#what is happening in ukraine has nothing to do with you

[anamericangirl]

The Israel vs Palestine conflict is such a long-spanning and insanely complicated thing that there's literally college courses that revolve entirely around the subject. There's people who have been studying it for 70 years who still barely understand it. There's historians with PhDs trying to piece together anything they can that could help them figure out a means to potentially instill a ceasefire or even peace altogether who have failed time and time again for decades if not literally centuries.

And yet people with 7 years of Twitter experience think they know enough about the conflict to pick a side and vouch for the destruction of the opposite side.

The amount of times I want to say "Shut the fuck up you fucking stupid idiot, you know literally nothing about this conflict, you have no idea what's actually happening, I bet if I asked your opinion on the Two State Solution you wouldn't even have a fucking clue what that means" on a daily basis reading these actual braindead moronic 16yo Twitter users' dipshit opinions who keep citing celebrity blue-checkmark Twitter posts as evidence to vouch for the eradication of a middle eastern country they don't even know a fucking thing about is STAGGERING.

I'm in my mid-30s and I stay out of politics on all sides because I am not qualified in any way to form opinions on matters so serious that they may or may not result in people being killed, and it fucking pisses me off that people half my fucking age are telling me that I should support Palestine or Ukraine or vouch for the genocide of Israel or join ANTIFA or BLM or put #FreeTaiwan in my fucking twitter bio.

You actual braindead stupid fucking morons have absolutely no clue what any of these conflicts actually mean, none of them have anything to do with you, go back to bitching about girls in video games being too sexy and shut the fuck up about actual real conflicts because you're a fucking moron if you think you know anything about what you claim you're in support of.

I swear to God if I see one more Twitch player playing Fortnite ranting about the Israel Palestine conflict and telling people that donations during their stream go to Palestine, Ukraine, Taiwan and LGBT activism centers, I'm gonna go feral. It is so unbelievably belittling to people who have spent their entire life researching and educating themselves on these conflicts to be able to build an understanding, that a dipshit who collects loli bestiality porn and plays Metroid Prime on Twitch thinks he's on the same level as those researchers.

PREACH! It's so fucking annoying how everyone suddenly thinks they're experts on this conflict when before October 7, 2023 none of them even knew it was happening and they're just cringey ass brain dead parrots saying what they're supposed to say without doing their due diligence to at least get somewhat informed on the matter before boycotting Starbucks, using hashtags and swapping the Ukraine flag for the Palestine flag and thinking they're doing something.

What really gets to me is when influencers I follow, like apolitical ones who are grown ass adults, jump on the bandwagon and are actually orchestrating fundraisers for Palestine and it makes me so fucking mad because they absolutely have no excuse for that. I just want to scream at them "hey! you know literally every cent you raise is going straight to Hamas and no Palestinian will ever get a single penny!! It's all going to buy weapons to kill Israeli civilians. YOU ARE LITERALLY FUNDING GENOCIDE AND TERRORISM YOU ABSOLUTE BUFFOON!!!" I don't have a shred of respect for people who talk about all the terrible things happening in Gaza but don't have a single word to say about the atrocities Hamas commits daily in Israel. Not one of them has condemned or even mentioned the attack on October 7th. Fuck every single one of them.

#anon #answered

[rawliverandgoronspice]

words pale to express how much I hate macron at this point

#thoughts #my grandmother was sent home with an unexamined broken bone #because she is old so not a priority and the public services are fucking drowning #then obviously she fell again and broke two more and got open wounds #then she was taken in and stored in a *corridor* for days #and the operation on her shoulder is being stalled because they have zero openings #AND THIS BITCH is out there speaking of cutting 10 billion more funding for hospitals #you are selling us to private US interests like there is no tomorrow #forbidding us from protesting for our rights and maiming and killing your own citizen when we try #gassing up the far right to try and win by comparaison EVEN THOUGH you do the EXACT same thing as them AND criminalizing the left #pussying out of saying you 100% support Israel when this is actually what's happening because you're a coward #AND prepping us for a war with russia that I'm fairly sure has nothing to do with genuine solidarity with ukraine #but far more with the european political chessboard and your own mark upon history because that's the kind of person you are #and doing your little ego parade for the olympics as though this should in any way shape of form be the priority right now??? #as if it's not unbelievably dangerous given the current state of the world?? #I want to eat a wall every time I see him on my screen #I am. very angry about many things at the moment. :)

[shipovnikk]

If you have time please read this. Thanks.

Today when I was sitting in the cafe next to me a kid started jumping. It's a common situation, maybe a little annoying. But I started to choke. I had to grab onto my sweatshirt because I thought I was going to suffocate. Because the noise was remotely reminiscent of rockets exploding.

When I was 7 I thought "Why me?". "Why did I have to go through this, why did I have to leave home and live in fear, why was I deprived of everything just for being who I am?". Now I'm 17 and I'm thinking, "Why us? What did we all do to deserve this?" And the answer is always the same, always painfully direct and heartbreaking. Nothing. None of us did anything to deserve it. No one deserves it, no one should wake up to the sound of explosions and lie there thinking that if that missile hits your house, at least you'll be free from this hell. And no one deserves to go through that because they were just born. That they're just who they are, and they're proud of it.

To realise that this is now happening in more than one or two countries, and to more than one nationality is even worse. That people cannot understand and accept that EVERY nationality has the right to exist, to be in its own land with its own rights.

I know that on this account I don't repost a lot of stuff about Gaza, Ukraine or other countries. This is because most of the time I am in a state of detachment from reality, and it can be too painful to go back. But that doesn't mean I don't care. I try to do what I can, and I beg you to do the same if possible. Just a couple of reposts can already mean a lot, a little money can save someone's life, not supporting Russian authors and brands supporting Israel can lessen the pain just a little. But it will mean the world to those who are now struggling for their existence.

Thank you for reading.

#save palestine #save gaza #free palestine #save ukraine #free ukraine

[jewish-sideblog]

if your blog is nothing but posts combatting antisemitism, and absolutely nothing in the atrocities being committed by israel, please explain how it’s unfair to assume you don’t actually care about the palestinian genocide. you see, when most people care about a cause, they actually talk about it and bring awareness to it

The situation in Gaza has been trending on tumblr and every other social media site consistently for three months. Most major news networks are at least covering the ICJ case and the Houthi strikes this week. Public awareness of situation in Gaza is so high that it’s clearly influencing polling for the US presidential election. Herit/ageposts has basically been talking about it 24/7, complete with an antisemitic rehash of The Crucible. Their posts tend to get tens or hundreds of thousands of notes.

