151–160 of 251 posts
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That book might have been relevent in 2005 but throw it out the window now. All anti-Russian sentiment in the world is due to the fact Russia is literally engaging in genocide against Ukrainians, right now.
Genocide is something entirely different. Watch out using that word. This a war about ground and resources, not an ethnic war.
He is right and wrong. This part is most definitely true: "The Russian system of political power has remained unchanged and unchanging down the centuries—a pyramid of slaves worshipping the supreme khan. That’s how it was during the Golden Horde, that’s how it was in Stalin’s time, that’s how it is today under Vladimir Putin." This is why 90s and russian democracy failed so utterly, why it will fail completely in the…
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> There have been at least three invasions and occupations that are significantly worse crimes: the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Saudi-led invasion of Yemen. All three have led to the total destruction and failure of the invaded state Your opinion is very one-sided and misses many details: - Iraq is currently relatively peaceful democracy after decades of tirany and wars (Iran-Iraq war caused 1M deat…
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If you're interested in some constructive arguments why this article is wrong, please see a thread: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1516162437455654913.html
So, the arguments are: 1. Pushkin supported the Russian unitary empire and subjugation of Ukraine. 2. Pushkin was instrumental in the development of the modern Russian language and is thus seen as symbolising the forced linguistic homogenisation imposed on Ukrainians. The first argument has some explaining power as to why Ukrainians wouldn't want to have a Pushkin memorial. The second argument is presented with a hel…
China has freedom of speech and democracy guaranteed by their constitution, would you defend China's open press and elections next as quickly as you are defending Russia's hollow laws? (not anti-Russians here, my grandfather was Russian, but definitely anti-Russia today).
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> There have been at least three invasions and occupations that are significantly worse crimes: the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Saudi-led invasion of Yemen. All three have led to the total destruction and failure of the invaded state Your opinion is very one-sided and misses many details: - Iraq is currently relatively peaceful democracy after decades of tirany and wars (Iran-Iraq war caused 1M deat…
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Stop spreading Russian propaganda.
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Frankly, we have been having problems with Russian leaders for the last couple centuries or three.
This makes me wonder, is it possible that the pool of solutions available to Russia's leaders is objectively limited due to Russia's geopolitical and sociopolitical realities and they really don't have too much of a rational choice?
It may be a coincidence (getting rights for the people is hard), or due to some structural issue. I don't believe anybody knows the reason, but yeah, it may be external because when modern democracy first appeared it was concentrated geographically, what usually happens when the causes are larger than a single country.
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> Take a beloved in the West author like Solzhenitsyn, whose "compassion" suddenly evaporates when Ukrainian question is raised. Solzhenitsin is one of the best literary chroniclers of repressions in the Soviet Russia (One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, The Gulag Archipelago, In the First Circle), with the degree of earnestness and realism that approaches Tolstoy's. How does his compassion to Ukranians, or lack…
Solzhenitsin was also a right wing Russian nationalist who was absolutely part of the problem. That "realism that approaches Tolstoy's" you mentioned is actually mostly folklore and vastly exaggerated for propaganda purposes (see https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/06/archives/solzhenitsyns-ex... ). > Solzhenitsyn's Greater Russian, Orthodox-driven nationalism, Elder notes, "once made him appear sorely out of touch, but…
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Zelensky, the current president, was democratically elected. Yanukovich fled to Russia after mass protests, when he attempted to reverse the process of association with the EU, as requested by Putin (it is one thing to be a “pro-Russian”, and another — to be a Kremlin puppet). Stop spreading Russian propaganda.
And please read the HN guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html