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…you just reposted the quote I gave you implying he doesn’t support that war and wishes he could actually say it more bluntly.
No, I highlighted the part of your quote in which he implied that the war was not imminent and that anyone who 'understands the conflict' at a time when America was warning of the oncoming invasion, would understand that Russia had no desire to invade Ukraine as a means of resolution of the ongoing political dispute.
From one of my other links
"So... if nobody shows up for the invasion Biden scheduled for tomorrow morning at 3 a.m., I'm not saying your journalistic credibility was instrumentalized as part of one of those disinformation campaigns you like to write about, but you should at least consider the possibility," the whistleblower said.
Fleeing life in prison or execution in a hurry doesn’t determine one’s principles. I find that a weird claim.
So if I expose, say, Britain's wrongdoings in World War 2, and flee to Nazi Germany, do I have:
A. Principles
B. No Principles
Cowardice is not a principle.
Of course, that assumes a choice between two countries, as stated before, large swathes of the world don't have extradition treaties with the US, yet he just happened to choose (with the help of Assange) the fascist state.
Very curious.
Snowden essentially sacrificed his freedom to show that the US government is spying on its citizens. If anything were to imply principles, that would be it.
"He did something I like, so he has principles"
He pissed off to a cushy position in Russia where he gets constant asspats from the terminally online while lending credibility to a fascist regime. Principles are not high on his list of priorities, quite apparently.
You're really going to compare this Nazi Germany..? Yikes.
I have read and agreed with many things you've written but you're just wrong about this one. Doesn't seem you're open to challenging your view though, so that's fine.
You’re really going to compare this Nazi Germany…? Yikes.
... you're really going to say modern Russia, a brutal totalitarian state, invading a neighboring sovereign state unprovoked and performing genocide isn't comparable to Nazi Germany?
... really?
I think you become nazi germany when you invade multiple countries, have a master-race ideology and lock people into concentration camps. Russia ain't anywhere near Nazi Germany yet.
Chechnya (twice), Georgia (twice), Ukraine (twice or three times, depending on how you count it).
How much more do you want? Are we only allowing post-1939 Nazi Germany? Are we going to have to wait for Poland to be invaded and another Katyn Massacre, since Ukrainian genocide isn't enough to call them Nazis?
A bunch of random citizens isn't going to sway me.
Until you've got the government itself proclaiming master race shit, they ain't Nazi.
Prisons are also not concentration camps. You know what I mean by concentration camp, where people go to be exterminated en masse. Russia Prisons are shit, but they're not concentration camps.
Russia isn't on the level of Nazi Germany.
Until you’ve got the government itself proclaiming master race shit, they ain’t Nazi.
In 2021, the official discourse in Russia changed quite unexpectedly: in the summer and autumn an anti-migrant campaign unfolded in state media, as reflected in statements by pro-government politicians and public figures. Actively discussed were such (supposed) issues as the threat of “ethnic crime,” excessive numbers of migrants and the harm they do to the labor market.
The reason for this campaign remains unclear, especially considering that the number of foreigners in Russia had declined significantly due to pandemic-related entry restrictions. In addition, in many cases the media wrote about threats emanating not only from migrants, but also from Russian citizens – for example, from Dagestanis or from foreigners who had long ago taken Russian citizenship – which only showed the racist underpinnings of the campaign.
“Gangs of uninvited guests threaten every Russian individually and all Russians collectively. It would not be an exaggeration to say that before our eyes a threat to the Russian State itself has emerged,” wrote Konstantin Malofeev.
Since the beginning of 2024, the SOVA Center has recorded 136 cases of such vigilantism. In Kaluga Region, for example, Russian Community participated in police checks of migrants at construction sites and restaurants, collaborated with the Directorate for Traffic Safety in cracking down on illegal taxis, and in Ryazan and Yekaterinburg, as well as Krasnodar Region, even patrolled the streets.
“The convergence of the official political rhetoric with nationalist ideology is perceived by nationalists as an unofficial green light for vigilante initiatives.”
Prisons are also not concentration camps. You know what I mean by concentration camp, where people go to be exterminated en masse. Russia Prisons are shit, but they’re not concentration camps.
So Nazi Germany wasn't Nazi Germany until 1941?
So Nazi Germany wasn’t Nazi Germany until 1941?
Are you being deliberately obtuse?
Russia isn't like Nazi Germany at all. They become Nazis once the government starts believing in a master-race ideology and exterminating people based on their creed.
Being anti-migrant is not the same as Nazi Germany's "Let's exterminate the lesser races."
Saying this is Nazi, that is Nazi, everything is Nazi, gives actual neo-nazis more power. Stop calling things that you don't like Hitler.
If your point of view is that you can't compare ultranationalists who send dissidents to prison camps while invading neighboring sovereign countries and slaughtering their populations in campaigns of ethnic cleansing and genocide to Nazis, I'd thank you to unmod me.
Or I'll do it myself, I suppose.
Yeah the ultranationalists are neo-nazis, no doubt about that.
But the Russian government themselves aren't yet to that level of extremism despite pushing the ideology in Western nations. Yeah, Russia is imperialist and invades their neighbours, yeah, you can argue that war is genocide, but this doesn't make them Nazi Germany.
Nazis believed themselves to be a master race, and so far, the Russian government hasn't shown any signs of such beliefs.
I have read and agreed with many things you've written
When I wrote this, I was hoping it would make you realize I'm not your enemy, that we could have a better conversation. I wish I'd been right.
The war started in 2014, he went to Russia in 2013 and obviously hasn't been in a position to leave. Hate me if you want but you're just wrong about this.
I'm sorry, do I have to outline the numerous actions of Russia in and before 2013 that made it quite clear they were a fascist state? "He went to Nazi Germany before it invaded Czechoslovakia" is not the excuse you think it is.
"He did something out of desperation" is not the moral statement you think it is. This is a rage boner for the ages
"He went to Nazi Germany out of desperation, when he had numerous other choices that weren't Nazi Germany" is a moral statement. Or rather, a statement of lack of morals.
I hated him much less before the Ukraine War started. I was willing to accept that he had just made a dumb decision, and that he was just a coward for lending credibility to the fascist government he was under. After his comments and constant dodges on the Ukrainian War? I interpret his motivations in a much more negative light.
Why are you like this? I feel emptier inside after having read this.
You feel emptier after having read someone criticize someone you've never met for choosing to flee to a fascist regime, support that fascist regime's talking points during an ongoing genocide, and still get hailed as a hero by some corners of the internet?
I think you're taking this altogether too personally.
I feel emptier because of the horrifying tone and the complete lack of awareness of it