Meanwhile, there are like. Ten blogs on this website that are actively contributing to combatting antisemitic misinformation. We might get 10k notes on a more successful post. Mostly we get slurs and death threats.

Right now there are major conflicts ongoing in Sudan, Syria, Myanmar, Ukraine, and Somalia. Do you care for the thousands of people that have died in those conflicts in the last sixteen days? Have you been consistently posting about them and bringing attention to them? There was a mass shooting at an American high school just last week. Did you make a post about it? Or do you not care about the three children who died? Will your reblog bring them back?

The situation in Gaza is, by leaps and bounds, the conflict with the most awareness in the world right now. There is not a single person who follows this blog who is not aware of what is happening. Jews are sheltering from the thousands of missiles being fired at soft targets from Gaza, or we are in the diaspora, getting hate crimed for a conflict we have no control over. How much more awareness would you like us to have? And what exactly do you expect that awareness to solve? Slacktivism will not save lives.

[allthingsgerman]

I feel like ever since American people have been allowed to watch Eurovision it has gone down the drain.. where is the drama? Where is the glitter? Where are the men in hamster wheels? Where are the naked women churning butter? Where is the fire?

Can't we just get to keep this for ourselves? Americans literally ruin anything they touch!

This has nothing to do with Americans, this has to do with a certain cultural hegemony within the music industry and the way the contest is set up.

From what I remember the juries were originally introduced to moderate the block voting of certain regions (the balkans always exchanging maximum points, greece and cyprus etc.), but not only does that still happen, it now also seems to be a tool for the music industry (the jury is comprised of so-called 'experts' and professionals) to preserve what they apparently perceive as the 'dignity' of eurovision, by selecting boring mainstream songs and neglecting, let's say, interesting songs because it might be embarrassing.

This year the German jury was comprised of:

Katja Ebstein, a 78 year old singer who represented Germany in Eurovision three times between 1970 and 1980.

Alina Süggeler, whose band Frida Gold is mainly known for making forgettable EDM inspired pop stuff and commercials that are thinly disguised as music videos.

Anica Russo, a pop artist who I actually don't know much about but she finished 6th (out of 8) in the national selection for this year's German entry so make of that what you will.

Arne Gosh, a music manager.

Kai Tölke, Head of Music of a German radio station.

I'm assuming it will be similar in other countries. Managers and nonthreatening mainstream pop artists who are the darlings (and clients) of said managers and the labels, but who don't even match the most successful artists in the country.

And the vote of the German jury was:

12 points: Sweden, 10 points: Estonia, 8 points: Australia, 7 points: Spain, 6 points: Norway, 5 points: Czechia, 4 points: Italy, 3 points: Serbia, 2 points: Austria, 1 point: Lithuania.

The vote of the German public was:

12 points: Finland, 10 points: Italy, 8 points: Albania, 7 points: Ukraine, 6 points: Croatia, 5 points: Norway, 4 points: Poland, 3 points: Switzerland, 2 points: Belgium, 1 point: Sweden.

As you might notice, only two countries appear in both lists, and Sweden is last in the German public vote.

#reply #german stuff #german #germany #deutschland #deutsch #esc #eurovision #eurovision 2023 #esc 2023 #jury votes

[alphadogmp3]

it is incredibly frustrating to see the non-response from westerners to what is arguably the worst natural disaster in recent memory. when the ukraine-russia war broke out, it was on everyone's blogs. everyone--at least on my dash--was trying to spread awareness of the humanitarian crisis. but now?

fucking crickets.

absolutely nothing.

this earthquake has already claimed 20k confirmed lives. it has only been 5 days. most wrecks have not been excavated yet.

we need all the help we can get, but not a single fucking person is doing anything to help spread the message. people who proudly put the ukrainian flag in their display names or in their bios are nowhere to be seen now. the influencers youtubers and tiktok micro-celebrities who shared donation posts and ukrainian refugee testimonials daily are dead silent now. why? why do you only care when the people dying are somewhat like you? do we need to be whiter to deserve your attention? or more christian? do we not deserve your energy as is? are we, turks and syrians, not humans?

im so fucking sorry if donation posts don't fit your blog's aesthetic or if the news are just so fucking draining for you. every single one of you motherfuckers living in the west should be ashamed of yourselves for how differently you are treating us versus how you treated ukrainians when the war broke out.

if this happened in any western country you'd all be making infographics on how to donate or help.

right now the only reason why people on my dash are devastated is because the rhythm guitarist from my chemical romance had a haircut.

all of you need to be doing better.

do better.

#western mutuals dont ignore this #im so fucking angry #i hate how little middle eastern lives matter to you people #turkey #syria #earthquake #mcr #my chemical romance #mychem #my chem #frank iero #ls dunes #yeah this post is going in the mcr tags too #if you can make a billion posts about a mans mediocre haircut you can also rb like one donation post #bandom b racist again lolzor

[neil-gaiman]

Dear Neil.

There's a tragedy happening in Iran, we're being shot in the streets, my brothers and sisters are dying, my government is committing war crimes and as a fellow human being I'm desperately asking for your help to raise awareness.

Mahsa Amini was a 22-year-old woman who was brutally murdered by the Islamic Republic of Iran's so-called "morality police." Her crime? Showing hair in public and "dressing inappropriately." Any human being with a pair of working eyes who has seen pictures of her prior to her murder can see that not only was her dress not inappropriate, but also that she (and a lot of women in Iran) had covered herself more than any other woman in any other part of world is obligated to.This sparked fury among the people of Iran and a wave of nation-wide protests broke out as the result. But don't get it wrong. This was only the straw that broke the camel's back and was the result of 43 years of unmitigated oppression and cruelty that the people of Iran have been subjected to. Every Iranian is branded a Muslim from birth and they're not given a choice. You cannot identify as an atheist and other religious minorities are treated horribly with a lot of their rights stripped from them. There's been a long history of cruelty against Bahai people in Iran, for example. We're not forced to be muslims in name only. We're also forced to act like muslims and learn all the muslim teachings, hijab being one of the many ideals shoved down our throat. And of course, converting from Islam to other religions or no religion is punishable by death. This savagery is not part of our culture or law; it is not part of any humanitarian law to kill women for showing hair and exercising their right to bodily autonomy for that matter.Up until now, the government forces have been violent and ruthless in their attempts to stump out our protests. They've shot people from a 63 year old woman to a 10 year old girl, killing them all without mercy. The Internet has been cut out in several places and reportedly, they've brought out tanks and used military-grade bullets in the city of Sanandaj, where the Internet has been shut down for two days as of September 21. Meanwhile, president Ibrahim Raisi is giving a lecture in the UN, babbling about saving the people of Palestine and justice in the world while his own forces are brutally murdering ordinary people and protesters in Iran.At this point, we're in danger of being cut off from the world when the whole internet finally shuts down. This is not a speculation. The same thing happened in the nation-wide protests of 2019 and the government proceeded to kill all the protesters in absolute radio silence. A lot of protesters were found with cement blocks tied to their ankles and thrown in the river after the successfully stumped the protests out. We don't want the same thing to happen to our children and people again. If you hear no more news from Iran, things haven't settled down. We are being silently killed off and executed.You might think you don't have anything to do with this, but think again about why you all involved yourselves in the war between Ukraine and Russia. This is not any different. Our people have waged a war against their government and none of them are people who willingly chose violence. They are normal people who want nothing more than a normal life, which is what the Islamic regime has taken from them. If you have an ounce of humanity and empathy within yourself, you'll spread the word around and not let this injustice go unanswered and unpunished.There's nothing more to be said.

