Don’t be dense. I said I don’t care what language people use in private conversation (even if it happens to be outside or even in between people in a work environment).

I do have issues with promotion of russian culture and language. We have our our state language and our own heroes. No way should we promote imperialist symbols.

Care to address your whitewashing of russian genocidal imperialism and refusal to recognize their responsibility for putin?

What you’re saying is that the people dealing with russian genocidal imperialism should should shut up and get killed and that we do not have the right to point out that russians should not be treated as innocent children and at a strong majority of their society are genuine supporters of genocidal imperialism.

So is this what you believe?

It is insane that such actions by Israel are tolerated by democratic countries.

I am not going to engage on russian language in Ukraine. I was pretty clear I have no issues with private use of russian langauge and you somehow come up with “speaking russian in public in Kharkiv” (as a response to me stating you are whitewashing russian crimes, no less). This is borderline russian propaganda.

When you have a 140 million strong country that is mostly populated by genocidal imperialists, you would be a fool to not recognize how their language and culture is used to enable their violent imperialist goals.

Why should I not demand recognition of their genocidal actions in Chechnya in the 90s? I don’t believe they (alleged russian “liberals”) are genuine about their statements on Ukraine, they just don’t have any choice. I am giving you a chance to prove me wrong.

I don’t watch NFKRZ. Show me a video/article where he (or anyone else with a platform) openly states that russian actions in Chechnya in the 90s were genocidal (comparable to killing 7 million russian civilians) and were wrong. Is this really too much to ask?

You are enabling and whitewashing russian genocidal imperialism (in Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Chechnya, Syria and multiple African nations) by:

• Refusing to treat russians like adults. You fail to recognize that they elected putin, they reelected him again after he shut down independent mass media. They supported the comical switcheroo with medvedev and supported making putin leader for life in 2012.
• Ignoring near universal support among the russian population for genocidal imperialism in Chechnya, the invasion of Georgia, the annexation of Crimea and the full scale invasion of Ukraine and extermination of Ukrainian identity (with 10s of thousands of civilians in torture camps) in the occupied territories.

For you, they are always the victims, they are always innocent.

You come up with this discussion on “me denying them education” (what does this even mean?) and you can’t even explain what you mean by the opportunity to educate?

Furthermore, you refuse to outline how this alleged “opportunity to educate” is going to work and why this is a viable approach.

What you’re saying is that the people dealing with russian genocidal imperialism should should shut up and get killed and that we do not have the right to point out that russians should not be treated as innocent children and at a strong majority of their society are genuine supporters of genocidal imperialism.

You’re interpretation of the language component of modern Ukraine aids russian genocidal imperialism. There is no issue with private use of russian language. I actually live here and I speak russian with my family and many of my friends (including folks from Kharkiv). Don’t be coy with me.

I brought up the 1.2 million russian men who participated in the full scale invasion of Ukraine to show that your musings about russians being afraid of conscription in the late 90s is BS. You’re making up excuses and whitewashing russian crimes. Helping them play the vicitm. It’s always someone else’s fault or there is some excuse.

Where did I say that there is something inherent (essential) about russians that makes them act this way? Why would I even say this? This would be another excuse. Russians have the full capability to build out a normal society and even pay for the wrongs of their genocidal imperialism. They choose not to. They are welcome to prove me wrong.

Pretty much every single Russian who’s not actively Z hates Russia right now, even if they can’t admit it to themselves.

You’re either very naive or you’re being malicious. Show me an example of a russian “who is not actively Z” (and not hated by 99.99% of the population) showing any measure of nuance on their genocide of the Chechens in the 90s. An appreciation that comparable civilian causalities would be 7 million russians dead would be great.

You can take that as an opportunity to educate, or you can increase the amount of prejudice in the world.

And what do you mean by an opportunity to educate? What is your expected outcome from this alleged “education” and when (specific date) to you expect to see a result? Or is this just a meaningless platitude?

Asking people to respect facts is not prejudice. Pointing out that you (and many others) are whitewashing and enabling russian crimes is not prejudice. Rejecting infantalization of russian society and treating them like adults who should take responsibility for their actions is not prejudice.

You’re just making up more excuses and trying to justify their behaviour (albeit in what seems to be good faith). 1.2 millions russian men have directly taken part in the fullscale invasion of Ukraine and 75%+ were not conscripted. And you ignore this.

