel is handling this the right way whatsoever, but I see a lot of people make statements like yours without any specifics.
Leave Israel. They’re surrounded by enemies and the only way there will be peace is if one side genocides the other.
They never should have been there. They are only there because of the religious nationalist movement known as Zionism.
Nobody is entitled to live anywhere because of their religion.
The world would be a better, more peaceful place if Israelis just relocated to the USA.
So why not move Palestinians if migration is your solution to this problem? Both, Jews and Arabs, have lived in this area for thousands of years.
It’s not about having few civilian casualties, it’s about having fewER casualties. Gaza is extremely densely populated and civilian casualties are pretty much unavoidable, but it doesn’t mean you have to level entire city blocks or bomb the exact places you tell civilians to go. There’s plenty Isreal could do to reduce casualties, they simply won’t.
Again, one can absolutely discuss the methods of the IDF. The point here is simply that you can’t compare Gaza with Ukraine when it comes to civilian casualties.
You can’t compare the actual numbers but you can compare the actions sides take to prevent casualties. Your comment came across as “there’s nothing IDF could do to reduce casualties” when the reality is that they could and they just don’t.
“Came across”? Right. Then I could say bringing up an unrelated conflict, no matter how terrible, in a discussion about what Russia does comes across as a putinist move.
You absolutely can and I will.
Try to say the numbers don’t matter is just willful ignorance.
Do you think Israel is justified in killing more civilians in 2 months than Russia has killed in 2 years?
You’re right. Israel is justified in killing more civilians than Russia.
My bad.
We’re doing whataboutism? In that case, keep in mind that Stalin killed more people than Israel ever did.
I’m pretty sure most people who have a problem with Stalin have a problem with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The problem is that there are people who think Russians are subhuman invaders while Israelis are heroic defenders.
And Dschingis Khan killed so many more people. How does one genocide exonerate another?
They don’t. People should be as critical of Israel as they are of Russia, if not moreso.
Any Zionist is now also openly supporting genocide. That very much makes them the bad guys. The fact you’re being downvoted demonstrates too many people are too fucking stupid to even apply their own morals, because I KNOW they’d all bitch to no end if the “wrong” civilians were killed.
Also it’s a dumb point to push. One terrible regime being bad doesn’t say ANYTHING about a different regime.
It points at American hypocrisy, but you’d have to introduce that topic, not just slam it on the table and declare victory.
Humanity is the bad guy.
Nah, still Russians.
Are Russians the only ones responsible for the thousands of species humanity has driven to extinction? The climate collapse?
I think climate change is one of the biggest issues we are facing today and we need immediate action.
And yet, I think this is such a shit take in this thread.
Yes, all humans are causing climate change, but the Russian government and military are insanely evil and are on a path of genocidal destruction.
Arguments like yours only hurt the climate change cause as you alienate people.
I think climate change is one of the biggest issues we are facing today
It doesn’t matter what you think. It doesn’t matter what I think. We are way past the point of no return. As far as I can tell, humanity is the villain. I’m hoping the climate apocalypse is enough to wipe us all out for good, to limit the damage we can cause to the natural world. Worst case scenario, we become space faring and spread our plague to other solar systems.
Edgelord lmao
Not really man, there’s lots of people who think humanity is a disease. You think our precious pointless lives are worth driving every other species to extinction?
Yes. All ruzzia
Yes
Is there an actual history of this sort of thing or is it only from Inglorious Basterds?
That movie makes it feel like a timeless tradition, doesn’t it?
I’ve never seen it anywhere but in that movie (not a historian fwiw). So I’m fairly confident that it’s just the Russians being their usual asshole selves.
They couldn’t even draw it correctly, this is a religious symbol, if you angle it so it looks like an X in the middle, then you have the Nazis swastika.
Reminds me of this classic meme
Heill Hortler
That bottom center one will always be my favorite.
They’re all special in their own way. Each one of god’s little miracles.
I couldn’t have even guessed that they were trying to draw a swastika with that one.
The Nazis didn’t fucking care, this is just the dumb shit Nazis say online to gaslight you about other Nazis doing Nazi things.
Hexbears: well at least they aren’t doing a hecking imperialism!
Ukrainian soldiers are already wearing Nazi insignias on their uniforms. Seems only appropriate
deleted by creator
It’s a government of banderaists instated in an American supported right wing coup that has entire nazi battalions in its army’s ranks. Spare me the apologia.
deleted by creator