As an Iranian woman who always read your books and who always raised up her voice, I need help now. We can Breathe anymore! I fought for poc, I raised my voice for ukraine. Now I need yours. I'm a young author. I can have a future... a free one! but my government took it from me. Please be my voice ... our voice!!

I'm happy to let people know, yes. And it's heartbreaking.

Here's the BBC on what's happening:

[foreverlogical]

How is this changed if the actions taken by Musk caused the deaths of soldiers in the alliance America is part of? And how is this changed if after having calls with Vladimir Putin, Musk starts advocating publicly for Ukrainian surrender? And what if he is making money off this? 

And what do we do with the reports that Musk privately acknowledged that he was “in” the Russia-Ukraine War—but not, per the evidence we currently have, on the same side as America?

Is there some reason the House GOP is scared to investigate this? Or DOJ? What am I missing here? 

How is all this inflected by the data confirming Musk complies with the demands of hostile foreign governments at a far higher rate than his Twitter predecessors did? And how is that inflected by the fact that his Twitter coowners are autocratic Saudi butchers allied with Russia? 

And in the midst of all this he comes out publicly and tells 150 million followers to vote Republican? At a time we know both the Russians and the Saudis have secretly interfered in American elections on behalf of the Republicans? And then he starts making all sorts of changes... 

...to what is more or less a public utility (even if it is privately owned) that benefit hostile foreign governments, agents of hostile foreign governments, American disinformation agents operating as “useful idiots” for hostile foreign governments, and anti-American Kremlinists? 

And as I recall, didn’t he at one point threaten to stop providing resources to the American government that he’d previously provided *while* he was simultaneously advocating for a Ukrainian surrender following multiple phone calls with Vladimir Putin? Like—that seems really bad? 

Again, I’m not an expert in this, but I’m asking at what point Musk runs afoul of FARA? Or the Logan Act? Or something rather more serious that relates to military conflicts in which the United States is involved? All of this seems really serious to me and everyone’s ignoring it. 

America just went through an eight-year period in which a narcissistic sociopathic far-right White male billionaire colluded with Russia and the Saudis to interfere in our elections and advance illegal Russian adventurism. Is it just me or is the exact same thing happening again? 

(PS) Obviously I’m leaving a ton of things out here, e.g. the fact that Musk, like Trump, has repeatedly been accused of fraud, or that Kremlin policy inside the U.S. is to foment racial and religious divisions to weaken America... and Musk has been doing exactly that on Twitter. 

(PS2) Are we sure we’re not in the middle of a national security situation here? Is it wrong to think the Senate Intel Committee should be holding hearings to find out what Musk has been doing secretly with the Russians—and whether or how it’s connected to Twitter and the Saudis? 

(PS3) If Elon Musk will do the bidding of Vladimir Putin in terms of disabling Ukrainian military equipment and proposing that Ukraine surrender a good portion of its land area to Putin and his war criminals, what *else* is he doing at the bidding of the Kremlin or Saudi royals? 

(PS4) When we see Musk simultaneously pushing the “Ban the ADL” hashtag even as hostile foreign agents intending to cause chaos in the U.S. are doing the same thing, and we know who Musk is holding secret calls with... uh, isn’t that all super concerning from a NatSec standpoint? 

(PS5) And not for nothing, but many of you will remember the major media report I just posted in which Musk confesses that he wants to “take over the world’s financial system.”

Uh, for whom? Will he seek to benefit Russia and Saudi Arabia and harm the United States in that, too? 

(PS6) Remember how Trump led with racism and antisemitism and other forms of ethnic and religious bigotry that caused *chaos* in the United States, only for us to learn he was in cahoots with Russia and the Saudis?

Does that not feel... familiar, now?

I have some concerns here. 

(PS7) I’ve never claimed to be an expert in these particular areas, which are a subspecialization within federal criminal practice that very rarely comes into play. But I certainly—as a citizen and voter—am wondering why the *hell* we’re not having congressional hearings on this? 

(PS8) There’s no question whatsoever that Congress has an obligation to exercise its oversight responsibilities very aggressively here—as if I’m understanding correctly Elon Musk has a defense contract. The revelations in the new book about him are therefore very f*cking serious. 

(PS9) And remember how Trump always accuses others of what he has just done or is about to do? Just as concerns that Musk could be doing the bidding of hostile foreign nations arise, he starts threatening to sue others for “controlled speech.” We have seen this playbook before...

(PS10) I would think the FBI, DOJ, FTC, FCC, NSA, SEC and *many* others would want to be all over this situation right now. Instead we are getting radio silence. Or, not radio silence, but Musk and his allies pushing racial and religious division inside the U.S. on a daily basis. 

