Ukrainian War Thread III: The Horrors

[Fahran]

https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/3496906-morgan-freeman-rob-reiner-included-among-nearly-1000-americans-banned-from-russia/

Actors and filmmakers Morgan Freeman and Rob Reiner were included on a list of 963 Americans banned from entering Russia released by the country’s foreign ministry on Saturday.

The list also includes President Biden, Vice President Harris and other members of the Biden administration, as well as all the members of the House and an assortment of business executives, think tank leaders, former lawmakers and officials and others.

I wonder if they'll ban even the diplomats who could negotiate to lift the sanctions at this point.

[Archinstinct]

https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/3496906-morgan-freeman-rob-reiner-included-among-nearly-1000-americans-banned-from-russia/

Actors and filmmakers Morgan Freeman and Rob Reiner were included on a list of 963 Americans banned from entering Russia released by the country’s foreign ministry on Saturday.

The list also includes President Biden, Vice President Harris and other members of the Biden administration, as well as all the members of the House and an assortment of business executives, think tank leaders, former lawmakers and officials and others.

I wonder if they'll ban even the diplomats who could negotiate to lift the sanctions at this point.

New life goal: Get banned by Russia.

Maybe I should start faxing dick pics to the kremlin. I wonder if that'd work?

Maybe draw devil horns on the heads of the rashist leaders, and zwastikas on their shirts.

[Independent Cossack Ukraine]

https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/3496906-morgan-freeman-rob-reiner-included-among-nearly-1000-americans-banned-from-russia/

Actors and filmmakers Morgan Freeman and Rob Reiner were included on a list of 963 Americans banned from entering Russia released by the country’s foreign ministry on Saturday.

The list also includes President Biden, Vice President Harris and other members of the Biden administration, as well as all the members of the House and an assortment of business executives, think tank leaders, former lawmakers and officials and others.

Well, Russia dug its own grave. Guess this makes negotiations harder. Have fun isolating yourself like North Korea, Putin.

[Democratic Communist Federation]

New life goal: Get banned by Russia.

That would be a good thing to add to your business card. (I would.)

[Vistulange]

Wait—what? Are you exaggerating, or is that actually a thing?

It is an actual thing Avraham Stern did.

I need to see that stuff. I don't even need an English translation, I can read Hebrew just fine. It's probably hilarious in any case

[Archinstinct]

New life goal: Get banned by Russia.

That would be a good thing to add to your business card. (I would.)

It really would

"The Penguin Mafia: banned in the Russian Federation & People's Republic of China."

[Archinstinct]

Just to let people know now: you can start considering the Russian government as fascist and people supporting the state as supporting fascism (or fascists themselves).

[Democratic Communist Federation]

"The Penguin Mafia: banned in the Russian Federation & People's Republic of China."

Yeah, penguins don't fly. They wouldn't be of much help to Russia.

[Archinstinct]

"The Penguin Mafia: banned in the Russian Federation & People's Republic of China."

Yeah, penguins don't fly. They wouldn't be of much help to Russia.

And yet, somehow it shall happen because reasons.

[Gig em Aggies]

That would be a good thing to add to your business card. (I would.)

It really would

"The Penguin Mafia: banned in the Russian Federation & People's Republic of China."

well just be sure to cover your drinks. Russian dissidents have a bad case of buying radioactive drinks

[Fahran]

Just to let people know now: you can start considering the Russian government as fascist and people supporting the state as supporting fascism (or fascists themselves).

I do question at least some of the characteristics of this political tendency since they seem to go beyond describing people like Dugin, who I would consider a fascist, to encompass numerous Russian historical figures. The notion that Moscow is the "Third Rome" is fairly old, dating back to the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans. I don't think that belief is particularly or uniquely fascistic. Also, Putin exists in a grey area to me. He's definitely an authoritarian who has carried out a genocide, but I'm not certain his ideology or political aesthetics are really too comparable to those of Mussolini or Hitler. I'd argue that describing his government as influenced by Russian fascists is probably stronger than stating outright that he is himself fascist.

[Kanaia]

...a den of murderers whose leader wrote erotic poetry about Eretz Yisrael.

Go on...

Some Putinists/Stalinists believe that Zelensky is an antisemitic Jew. Now, growing up in a secular NYC Jewish family, I have known a lot of antizionist Jews. (I am one.) I have never met an antisemitc Jew.

Maybe not an anti-Semitic Jew, but a "self-hating Jew" is definitely a pretty common stereotype.

[Democratic Communist Federation]

And yet, somehow it shall happen because reasons.

With bow ties, the penguins could serve as pallbearers at Putin's funeral.

[Democratic Communist Federation]

I do question at least some of the characteristics of this political tendency since they seem to go beyond describing people like Dugin, who I would consider a fascist, to encompass numerous Russian historical figures. The notion that Moscow is the "Third Rome" is fairly old, dating back to the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans. I don't think that belief is particularly or uniquely fascistic. Also, Putin exists in a grey area to me. He's definitely an authoritarian who has carried out a genocide, but I'm not certain his ideology or political aesthetics are really too comparable to those of Mussolini or Hitler. I'd argue that describing his government as influenced by Russian fascists is probably stronger than stating outright that he is himself fascist.

Putin's favorite fascist philosopher is Ivan Ilyin.

[Democratic Communist Federation]

Maybe not an anti-Semitic Jew, but a "self-hating Jew" is definitely a pretty common stereotype.

Exactly. It is a stereotype. I have never known one. Historically, the only one I am familiar with is, unfortunately, Karl Marx.

