The Russian commander of the “Vostok” Battalion fighting in southern Ukraine said on Thursday that Ukraine will not be defeated and suggested that Russia freeze the war along current frontlines.
Alexander Khodakovsky made the candid concession yesterday on his Telegram channel after Russian forces, including his own troops, were devastatingly defeated by Ukrainian marines earlier this week at Urozhaine in the Zaporizhzhia-Donetsk regional border area.
“Can we bring down Ukraine militarily? Now and in the near future, no,” Khodakovsky, a former official of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, said yesterday.
“When I talk to myself about our destiny in this war, I mean that we will not crawl forward, like the [Ukrainians], turning everything into [destroyed] Bakhmuts in our path. And, I do not foresee the easy occupation of cities,” he said.
The Act nonetheless exists, and as such, proves my point quite handily.
'So if Saudi Arabia passed the “Homos are humans too, I guess” act, which didn’t actually do anything, you would consider this proof that Saudi Arabia is accepting of LGBTQ people?
If the act protected queer people, then I would defend Saudi Arabia against comparisons with countries that actively litigate against the existence of queer people, like Russia, yes.
But I would not consider it proof that Saudi was accepting of queer people. For that I would probably look at testimonies of queer people in the country. Like the ones you can see from millions of US citizens.
You can indeed point to millions of queer US citizens and have them tell you the stories of the discrimination they have faced at the hands of the US government.
That seems like something which would be infinitely harder to do with Saudi subjects. Probably because they aren’t allowed to be gay.
Using testimony of discrimination as evidence of acceptance is a novel strategy.
Glad to have surprised you. And yet, if you actually parse what I’m saying, you’ll see that the evidence in providing is a presumed lack of testimony being evidence of a lack of acceptance which indicates a comparison which is favourable to my argument.