[jewish-vents]

first - i just want to say thank you for making this blog. it’s so important to know that we aren’t alone in the many things we’re experiencing and feeling right now, especially when so many of us have become painfully isolated as of late.

i apologize for how long this one is going to be.

i’ve been feeling so, so alone recently. my tumblr dash has been cut down to just a handful of jewish blogs that i can trust to be kind and understanding and nuanced, but it means that the majority of the content i see is about antisemitism and the war. after a while, it becomes draining to scroll through what feels like endless sadness. i turned to looking at fandom tags instead of following fandom blogs, but it makes me feel equally as insane to click on a blog about race cars and immediately see a post with 60k notes calling what’s happening in gaza “the new holocaust”. i started going back on twitter, but fan accounts on there too are only safe for a day or so before the account owner shares some awful antisemitic tweet from an account known to be an anti-jewish extremist. i went back on instagram briefly, but i was soon afraid to look at people’s stories for fear i’d see something terrible and lose yet another trusted person from my life.

in person, i have to walk by signs saying “zionism = genocide” and hastily scribbled palestinian flags with the colors in the wrong spot on my way to class every day. a wall across from my apartment says “BDS” in giant letters. i haven’t opened my curtains in months because of it. a “protest” of about 25 people stood in the center of campus and yelled and waved their fists in passing students’ faces, so jewish students didn’t go to class on any of the days they gathered. i only have one non jewish friend left at school - the rest abandoned me because i either called them out on antisemitic rhetoric or refused to go along with the idea that anyone, palestinian or israeli, muslim or jewish, is less than human. i had taken several of them along to our hillel’s seder in the past. i don’t know who i can safely go with this year. i have a few jewish friends, of course, but i love bringing goyische friends with little connection to judaism along to experience how joyful and loving jewish holidays can be.

it feels like there is no escape from this fucking war. it sickens me that it’s the only thing people pretend to care about - where is the attention for sudan, ukraine, armenia, uyghurs in china, syria, guyana? how is putting an emoji in your twitter bio or putting a translucent overlay of the palestinian flag on your tumblr icon any sort of real activism? how have we gone from “antisemitism is wrong” to “(((zionists))) control the world media”? it seems like the war is a fandom to these people. it seems like nobody cares enough to fully read and think critically about what they share, let alone do real research beyond looking at an infographic somebody shared on their instagram story. they’ll add on “don’t forget your click today!” to an unrelated twitter thread that went viral, flip the bird at the local starbucks, and put “won’t you free my palestine” on their instagram stories. they’ll anonymously tell a jew online to commit suicide. they’ll feel secure in the knowledge that they’re the perfect leftist, that this is somehow “good trouble”. all this praxis, and nothing to show for it but massive surges in hate crimes against jews. good job, guys! you singlehandedly saved every innocent person in gaza!

it’s isolating. it’s scary. jews can’t mourn. jews can’t be angry. jews can’t disagree. jews can’t suffer. jews can’t be whole, complex people with diverse beliefs and experiences. suffering is a game, and the goal is to hurt the most, scream the most, die the most, all to appease western leftists whose closest connection to war and violence was reading the hunger games in middle school.

i’m tired of it all. i want a peaceful and just resolution to the war. i want the mindless hatred everywhere to stop. i want to be able to scroll through social media and see nothing but fandom. i want to walk through campus with my magen david showing and all the friends i lost by my side on the way to the hillel seder. i want to open my curtains again. i know the experience of one diaspora jew is nothing compared to what people living in israel and palestine are currently going through, yet i still need this all to end. i don’t think any of us can go on like this, but we must, because we have. for thousands of years, we’ve gone on. that still doesn’t mean it has to be this hard all the time.

all i can think is “now we are slaves. next year may we be free.” now we are slaves to hatred and violence and suffering. next year may we all be free. next year may we all be in jerusalem.

.

#jewish vents #antisemitism #leftist antisemitism #antisemitism on tumblr #i/p

[missmayhemvr]

i reblogged a post where someone decide if trump died america would suddenly be "cured" and china would "back off taiwan" and "russia would fall to ukraine" and like ya'll gotta fucking stop that shit. you guys truly have to stop this liberal nonsense. the fact that person thought all these "ills" would be cured by trump dying is fucking ridiculous but also the fact the genocide of palestinians wasnt even a consideration needs to start clicking with people.

Why would they think so much about this mythical taiwan invasion that hasnt fucking happened, and a war america has been pushing to start for literal decades(not singular since i was a fucking child), but the mass murder of palestinians, and congolese people didnt even come up? or the mass displacement of sudanese people?

whats the link there? would you like to hazard a guess?

its shit america fucking wants! trump biden, fbi, cia, up and down the whole system. stop fucking uplifting the rabid fucking imperialist.

STOP DOING AMERICAN PROPAGANDA FOR FUCKING FREE

trump is literally only evil to you guys because he has no decorum nothing else, biden has his fucking platform you absolute ghouls.

#america is literally on all fronts 1000x worse than china wtf are you people on besides western propaganda. #like putin is an absolute fuck but he literally got to power because of americas last puppet in russia #america is literally funding nazi's in ukraine and has been obama #where do you think all that shit people are mining in the congo is even going? #biden literally was a segregationist who happily worked with the klan #no exaggeration

[zvaigzdelasas]

While most Ukrainians battled against Germany during the war, it’s well known that the western region of the country collaborated with the Third Reich — and that thousands of those involved were allowed to resettle in Canada. [...]

When Anthony Rota, [...] introduced Hunka during Zelenskyy’s Sept. 22 visit, he called him a “veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians and continues to support the troops today.”

And Hunka made the argument himself after Russia invaded his homeland last year. “In the last war, I joined the Ukrainian underground to fight Russia, so I was fighting the same people they’re fighting now,” he told a reporter covering a peace vigil in North Bay, Ontario, in March 2022. “Nothing has changed there. The same enemy. First Stalin was there and now this idiot,” he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. [...]

In a post for the SS Galichina veterans’ blog Combatant News, Hunka wrote that 1941 to 1943 — after Germany invaded Ukraine and before Hunka enlisted — were the happiest years of his life. He also recalled eagerly awaiting “the legendary German knights” to come and attack “the hated Poles,” using a slur for Polish people, in 1939.

Captioned photos from the blog show Hunka during SS artillery training in Munich in December 1943 and in Poland around the time of a visit by Nazi mastermind Heinrich Himmler. “I know that if I ordered you to liquidate the Poles … I would be giving you permission to do what you are eager to do anyway,” Himmler said during that visit, according to several historical accounts. Now, the Polish minister of education is looking into whether Hunka can be extradited and prosecuted for what happened during the war.[...]

[After the war,] Hunka made his living in the aircraft industry, working his way up to inspector at DeHavilland Aircraft in Toronto. After retirement, he visited Ukraine nearly every year, according to a profile of him in a University of Alberta newsletter announcing the donation made in his honor by his sons. The profile said he also served as president of the parish council of St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Catholic Church in Thornhill, Ontario.[...]