[Drago Soviet Russia]

Russia didn't become our enemy until after we chose Saudi Arabia over them. Even Obama wanted to reset things in favor of détente. This recent return of the Cold War is responsible for no small part of the xenophobic, McCarthyist attempt to paint everyone who dissents from the Western state media narrative as "Russian apologist," but who stands to gain by this? Militarists and industrialists, of course! They are not motivated by patriotism, but by avarice. Russia shouldn't be our enemy. I guess Mitt Romney has won after all, despite being dead wrong. The real fascists listen to CNN and MSNBC.

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

Russia didn't become our enemy until after we chose Saudi Arabia over them. Even Obama wanted to reset things in favor of détente. This recent return of the Cold War is responsible for no small part of the xenophobic, McCarthyist attempt to paint everyone who dissents from the Western state media narrative as "Russian apologist," but who stands to gain by this? Militarists and industrialists, of course! They are not motivated by patriotism, but by avarice. Russia shouldn't be our enemy. I guess Mitt Romney has won after all, despite being dead wrong. The real fascists listen to CNN and MSNBC.

how's that Siberian methane smelling?

[Drago Soviet Russia]

Russia didn't become our enemy until after we chose Saudi Arabia over them. Even Obama wanted to reset things in favor of détente. This recent return of the Cold War is responsible for no small part of the xenophobic, McCarthyist attempt to paint everyone who dissents from the Western state media narrative as "Russian apologist," but who stands to gain by this? Militarists and industrialists, of course! They are not motivated by patriotism, but by avarice. Russia shouldn't be our enemy. I guess Mitt Romney has won after all, despite being dead wrong. The real fascists listen to CNN and MSNBC.

how's that Siberian methane smelling?

See, you just proved my point by resorting to straight up McCarthyism and xenophobia. Next you'll be voting for the Swedish Nazis or something, no doubt joined by your shared love of Azov and Hitler.

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

how's that Siberian methane smelling?

See, you just proved my point by resorting to straight up McCarthyism and xenophobia. Next you'll be voting for the Swedish Nazis or something, no doubt joined by your shared love of Azov and Hitler.

See, I have made peace with the idea that I will not live beyond 60 because of the incurable Russian and Saudi addiction to fossil fuels.
You on the other hand... believes there's a future for the Russian Empire (or the rest of the planet?) beyond 2050?

[The Two Jerseys]

how's that Siberian methane smelling?

See, you just proved my point by resorting to straight up McCarthyism and xenophobia. Next you'll be voting for the Swedish Nazis or something, no doubt joined by your shared love of Azov and Hitler.

Boo! Get new material! Boooooooooooo!

[Ulajhan]

See, you just proved my point by resorting to straight up McCarthyism and xenophobia. Next you'll be voting for the Swedish Nazis or something, no doubt joined by your shared love of Azov and Hitler.

I would suggest spending those rubles quickly or getting them exchanged soon.

[HISPIDA]

how's that Siberian methane smelling?

See, you just proved my point by resorting to straight up McCarthyism and xenophobia. Next you'll be voting for the Swedish Nazis or something, no doubt joined by your shared love of Azov and Hitler.

ahh, i love the smell of the FSB at 9:55 PM

[Drago Soviet Russia]

See, you just proved my point by resorting to straight up McCarthyism and xenophobia. Next you'll be voting for the Swedish Nazis or something, no doubt joined by your shared love of Azov and Hitler.

See, I have made peace with the idea that I will not live beyond 60 because of the incurable Russian and Saudi addiction to fossil fuels.
You on the other hand... believes there's a future for the Russian Empire (or the rest of the planet?) beyond 2050?

No, just ideally a global Leninist union of soviet states. Could be based in Rome for all I care. But it's time to abandon the Cold War, anyway. It was supposed to be over long ago. As Obama said to Romney, "The 1980s called. They want their foreign policy back."

[Fahran]

Putin's favorite fascist philosopher is Ivan Ilyin.

And mine is probably Heidegger. That doesn't make me a fascist. Heck, I've listened to lectures from left-wing professors who read and quote Schmitt since his critique of liberal democracy is fairly strong. This doesn't make them Nazis.

Snyder has a penchant for engaging in exaggerations and distortions when it comes to comparing modern political figures to Hitler in particular. I do think it's fair to assert that Putin has been influenced, to some degree, by philosophers who were in turn influenced by fascists. I also fundamentally agree with his assumption that a Russian victory could lead to this ideology (Russian Fascism) becoming more popular within Russia. I still wouldn't call Putin himself a fascist though.

[Infected Mushroom]

Russia didn't become our enemy until after we chose Saudi Arabia over them. Even Obama wanted to reset things in favor of détente. This recent return of the Cold War is responsible for no small part of the xenophobic, McCarthyist attempt to paint everyone who dissents from the Western state media narrative as "Russian apologist," but who stands to gain by this? Militarists and industrialists, of course! They are not motivated by patriotism, but by avarice. Russia shouldn't be our enemy. I guess Mitt Romney has won after all, despite being dead wrong. The real fascists listen to CNN and MSNBC.

This makes sense to me. I think the USA has more or less decided as part of their political system that "Russia as an enemy" is a useful permanent feature to unite blindsight voters when the built-in polarisation between Dems and Republicans becomes too much. Hence a huge part of every presidential administration's US foreign policy features the needless provocation of countries outside of Western Europe (to unify voters and to keep their system from collapsing).

You're definitely on to something.