It is turned into anti-Russian propaganda when people start referring to "deportations" and "genocides", trying to draw not-so-subtle historical parallels. — Tzeentch
Is not the matter to attend to is whether these events are happening or not? — Paine
The Russians are employing the language of "not-so-subtle historical parallels." Are you promoting a nihilism where nobody is talking about anything? — Paine
UN and Amnesty International? I think that does it for you.. And yes, since those groups you mention provide no evidence, they are just pushing propaganda... — Lambert Strether
I won't be reading or responding to your nonsense any further — Lambert Strether
One has to remember that there's a war going on. The purpose isn't even to have a discussion, the purpose is just to repeat the position, however delirious it is, again and again. In hope that genuine participants would leave.And I for one expected better from this forum than endless obfuscation and lies in defense of a murderous dictatorship, but this is what we get. — Olivier5
This is an incident that causes extreme concern, not only for us, but for our Belarusian partners. — Dmitry Peskov
You would be the one promoting a cynical nihilism if your argument for why you should spread your propaganda is because the other side is doing it too. — Tzeentch
I don't share your view that the incidents being reported are only propaganda. — Paine
His main thesis: "It's democratic expansion, not NATO expansion that has created this tension between Putin and the west and Putin and Ukraine." — SophistiCat
• Blunt address on main family festival puts war centre-stage
• Putin casts war as fight for survival that requires sacrifices
• Russia is "defending our people and our historical territory"
• President accuses West of provoking conflict — Summary
Of course, there is no single Eastern European voice and we do not pretend to ventriloquize it. Nor do we offer our own prescriptions; better ones than we could offer have already been given by the Ukrainian, Lithuanian, and Polish left. But any analysis of the current conflict needs to get past a framework that only gives voice and agency to the West and to Russia and start listening to Eastern Europeans, especially since it is Eastern Europe that will be dealing with the repercussions of the current war for years to come.
This is crucial when it comes to understanding the current war. However tempting it might be to analyze it in terms of a proxy war between NATO and Russia, Ukraine is an active participant in this historical process. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Ukraine several times attempted to assert and defend its westward course, including in 2004 and in 2014, both times to great resistance on the part of the Kremlin. There is no point in denying that the West actively intervened in this. But so did Russia.
Everything between Washington and Moscow becomes flyover country. — Paine
He also raises the question of how promises made to the USSR relate to one of the nations that appeared after it dissolved. — Paine
The Ukrainian people have been given a choice - fight or surrender. That's all the influence they have in this war. — Tzeentch
Your version of them as soulless puppets... — Paine
... is as dismissive of their agency as any version of colonial right you charge being exerted by other states upon them. — Paine
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