In his mea culpa, Rota made it sound like Hunka was a constituent from his district [...] whom he did not know much about. “This initiative was entirely my own,“ Rota said[...]

But Rejean Venne, an independent Canadian journalist, wrote in his Substack newsletter this week that Rota and Hunka family members have had numerous chances to cross paths over the years. Among Venne’s examples:

- One of Hunka’s sons, Martin, was chief financial officer of Redpath Mining, a multinational corporation headquartered in Rota’s district. Redpath has contributed to Rota’s campaigns and Rota has provided government funding for recreational facilities operated by Redpath. (The company did not respond to inquiries from the Forward made Thursday.)

- Martin Hunka has also served as chair of the board of trustees for North Bay Hospital, which is located in Rota’s district and which Rota has supported. Hunka’s name can no longer be found on the hospital’s website and social media posts. (The hospital did not respond to a request for comment emailed Thursday.)

- North Bay Pride, an LGBTQ+ organization, gave an award to Rota nine months after Yaroslav’s granddaughter Leshya Lecappelain joined its board of directors. In 2022 and 2023, North Bay Pride received more than $100,000 in funding from Rota. (Asked about this, a spokesperson for North Bay Pride said Lecappelain had not been on its board for several years.)

“Rota’s response that this was a last-minute request doesn’t add up,” Venne said in an email interview. “The Hunka family appears well connected in Rota’s district.”

The Forward could not determine whether Hunka and Rota met before he was honored at Parliament. Rota and others at the House of Commons did not respond to several requests for comment sent Wednesday and Thursday. Efforts to reach Yaroslav, Martin and Peter Hunka, Lecappelain and other members of the family for comment were also unsuccessful.[...]

On Wednesday, the University of Alberta said it would return the CA$30,000 endowment that Hunka’s sons donated in 2019 in their father’s honor. The money was intended to fund research at the school’s Canadian Institute for Ukrainian Studies. But Per Anders Rudling, a university alumnus and expert on Ukrainian nationalism who teaches at Sweden’s Lund University, said the Hunka fund is just “the top of an iceberg.” In an email to the Forward, Rudling said the University of Alberta has “much larger endowments” honoring other figures connected to the Waffen SS unit. The “most problematic,” he said, is the Volodymyr and Daria Kubijovych Memorial Endowment Fund [Editors note: archive link - also "matched two-to-one by the Government of Alberta"] At CA$450,000 — about $334,000 — it’s 15 times larger than the Hunka fund the university is returning.[...] In a Facebook post Thursday, Rudling also questioned university endowments named for other Galichina Division veterans, including Roman Kolisnyk, Levko Babij and Edward Brodacky. Pointing to research he published in The Journal of Slavic Military Studies [Editors note: 1, 2], Rudling said, “I have tried to raise this issue in the past, to no avail.”

Asked about Rudling’s concerns, Michael Brown, a spokesperson for the University of Alberta, reiterated a statement in which interim provost Verna Yiu said the school is “reviewing its general naming policies and procedures, including those for endowments, to ensure alignment with our values.” Yiu also expressed the school’s “commitment to address anti-Semitism in any of its manifestations, including the ways in which the Holocaust continues to resonate in the present.” The honors given to SS Galichina fighters extend beyond academia. One of the University of Alberta’s endowments is for its former chancellor Peter Savaryn, another SS Galichina member. In 1987, Savaryn was awarded the Order of Canada, among the nation’s highest honors, bestowed by Canada’s governor general, the representative of the British Crown. Mary Simon, the current governor general, has condemned the Hunka scandal as “a shock and an embarrassment.”[...]

When the Hunka endowment was announced in 2020, the university said it would fund research on two “leaders of the underground Ukrainian Catholic Church,” Cardinal Josyf Slipyj and Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky. (A metropolitan is akin to a bishop.) Slipyi was a deputy in Ukraine’s 1941 self-proclaimed government, which pledged to work closely with Germany under Hitler’s leadership. Slipyi also assigned chaplains to SS Galichina and celebrated the unit’s inaugural Mass. After the war, the Soviets sent him to gulag prison camps. But Sheptytsky’s legacy is layered [sic]. He helped “dozens of Jews find refuge in his monasteries and even in his own home,” according to Yad Vashem, while also supporting “the German army as the savior of the Ukrainians from the Soviets.”

Harvard University also houses a Ukrainian Research Institute. Asked, after Alberta’s announcement, whether that institute’s funding would be scrutinized for Nazi ties, the university said in a statement that the institute had never received money from the Hunkas, nor had it received donations designated for research related to SS Galichina. Harvard did, however, in 1974 establish a fellowship and faculty position in European studies with money from a foundation named for Alfred Krupp, who was convicted of war crimes for using slave laborers from Auschwitz to build and work in a factory.[...]

In Canada, questions about the Ukrainian immigrants’ past dogged them for decades, and in 1985, the country launched a Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals, known as the Deschênes Commission. Investigators were mostly limited to considering evidence gathered in Canada, and ultimately they came to the controversial conclusion that the Galichina Division “should not be indicted as a group” and that “mere membership” in the division was insufficient to justify prosecution or revoke citizenship.

This week, as Trudeau apologized for the Hunka salute, B’nai Brith Canada called for the full release of the commission’s report, which had been heavily redacted, along with other Holocaust-era records, in order to “restore public trust in our institutions.” “Canadians deserve to know the full extent to which Nazi war criminals were permitted to settle in this country after the war,” the group said Tuesday[...]

Why would Hunka’s family risk his humiliation, at age 98, by putting him under a spotlight? Did they not realize how his military record would be perceived and portrayed? “It’s arrogance. It’s not naiveté,” said Jack Porter, a research associate at Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and himself a Jewish child survivor of the Holocaust, born in Ukraine. “They know what their father did,” he said. “It’s hubris, it’s chutzpah. They rationalize that these men were fighting communism. If a few Jews were killed, they also were communists.”[...]

More than 2.5 million Ukrainians died fighting against Germany. “There were many good Ukrainians; they should not all be stigmatized,” he said.

But he said veterans who fought under the Nazis like Hunka and his compatriots have been emboldened by the whitewashing of their history, especially since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. “They’ve been hiding in plain sight,” he said. “They’ve been there for 60 years and nobody has touched them, so of course they feel OK.”

29 Sep 23

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

Your countries are being invaded and your too blinded by accusations of "Bigotry" and "Racism" to actually do anything about it. What am I talking about?

