cross-posted from: https://europe.pub/post/1289229

Rule #1. Russia’s traditionalism makes it surprisingly predictable. If Russia surprises you, then you don’t know Russia.

Rule #2. If Russia promises to do something good, it will never do it. Consequence: a treaty with Russia is not worth the paper it is signed on.

Rule #3. If Russia promises not to do something bad, it will definitely do it. Consequence: Russia will do it the moment you decide it will not do it.

Rule #4. If Russia promises to do something bad, it will definitely do it. Consequence: Russia will do it at the most inopportune moment for itself.

Rule #5. If Russia accuses someone of meanness or a crime, then it has already committed it.

Rule #6. If Russia claims that someone is preparing meanness or a crime, then it is preparing them.

Rule #7. If Russia makes an official statement, it is a lie.

Rule #8. Russia does not understand the language of force, it understands only force. The consequence: ultimatums and negotiations with Russia are useless, because it perceives them as a sign of weakness.

Rule #9. If you are afraid of “provoking Russia to escalate”, then you are mistaken. Escalation has been planned by Russia for a long time and does not need an additional reason, pretext or provocation.

Rule #10. If you are still afraid of Russia, then you are doing it in vain. You simply do not know Russia.

  • FunkyStuff [he/him]@hexbear.netBanned from community
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    11 days ago

    I think they easily could use a nuclear bomb and kill millions of people in Europe, but whatever bot farm cooked up this fine post (if I’m being charitable) is probably operated by people who couldn’t care less.

    • Bonna Shejve@europe.pubOP
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      11 days ago

      This is already tradition - the Russians scare us with nuclear bomb at least once every six months) You can hardly scare us with this) Stalin, when Hitler was marching on Moscow, banally put on his underwear and hid in the mountains… and only when the Ukrainians repelled the attack at Stalingrad - did he begin to lead the army.

        • FunkyStuff [he/him]@hexbear.netBanned from community
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          11 days ago

          Yeah they do realize that, and they are (correctly AFAIK) identifying that Ukrainians made a huge contribution to that. Of the 27 million Soviets who died in WWII, about 7 million were Ukrainian. That definitely deserves to be remembered and we owe them just as much for the defeat of fascism. That being said, it’s absolutely deranged to act like it wasn’t a huge number of Russians, both soldiers and civilians, who died in Stalingrad (even if Ukrainians were brought in to help).

          • Bonna Shejve@europe.pubOP
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            11 days ago

            Check with maps where Ukrainian people live. Do you know that even on OCCUPIED TERRITORIES russians force Ukrainians to fight against Ukrainians?

            Yeah they do realize that, and they are (correctly AFAIK) identifying that Ukrainians made a huge contribution to that. Of the 27 million Soviets who died in WWII, about 7 million were Ukrainian. That definitely deserves to be remembered and we owe them just as much for the defeat of fascism. That being said, it’s absolutely deranged to act like it wasn’t a huge number of Russians, both soldiers and civilians, who died in Stalingrad (even if Ukrainians were brought in to help).

              • Bonna Shejve@europe.pubOP
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                10 days ago

                Thank you for the question. Look, all the territories that the Russians are occupying - all the men, even teenagers, are being forced to fight against our guys from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. These are teenagers who are not even 16 years old. Ukrainians speak both Ukrainian and Russian - in the east, south and even in the center, they mostly spoke Russian, especially in large cities. But with the Russian attack, Ukrainians gradually began to switch to Ukrainian.

                I don’t really understand the question about “Russian-speaking Ukrainians who hate Azov”. There are none. We believe that all the fighters who defend Ukraine from Russian invaders demand respect. We do not kneel before the Russians, we kneel before the Ukrainian fighters who gave their lives so that Ukrainian children would stay alive. The Azov fighters, just like the fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, defend Ukraine from Moscow’s tyranny. Kharkiv is Russian-speaking, practically located on the border with Russia - but the Russians could not capture Kharkiv, people came out with their bare hands to defend it.

                • FunkyStuff [he/him]@hexbear.netBanned from community
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                  10 days ago

                  If you’re more concerned with defending a post-Soviet state’s territorial integrity than with the basic question of defending human dignity against Nazi freaks like Azov you aren’t worthy of an internet connection. You should be ashamed.

