| The reason why they're distracting you is so that you miss the buildup. |
There are answers. You seem ill-equipped to understand them. |
Of course there are answers. They fall into one of the two categories: 1) it's all right as long as it works to our advantage, and 2) the party doing the annexing is our friend so it's all right. |
lol with satellite technology, who can ever miss a buildup? |
Ummm. No. There is no analogy between Kosovo and Ukraine. The Serbs committed genocide in Kosovo. I was there. I saw Serbs in action. Prior to that, Serbs had repressed Albanian Kosovars for decades by denying them access to education, jobs, housing, etc. Serbia attacked Kosovar Albanian civilians with soldiers and rpgs and tanks and expelled the vast majority from Kosovo in 1999. They came back to Kosovo under a negotiated agreement that called for the withdrawal of Serbian military forces. Even today, the Serbian government continues to repress Serbian citizens of Albanian descent who live in Southern Serbia. They do this non-violently through the administrative power of the state to try to expel non-Serbs from Serbia and take their property. Yes, territorial integrity is a principle of international law. But, there are exceptions - elections, negotiated agreements and the refusal of a people against whom genocide has been committed to continue to live under the control of the regime and supporters of that genocide. If there is any hypocrisy in Kosovo, it lies in the fact that Serbs who first repressed and then expelled and killed Kosovars en masse, still expect to govern them, and Serbia turns to the very international law system they violated so horrifically to argue that Serbs should be supported by the international community in Serbia’s continued effort to dominate Kosovar Albanians. Also, FWIW, Ukraine voted overwhelming (like 90+%) to separate from the USSR in 1999 and since then has held multiple free and fair elections. Prior to 1999, Ukraine was an independent republic in a Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (one of which was Russia), and prior to that, over many centuries, parts of Ukraine were in parts of Russia, Poland, Lithuania and Austria. Now Putin, in order to keep himself in power in Russia, is committing genocide, with the willing cooperation of the Russian military and large segments of Russian society, against Ukraine. Ukraine (including Crimea) will never be “returned” to Russia. PP, get to know a little history before making your ignorant pronouncements. |
Since you're sympathizing with the Russians, tell me - are you proud of what Russian troops are doing in Ukraine? Raping? Murdering children? Assassinating anyone who speaks out? Come on. This is an anonomous board. You can say it. Go on. Say what you really feel. Does it make you feel good? |
LOL elections? What country would vote to lose a chunk of land unless it has to? Negotiations? Why would a country negotiate with its own region, when the balance of firepower is always so overwhelmingly with the central power? Azeris have committed genocide against Armenians in Artsakh for years, still are, and Armenians vote overwhelmingly to separate from Azerbaijan and so? nothing happened. Do not talk to me about elections and refusal to be under the control of the genocidal regime. You don't care. And of Ukraine...I don't think it minded territorial integrity very much right after the WW2 when it got gifted with chunks of Poland, Hungary and Romania. Oh no I think it said yes please thank you. Territorial integrity matters until it doesn't. |
Hey just like Israel and Palestinians no? |
|
Do people actually not know the recent history of the Ukraine here? So many of you act like there wasn't some State Department coup in 2014, or that Russian speakers haven't been systematically oppressed since then. That the Ukrainian government was shelling civilians in the Donbass for the last eight years and counting.
Things you probably also are not aware of: If you speak Russian in public, they will tie you to a pole and abuse you. Opposition parties are banned in the Ukraine. Opposition media is banned in the Ukraine. Ukraine maintains a "kill list." Dugin and his daughter were on that list. Elon Musk was briefly on that list. Why on earth would any ethnic Russian want anything to do with those psychos? |
While there was a strong push to displace the Russian language from the official sphere, what you wrote is not true. A huge chunk of Ukraine speaks Russian in their daily lives, was born with it, and in fact prefers it to Ukrainian. It just isn't possible to excise a language that every other citizen of your country considers a mother tongue. They'd run out of poles on day 1. |
The bolded part is true, and that's why it is especially funny to watch the discourse about Ukraine quickly shift from "a flawed government with serious problems" to "a valiant democracy trying to fight off its brutal authoritarian neighbor". The truth is Ukraine and Russia share the same culture and both are inclined toward corruption and authoritarianism. Ukraine banned and jailed political opponents and the media before the war broke out because this is how things are done in this part of the world. It's also quite funny to watch people parrot things like "Russian oligarchs" who are responsible for all manner of discord in Ukraine - as if there was no Ukrainian oligarchs, and as if big business in Ukraine and Russia isn't done using the same exact set of rules. |
Most of the photos are blurred, but peruse if you like: https://twitter.com/JeremyTheGun/status/1506015407551188992 https://www.news.com.au/world/europe/ukrainian-civilians-stripped-tied-up-and-beaten-by-vigilantes-in-shocking-videos/news-story/3a2abcc0a87815925dce0db9cee1c09a You might also want to look into what happens when Ukraine takes back some territory. |
The photos are terrible, and while they may cast a new light on the nature of the regime, nothing in these photos indicates they are punished for speaking Russian. |
Breaking news: Ukrainians don’t like looters, saboteurs and people who support invaders who engage in war crimes and genocide. |
Yes the war looks so comfortingly black and white from your comfy kitchen in Chevy Chase. |