-

Let me explain something to the left and any moderate that might have an issue with my framing. These are not people seeking asylum because of persecution. These are economic migrants trying to extract from our countries while their first act in flooding here is economic instability and eventual collapse. It has nothing to do with cultural dislike, or racism of any kind.

Fact is most people in most places hate how their governments are run. The US Gov I can actually weigh in on, because we have sent billions in tax dollars to Ukraine and foreign interests. We have spent millions if not billions on homelessness yet still have a huge homeless issue in places that claim to care about it more than anywhere else.

But what's the issue. 80%-90% of the people coming are military age men. In some cases that percentage is north of 98%. Meaning there are almost never any women or children coming here. And at least in the US they are coming here with their fist act as breaking US law. I live in Texas. This state is heavily affected by illegal immigration. Hard part is, most people don't tend to see the effects until it's too late. The more people that flood your country, the worse the economy in your country will be. Slow trickle can be handled. What we are experiencing can't be. Why?

So not to be the "THER TAKN OUR JUBS", but in reality they are. They will work for lower wages. They don't care if they get healthcare. And the employer does not have to care about the red tape hiring them. They get the profit with almost none of the other complexities that come from hiring a legal citizen. What's more, we barely have enough jobs for the people that live here and yet we flood millions in through the southern border every single year. Functionally, this is an issue. We might be a melting pot, but what happens when our cultures are deleted outright because the flood gets too big?

And this is a real risk. Cultural decimation. These people don't care about their own countries. What makes you think they care about yours? They will extract. Destroy. And they will move on. They don't realize they are doing it have the time but consider the fact that the UN has not helped in this at all. Consider the fact that the WEF has not at all helped in this. The US can hold the population of the world sure, but fact of the matter is that should not be our goal. There are too many cultures, and there are too many offset forms of belief.

We can barely keep our own country working properly and inflation is the worst it's been in almost ever. We can't take care of our own and yet the bleeding heart class in the US just expects us to take in everyone from everywhere at all times. Economically we can't handle this. Socially and culturally we can't handle this. People need to go to countries through the proper sources. They need to do it legally. But what's more, these countries are losing their working age and military age men. IN THE THOUSANDS and MILLIONS. What is the result to the country these people are leaving? What of the women and children left behind?

No one wants to have this conversation because they are scared of being called a xenophobe or a racist. But having love for your country and wanting it to continue to function, and not have your culture crushed under the weight of actual invaders, isn't either of those things. And before you go, "Oh well how dare you call them invaders ~" here is the definition for you.

Look at the second listing. I understand the idea behind wanting others to be happy. I understand the idea behind wanting people from other places to not suffer. But these people are leaving their countries, rather than fighting for them. They have abandoned their mothers, daughters, wives, sisters, aunts, and grandmothers in most cases.

Most of you need to face the reality that the real world is not a fair place. But if you want your country to thrive and survive there needs to be a process in which it functions. These people are ignoring that entire process. If Italy can't deport the people that just arrived on that ship, outnumbering the entire population of the island they just landed on, there will be consequences. And they will not be good. The language will start to shift. The religions in the area will change. The entire culture will change. Then at some point, they will decide, "This is our land now, and it's always been ours". It's objectively conquest by sheer numbers. And while they might not individually have any ill intent. That won't matter in the long term.

This isn't a conspiracy. It's not bigotry. Open a history book and read. I'm pro immigration. 100% I'm for it. But how long are the lines for the people coming here legally? How many people have been denied citizenship over BS reasons? And not only are we allowing illegals in at a more than alarming rate (specifically in the US), but we are spending tax dollars on giving them roofs over their heads, and handouts, and in some places they are even getting monthly allowances.

Explain to me how we are doing this for people with no respect for the country, or it's laws, and yet you can't solve homelessness? You can't make a VA that actually functions properly? You can't get out out of inflation? So to the people cheering on illegal immigration, you are voting for your own demise. And every penny spent on them, is not one spent on a legal immigrant. Every penny spent on them is not spend helping the homeless. Every penny spent on them is not spent on healthcare.

This might be a controversial post and some people may even block, mute or unfollow me for it and that's fine. But history speaks for itself. And every country that has dealt with this for too long has collapsed over time. Pretty much every single time.

You should be concerned. Before you end up as the one who's displaced, and is fleeing.

[anonymoushouseplantfan]

Endgame

I stopped blogging this drama some time ago because nothing new seemed to be happening. Oh, there was tons of telenovela drama, but none of it was "moving the needle" to quote Meghan. Even the Lady C and Tom Bower books were not very interesting, at least to me. I think they were significant in that they shone a spotlight on the various lies and misinterpretations, which I think helped flip the narrative on these two idiots, but if you've been following the shenanigans closely, as I have, they had few surprises.

I do have posts on the Netflix documentary because those had real revelations. However, I think this The Hill article is the real game changer. The Eye of Sauron has turned itself upon them, so to speak.

Those are pretty strong words, and so are these:

"U.S. national security." Wowza.

What's interesting is that a few days ago, this was The Hill's viewpoint:

Way back in December 19th this was a "you" problem in the eyes of the Washington establishment (which is what The Hill represents), now suddenly it's an "us" problem. What changed?

Well, this IPSO poll came out in the UK, showing that the documentary did not affect royal popularity at all. The Brits are calling it inaccurate and the personal popularity numbers were not affected at all.

https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/britons-more-likely-judge-harry-and-meghan-documentary-inaccurate-depiction-events-crown

YouGov also got positive results for the monarchy.

I haven't seen similar polls regarding the Commonwealth though, but I bet they were done and I bet the results weren't good. The documentary got strong international ratings and the Harkles are going to find out that success is a double-edged sword.

It's going to be interesting to see where this goes. So far, the results are encouraging. Hello, Colonel Kate!

Trooping isn't until June but that got announced in December, which is fascinating.

And Charles' coronation was budget friendly back in October, but it will now be "glorious" pomp and pageantry showcasing UK plc and, no doubt, the Commonwealth.

Harry effed around and now he is going to find out that attacking the family is fun gossip that important people don't care about but attacking an institution that is part of the US national security establishment is a different matter altogether. A lot of people are now going to reassess their tacit support of the Harkles.

It will take a while because no one will admit Harry's Invictus role was axed because of a Netflix drama or internet trolling during the Wales' Caribbean tour, but that will be the eventual result. It will take years and it will be camouflaged as a "reorganization" or "rethinking" of the organization (everything military is now in flux as the establishment analyzes the implications of the Ukraine war) but he's going to be out. Notice that Sunshine Sachs leapt out of the sinking ship way back in September. That was likely the canary in the coal mine.

https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/20220924150955/meghan-markle-parts-ways-sunshine-sachs-pr-firm/

I doubt anyone reads this blog anymore since so many fantastic people are covering this drama now, but I'm compulsive about completing tasks so I'll be covering the endgame (as Scobie would put it, although the monarchy will not be the one losing this game).