                  • Bonna Shejve@europe.pubOP
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                    10 days ago

                    I really suspect that the Russians have again passed off their crimes as the crimes of the Azov fighters. You should look at the atrocities that the Russians committed in Bucha, and since Mariupol is still occupied, we guess that the Russians did the same thing there as in Bucha. Unfortunately, you were misled and the Azov fighters who defended their city were falsely accused. The Armed Forces of Ukraine and all of Ukraine are fighting so that such atrocities as in Bucha do not occur. The Russians despise man, human dignity, they behave exactly like the Nazis in 1939-1945. Russian crimes in Bucha https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucha_massacre

                  • Bonna Shejve@europe.pubOP
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                    10 days ago

                    You have clearly distorted information about the Ukrainian Armed Forces and Azov fighters. Can you explain your point of view?

              • Bonna Shejve@europe.pubOP
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                10 days ago

                Maybe the Russians don’t like the Azov fighters so much because they did the impossible - just a handful of people held back the swarm offensive for a long time and diverted forces from Kiev. Thus, they failed to capture Kiev. They sacrificed their lives but saved Ukraine from surrender

        • Bonna Shejve@europe.pubOP
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          11 days ago

          What were the losses in the war of the Ukrainians and Belarusians, and what were the losses in the war of the Russians? Have you researched this?

          Secondly, look up maps and you will see that the territories where the Ukrainian population lives reach all the way to the Volga and also include the Kuban. The Ukrainians captured all the key cities during World War II, but the Russians attributed these victories to themselves. There are a lot of testimonies and memoirs about this. Therefore, Russia is nothing more than a bunch of rats who are incapable of anything except scaring with a nuclear bomb

            • Bonna Shejve@europe.pubOP
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              11 days ago

              Absolutely russia is bunth of rats. Why you should bother?> alright cool, but do you genuinely think your national might is going to do anything about a thermonuclear bomb? like, maybe it’s time to drop the act and just be an adult?

          • FunkyStuff [he/him]@hexbear.netBanned from community
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            11 days ago

            Russia is nothing more than a bunch of rats

            This is literally the same thing Hitler would’ve said. I don’t care if you think your descendants are Hyperboreans, Aryans, or whatever other racial or nationalistic narrative you were taught at the horse penis sucking school, we’re all just humans and whatever genetic and cultural differences exist between “races” are absolutely nothing next to the potential we have to transform ourselves if we drop these fascist wives’ tales. In a better world, instead of spewing this racial hatred online you would be researching medicine or agricultural technology in a Soviet lab and going home to a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural family. That’s the world your fascist (and yes, it is fascist) nationalist narratives have robbed us of.

            • Bonna Shejve@europe.pubOP
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              11 days ago
              1. We descendants of Cossacks
              2. It was Russia that attacked Ukraine. We didn’t want this war. It’s Russia that’s killing our children and women, our best guys. And don’t tell me fairy tales about the “great and wonderful USSR”, okay? We are defending ourselves from you, because it is Russia that is raping our women and children, Russia is throwing innocent people into prison, Russia is torturing and killing our defenders. We don’t want to live in country where everyone is afraid to say a word, express their opinion that is different from the opinion of the “Party” has no right to profess their own religion. Russians are “greater” than the rest of nations (purely nazi theory)
      • FunkyStuff [he/him]@hexbear.netBanned from community
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        11 days ago

        Look, maybe you just shouldn’t let your nationalist narratives about how stinky or how awesome each country is goad you into a false sense of security and superiority? Russia has an enormous nuclear arsenal. If NATO keeps poking the bear they obviously will reach a point where they’ll use those weapons, it’s not rocket science.

        • SleafordMod@feddit.uk
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          11 days ago

          Tankies advocating for the Kremlin for about the billionth time… hm…

          Maybe Hexbear was established by the Kremlin and all its posters are paid by the Kremlin. I wouldn’t be surprised. Otherwise, Hexbear is just doing that work for free.

            • SleafordMod@feddit.uk
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              10 days ago

              all the institutions for public wellbeing that the Soviets had built

              Like gulags?

              you get Banderites

              Probably all countries have some far-right elements. Ukraine has some far-right people, Russia has some far-right people. But I think the main strand of nationalism in Ukraine at the moment is probably not “fascist”. I think they just want independence and sovereignty.

              Can you do the same for NATO? Or are they too white to criticize?

              Ukraine and Russia are both pretty white I think, so if I was trying to pick the “white” side, then there would be no reason to support Ukraine over Russia, or Russia over Ukraine.

              • FunkyStuff [he/him]@hexbear.netBanned from community
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                10 days ago

                Like gulags?

