Sep 25, 2023·edited Sep 26, 2023Liked by Lev Polyakov
Ukraine has very few supporters. Many of them are unhinged libs or neocons. It only has just one country that's able and willing to supply it with somewhat enough weaponry. Poland, Germany, France, UK can't do it, since this war burns through personnel and gear at a horrific rate.
Its back against the wall, its choices limited.
"Neutral" people simply expect it to surrender, demilitarize, and then figure it out with Russia how much of its land should be transferred so it can have peace until Russia rebuilds its stocks and annexes the rest.
I do think Ukraine is still making a mistake giving prominent roles to lunatics like Cirillo. It will be hard to recover after the war is done. And I generally don't want Western progressivism normalized in the area at all. This is a national survival struggle, not for democracy or whatever other idiocy Washington is selling. Nobody dies for transgender rights and gay marriage, to be clear.
It is both sad and horrifying how much of the political Right has been subverted -and co-oped, by Russian propaganda (and it has been). I used to roll my eyes about it circa 2016, but now its being laid pretty bare. Especially when you look at the rhetoric coming out in response to Trudeau and Zalenskyy's recent "Canadian SS-gate."
There exists a spectrum ranging from the unapologetic "muh baste Putin" Vatnik types to the more ambivalent "muh negotiated settlement"/ "muh 45 Billllllllion dollars to corrupt Ukraine." I find the latter more dangerous now -over a year and a half into the war, because their arguments actually resonate with the average Republican voter who just wants less taxes and "woke" being shoved down their throat.
Unfortunately, I don't think there's any convincing them anymore. My dad who is a MAGA sycophant -has backtracked on (and outright denied) his over 10 years of Pro-Putin statements, but has fallen back on the above latter arguments.
The "I'm not Pro-Putin (Russia), buuuuuuut -[insert]"
-"muh tax payin' dollars!"
-"muh corrupt Ukraine!"
-"Muh Nuclear War!"
-"Muh Southern Border!"
It doesn't matter what the facts are -or what counter-arguments you have, they will always fall back on the above rhetoric -even if you're able to refute said points. And it gets frustrating -often arguing pointlessly, and descending into incoherence.
Case and point was the third Ukraine stream on BTR -Gio knew he was wrong, but he couldn't accept it. And most of these people are no different.
Ukraine has very few supporters. Many of them are unhinged libs or neocons. It only has just one country that's able and willing to supply it with somewhat enough weaponry. Poland, Germany, France, UK can't do it, since this war burns through personnel and gear at a horrific rate.
Its back against the wall, its choices limited.
"Neutral" people simply expect it to surrender, demilitarize, and then figure it out with Russia how much of its land should be transferred so it can have peace until Russia rebuilds its stocks and annexes the rest.
I do think Ukraine is still making a mistake giving prominent roles to lunatics like Cirillo. It will be hard to recover after the war is done. And I generally don't want Western progressivism normalized in the area at all. This is a national survival struggle, not for democracy or whatever other idiocy Washington is selling. Nobody dies for transgender rights and gay marriage, to be clear.
It is both sad and horrifying how much of the political Right has been subverted -and co-oped, by Russian propaganda (and it has been). I used to roll my eyes about it circa 2016, but now its being laid pretty bare. Especially when you look at the rhetoric coming out in response to Trudeau and Zalenskyy's recent "Canadian SS-gate."
There exists a spectrum ranging from the unapologetic "muh baste Putin" Vatnik types to the more ambivalent "muh negotiated settlement"/ "muh 45 Billllllllion dollars to corrupt Ukraine." I find the latter more dangerous now -over a year and a half into the war, because their arguments actually resonate with the average Republican voter who just wants less taxes and "woke" being shoved down their throat.
Unfortunately, I don't think there's any convincing them anymore. My dad who is a MAGA sycophant -has backtracked on (and outright denied) his over 10 years of Pro-Putin statements, but has fallen back on the above latter arguments.
The "I'm not Pro-Putin (Russia), buuuuuuut -[insert]"
-"muh tax payin' dollars!"
-"muh corrupt Ukraine!"
-"Muh Nuclear War!"
-"Muh Southern Border!"
It doesn't matter what the facts are -or what counter-arguments you have, they will always fall back on the above rhetoric -even if you're able to refute said points. And it gets frustrating -often arguing pointlessly, and descending into incoherence.
Case and point was the third Ukraine stream on BTR -Gio knew he was wrong, but he couldn't accept it. And most of these people are no different.