[bullet-prooflove]

Prey! Series - Part One: Trafficked - OA Zidan x Reader

Tagging: @trublu2u @mrspeacem1nusone @greenies-green @rosaliedepp @whateversomethingbruh @anime-weeb-4-life @daydreaming-belle @burningpeachpuppy @scarlettsakura @divergent146 @upsteadlogic @malindacath @skyesthebomb @@kilikonakapamana @yezzyyae @redpool

When Omar first meets you it’s because a young Ukrainian girl has been found bleeding out on someone’s lawn after being stabbed thirty times. She’s lucky to be alive, he’s told at the hospital while he waits for you to arrive. When he thinks of the nineteen bodies they’ve just found buried in the woods and the shallow grave Hailey had clawed her way out of he thinks luck had nothing to do with it. That girl is a fighter through and through.

When you appear, he isn’t prepared for just how pretty you are. You’ve tried to downplay it; no makeup, hair tied away from your face but you’re naturally striking. You’re wearing civvies, black jeans with battered Doc Martens, a light grey tunic top thrown over the top. You’re in the midst of clipping your badge to your hip when he approaches you.

“Sorry.” You greet him, raising your head to meet his eyes. “It was my day off.”

For a moment the entire world falls away and he’s completely captivated by you. This is what the Quran talks about, he thinks, when you meet your soulmate. There’s a sense of tranquillity, of peace. A familiarity that you can’t explain. That’s how he feels when he shakes your hand.

“Hanna Emery.” You introduce yourself. “Human Trafficking Division.”

Hanna

In Hebrew it means compassion.

You certainly live up to your namesake.

He hangs back during the interview. He’s new to the bureau, still finding his feet and he’s experiencing a lot of firsts during this case. Human trafficking is your world, something you’re well versed in he comes to discover as you question Hailey. The technique is different, tailored towards different aspects of the victim’s experience. There’s an emotional intelligence in you that he can’t even begin to fathom.

Through the course of the interview, you learn that Hailey and her sister were trafficked from the Ukraine through an Eastern European employment agency. They were from a small farming community. They each completed a test before participating in a video interview. They’d been ecstatic when they’d discovered they’d been selected for jobs in New York City.

“It’s a scam we see often,” You tell Omar in the aftermath when you’re comparing notes. “They target girls in rural communities, the ones that don’t know any better.”

The girls had been picked up at the airport in a van by three men Snake, Spider and Hog. They’d been transported to a townhouse before descending into what Hailey described as the depths of hell. Your demeanour changes when Hailey mentions the name Snake, it’s a subtle shift, a tension in your shoulders, your eyes flicking upwards.

“Who is he to you?” He’d asked you as he swiped his card over the payment feature of the vending machine. “Snake?”

You’re already tearing open the wrapper of the candy bar he’s just bought you because you’d had to skip out on lunch with a friend to cover his case. Omar figures it’s the least he can do.

“A monster.” You tell him. “I’ve been cleaning up his mess for almost two years now. The shit he’s done to these girls…”

You shake your head as you throw the rest of your half-eaten candy bar into the trash.

It’s when Hailey describes the extent of her abuse that Omar finds himself at a loss. She and her sister Brook were taken to the basement of a townhouse, raped for three days straight. That’s incomprehensible to him, the terror of it, the violation. He has three sisters, the thought of something like that happening to one of them…

It makes him sick.

“It’s a way of breaking them down, keeping them compliant.” You explain to Omar afterwards. “It destroys their hope, erodes their sense of person. They become an object to be used, a vessel for someone else’s pleasure.”

You pause, your fingers toying with the bracelet on your wrist. It’s woven fabric, black, white and red threads all interlocked in an Aztec pattern and secured with a tight knot. It’s a couple of years old, he thinks. He doubts you’ve taken it off since it was given to you.

“They call rape murder of the soul, it’s worse than death. With death there’s peace, an ending. With rape, the person you are is completely obliterated, you can pick up the fragments, but they don’t fit the same way they used to.”

It’s harrowing, hearing it described like that. You must have done thousands of these interviews, heard so many variations of the same story. He wonders if it wears on you, if it takes a little piece of your soul everytime you endure their suffering along with them.

“I’m not sure how you recover from something like that.” Omar says, rubbing his hand over the nape of his neck.

“Some don’t.” You say sadly, your arms crossing over your chest as you look through the window into Hailey’s room. “Hailey though, she’s strong. I think she’s one of the ones that make it.”

“Is it true what you said?” He asks quietly, his shoulder coming to rest against the wall. “Is it really one in five women who get sexually assaulted?”

You sigh as you tilt your head to look at him. He sees the truth of it in your eyes and it devastates him because that means it’s happened to someone that he knows, someone he cares about, and he isn’t sure what to do with that knowledge.

“Yea.” You say softly. “I’m afraid it is.”

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[matan4il]

Thank you for your daily updates.

I've been seeing people discussing why/not the ICJ case is valid, but nothing on how the judges are likely to rule, a discussion that happens often when there is a big SCOTUS case.

What of their temperaments? Sure there's a Lebanese judge, that doesn't inherently make him antisemitic. Do you know if the judges are more "left" or "right?" My hopes are not high, considering they refuse to see evidence of the actual Oct 7 massacres (shame, since Hamas really wanted that broadcasted).

Hi Nonnie,

I usually try to reply to asks at the same order I got them, but I'll make an exception, because of how relevant this is to the current proceedings at the ICJ right now.

I don't think that being Muslim makes anyone inherently biased, nor do I think being Jewish means a person is free of the antisemitism of their environment, so I generally believe it's impossible for judges to be completely disconnected from what their country's position is. I believe the ICJ recognizes this as well, and that's why, a country that is suing or sued at the ICJ without having a representation among the permanent judges, has the right to appoint one. Specifically when it comes to Lebanon, I have to admit that IDK how possible it is for the Lebanese judge to ignore the fact that his country has for decades implemented an actual apartheid, a legally imposed policy of discrimination against Palestinians who live there.