                Can you point me to a country anywhere in history that could get through a world war, a revolution, a civil war, then another world war, all in the span of 30 years, all without ever putting people in prison? Also, any time people say something positive about the USA, do you pipe in and ask them how they feel about mass incarceration in the US, which has a far higher incarceration rate than the USSR did even in the worst parts of the purges? Or would that be whataboutism?

                Probably all countries have some far-right elements. Ukraine has some far-right people, Russia has some far-right people.

                Quantity has a quality all of its own.

                I think they just want independence and sovereignty.

                If all they wanted was independence and sovereignty, why do they keep putting black suns on their uniforms as they fire pork grease laced bullets at Chechen Muslim soldiers?

                Ukraine and Russia are both pretty white I think, so if I was trying to pick the “white” side, then there would be no reason to support Ukraine over Russia, or Russia over Ukraine.

                I’m glad you think that way, but whiteness is not about the color of their skin. Italians, the Irish, and the Spanish didn’t use to be considered white. Even Germans have been considered not white in the 19th century. The only group of people that is consistently considered white are the WASPs. Whiteness is a very fluid thing and the bounds of whiteness are really just defined by hegemonic narratives. The current hegemonic narrative in the West is that there’s a clash of civilizations, the West and the East, where the West is white-coded and the East is the Other.

                • SleafordMod@feddit.uk
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                  10 days ago

                  any time people say something positive about the USA, do you pipe in and ask them how they feel about mass incarceration in the US, which has a far higher incarceration rate than the USSR did even in the worst parts of the purges?

                  I don’t know if that’s true about the rate, although I suppose it could be. In any case the gulags were very harsh right? I assume harsher than American prisons at the time. Anyway I’m not saying the USA is a perfect country. I was just questioning the idea that the USSR had “institutions for public wellbeing”. Maybe they had some but the USSR was known as pretty oppressive.

                  Quantity has a quality all of its own.

                  That map shows Germany as having monuments for Nazi collaborators, but I don’t think modern Germany is a Nazi state. It’s a pretty liberal country and they even outlawed Nazi symbols right?

                  If all they wanted was independence and sovereignty, why do they keep putting black suns on their uniforms

                  I bet it’s just a minority of Ukrainian soldiers who have those. I think independence and sovereignty is all they want, and it definitely seems to be what they’re fighting for. Do you honestly believe they’re fighting for the right to put Jews in death camps? When their elected president is himself Jewish?

                  as they fire pork grease laced bullets at Chechen Muslim soldiers

                  You can say that’s not the best conduct in war, but come on. I don’t think a pork-grease-laced bullet is the worst offence in the world, when Ukrainian civilians are being killed, and their children are being kidnapped by Russia. I think it’s fair to criticise Ukraine for the pork bullets if you want, but that doesn’t mean you should regard Ukraine as a Nazi regime - I really don’t think it is one.

                  The current hegemonic narrative in the West is that there’s a clash of civilizations, the West and the East, where the West is white-coded and the East is the Other.

                  Russia invaded Ukraine. That’s why many people in the West aren’t big fans of the Russian state at the moment. I don’t think it matters whether Russia is east of Europe, or west of Europe, or anywhere. Russia has seemingly taken other actions against western countries too, like assassinations within western countries (Alexander Litvinenko in London, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin).

                  Remember that the West used to collaborate closely with Russia in the G8. I think if any member of the G8 had invaded Ukraine, they would have been kicked out of the G8. I don’t think Russia has been criticised just because it’s Russia, or just because it’s in the east. Their government has been criticised for their actions.

            • SleafordMod@feddit.uk
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              10 days ago

              It’s just strange that I keep seeing people from Hexbear leaping to the defence of Russia and China, and indeed repeating their propaganda points. E.g. the idea that Ukraine is a Nazi country. There are some far-right people in Ukraine for sure, just like there are in Russia, and in Germany, and in the USA, etc. But I don’t think it’s accurate to call Ukraine a Nazi country. I don’t think their Jewish president plans to exterminate Jews, or expand the territory of Ukraine through conquest.

        • Bonna Shejve@europe.pubOP
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          11 days ago

          It makes me laugh that the Russians are not capable of anything else except scaring us with their nuclear weapon. They have not even managed to take any of the cities with a population of millions in 3 years.

          “Great Russia” is worth nothing without Ukraine! They have not won a single war without us. Let’s look at history. The Crimean War was won only thanks to Ukrainians, the revolution was won only because Ukrainians destroyed the White Army, World War II was won only because of Ukrainians (battle under Stalingrad). ‘Russians power’ is illusion and we prove it every single day