Well, for this trial, we have an Israeli judge, a SA judge, and the 15 permanent judges. Here's one analysis about the 15 that I read:

American judge: had worked as a legal advisor to the administrations of Clinton and Obama, believes the scope of international law is limited (so she's less likely to grant SA a provisional measure that's a legal precedent).

Russian judge: advises Russia on two legal matters (regarding Georgia, and Kosovo), believes the scope of international law should be wider, has voted against demanding of Russia to stop the military operation in Ukraine, and has published independently his opinion that the ICJ has no right to judge the Russia-Ukraine conflict, because Russia didn't recognize its authority on this. Has visited Israel in 2015 for an international space conference, and together with 2 other ICJ judges, has conducted a "trial" regarding space law.

Slovak judge: sees the scope of international law as narrower, in the past he indicated that he thinks the crime of committing a genocide can't be decided in this court (that it should be in a criminal one), he has also said that quotes uttered in "the heat of battle" (the kind at the basis of SA's lawsuit) are not indicative of policy intent, they're just war propaganda. Has visited Israel in 2015 for an international space conference, and together with 2 other ICJ judges, has conducted a "trial" regarding space law.

French judge: Jewish, considered critical of Israel. In the past, while arguing against Israel, he has also said that the conflict here is political by nature and that the involvement of the ICJ in it is unhelpful to dialogue between the parties.

Moroccan judge: in the past, his decisions included non-legal considerations (for example, he said he's not sure Ukraine's move against Russia fits the convention on the prevention of genocide, but he still was in favor of granting Ukraine the provisional measures it was asking for). He was also a minority vote in the matter of whether the Serbs committed a genocide against the Bosnian Muslims, where the majority determined that the conditions to define it as such were not met.

Somali judge: there are no past indications of how he might rule from an international law perspective. He's Muslim, but in the past he has joined an Iftar dinner at the home of the Israeli ambassador at the Hague, and has also once opened a Holocaust Day lecture for the ICJ.

Chinese judge: has worked for her government in the past. She has voted against the provisional measures Ukraine has asked for against Russia, saying that it seems like an attempt to use the convention in order to get the ICJ to decide in broader political matters than the convention allows for. She has also argued against provisional measures that only demand one side would stop the fighting.

Ugandan judge: has worked for her government in the past. There are no past indications of how she might rule from an international law perspective.

Indian judge: tends towards an expanded view of what is discrimination. Has visited Israel in 2015 for an international space conference, and together with 2 other ICJ judges, has conducted a "trial" regarding space law.

Jamaican judge: has worked for his government in the past. Has voted against Russia when it came to the provisional measures demanding it stops its fighting against Ukraine.

Lebanese judge: has expressed anti-Israel views in the past, and has also repeatedly shown that he takes his country's position into account in his decisions. Has argued in the past that in situations of military occupation, the burden of proof is very low, or that the burden of proof should be on the occupier.

German judge: in the past, he has published his opposition to an Israeli law professor's article, arguing that a wider view is required when it comes to the right to self defense.

Japanese judge: in the past, he has published an article that sees the right of third party countries to appear before the ICJ (as is SA in this case) as limited.

Australian judge: very active in the field of women and gender rights. In the past, she has criticized ICJ rulings that allowed the coalition forces a lot of freedom in Iraq.

Brazilian judge: in the past, he has referred to the PLO as a terrorist organization (at the time about which he was writing), but he did the same regarding the Jewish underground movement, the Hagana (which worked to protect Jews, and to smuggle them "illegally" into the Land of Israel to save them from the Nazis during WWII).

According to one legal correspondent that I listened to, SA has asked for so many provisional measures, that the ICJ is unlikely to turn them all down. This reporter believes that the ICJ will likely not grant the provisional measure calling on Israel to stop the fighting, but it will probably grant at least two other provisional measures. She had a bet which two, the provisional measure calling on more humanitarian aid to be brought into Gaza (if true, this would be so redundant. One of the points made at the ICJ proceedings, was that Israel has agreed to allow in as much humanitarian aid as could be taken in on the Gazan side, and was willing to expand its operations on the Israeli side for this to happen. In other words, what's currently limiting the amount of aid going in is the capacity to handle it on the Gazan, not Israeli, side), and to collect evidence regarding the fighting in Gaza (which Israel is already doing).

I hope this helped! xoxox

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

#israel #antisemitism #israeli #israel news #israel under attack #israel under fire #israelunderattack #terrorism #anti terrorism #hamas #antisemitic #antisemites #jews #jew #judaism #jumblr #frumblr #jewish #ask #anon ask

[maaarine]

“Here's where things get intellectually very interesting. They are swept up by Catherine's idea of a new Russia. 

So Catherine has this idea, which is very elegant. It's also a classically colonial idea: that these lands that have just been conquered, these are virgin territories.

So the place is renamed. What's now Southern Ukraine, where the Cossacks had had power, and the Crimean Peninsula, where the Crimean Khanate had had power, these places are renamed “New Russia”.

Now that word “new” is magical, right? Like with New England, or New South Wales, or New Caledonia. 

More than 200 years later, 300 years later, people are gonna be still drawn by this notion of New Russia. 

But when you say something is new, you're not saying it's yours, you're saying that we want it to be ours, right? That's the whole point. 

So Novorossiya does not mean something which is Russian, it means something that we're gonna make Russia, we're gonna pretend that nothing else is there. 

And how do you do that? 

Well, you send multiple expeditions of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences to Crimea to name everything, find all the species, map everything. 

Because science is one of the tools by which you gather imperial knowledge.

And then the naming — I mean, one has to admit this is quite brilliant on Catherine's part. They rename everything. 

So all the Turkic names, the Muslim names, the Crimean Tatar names, are replaced. 

And what are they replaced with? Greek names or names that sound Greek. 

Like Kherson, that city that's being fought over right now. Mariupol, sounds Greek sorta, right? That's the whole idea.

They took the old names and then they replaced them with Greek names. And when they founded new places, they gave them Greek, or Greek-ish, Greek sounding, Greco whatever names.

And the point of this is to say that Russia is connected with the classical world. And in that we're European. We're in the enlightenment. 

Connecting Russia with the classical world, going back all the way 2000 years, means that you obliviate everything that happens in between.

So the Crimeans don't matter, the Ukrainians don't matter, it's Russia here alone with its historical destiny, which goes all the way back to Greece. 

And so it's New Russia, but it's justified by this connection to the classical world.”

Source: Timothy Snyder: Making of Modern Ukraine. Class 11.Ottoman Retreat, Russian Power,Ukrainian Populism

#timothy snyder #russia ukraine