I will admit what you position as blanket judgment is not a good thing. But it’s also not a good thing to infantilize a group of people and treat them like children. The russian “liberals” need to be treated based on their actions and it’s up to them to make the right calls.

The issue isn’t about putin acting like a Tsar. The issue is about a large majority enabling and supporting a tsar. Ignoring this is not doing anyone any favours.

I won’t get into the discussion on russian (or any other) language in Ukraine. I am talking fighting against russian genocidal imperialism. This is a completely different topic (if you want to actually look at it from a real perspective). And yet you make a point to ignore it.

If you have a country/polity/group of people that keep making exclusively bad decisions, at every single historical point possible. It is reasonable to have a sober outlook while not “essentializaing” them. Let their choices and actions reflect who they are. It’s all up to them.

Even a from a purely Ukro-nationalist framing (and I don’t consider myself a nationalist, I am not even white), I would of course support the Ukrainian Crimea Tartar community.

I see the champagne bottle element of russian culture made you take a back step to your petty sarcasm?

Your attitude is what enables Putin specifically and near universal support for genocidal imperialism among russians.

Even before putin, the russians killed 50 thousand Chechen civilians when they put down their independence movement. A comparable figure would be ~7 million russian civilian casualties. And you talk about Zemifra albums. The reality is that you value the lives of russians more than the lives of the people they kill (even that may not be your intent).

And of course you blame solely putin (“putin nipped it in the bud”) for the decline of russian civil society. Even though the russians re-elected putin in 2004 (in an election generally considered free and fair) after he shut down all independent mass media. Russians are responsible for the collapse of civil society. Don’t infantalize them, they are not children.

Keed in mind, I lived in russia for a decade, coincidentally around the time you were there. And I did actually enjoy the first Zemfira album when it came out. But unlike you I was cognizant that russians were showing a lack of humanity in their attitude towards Chechens and that even liberal minded were show a worrying level of support for an authoritarian KGB goon.

No where did I say russian (or Bengali or Farsi or any language) cannot be used in private. Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine, Ukraine has its own heroes and great people of culture.

Don’t get petty with war crimes you little shit.

How am I shitting on Muslims? What are you even on about? You’re equating Muslims to the Islamic state?

You can think whatever you want. You don’t have to deal with russians, of course you’re going to feign concerns about humanitarianism.

It is easy to reject reality, engage in historical revisionism, white-wash russian crimes, when the alternative works out to be you defacto promoting genocidal imperialism. Not many people want to end up on the wrong side of history and be caught saying “supporters and participants of the Nazi regime are not that bad”. It is far easier to convince yourself that it’s really about humanitarian concerns.

Then there is the cowardice angle. Feigning concern about humanitarianism provides a nice escape valve for de facto meek and complacent behaviour with respect to russian PR campaigns (nuclear sabre rattling). No one wants to look like a coward and a fool at the same time.

So keep at it, bro!

You seem to be a connisour of russian culture. You should look into their use of champagne bottles, it’s very creative. I think you would appreciate it.

Check out Dalny, Kazan! Ask the locals and say you want a real world experience! Enjoy!

True that. Yes, it looks like total MAU could be a lot higher, although in ballpark it does seem to be closer to Lemmy’s 45K.

I know you’re being glib and all, but you’re not doing the russians any favours with coddling their imperialist thinking.

They need to figure out what their culture stands for and how they relate to it. They are not even close, even alleged russian “liberals” are raging nationalists outside of public articles in English or western conferences.

Too bad MAUs are a mere 13K, even less than Lemmy with it’s rather modest 45K MAUs.

But then again, I personally don’t see any better competition to oligarch run social networks.

Thanks for sharing this community. Some interesting reading for later. Joined.

You should consider posting about your community in the weekly threads in the [email protected]

Ukrainians (in Odessa or anywhere really) are welcome to use russian (or Gujarati) in private. In the public sphere, the official language is Ukrainian.

I am aware that Odessa is not Donbas. What are you even trying to say?

Your waxing poetical about the russian nature of Odessa just like most russians (not only nationalists, you ever hear this from the alleged opposition).

Fundamentally it is not for you or (or the russians) to decide what the official language is in Ukraine, how we name our streets and how we choose to deal with centuries of russian imperialism.

For you this is purely a theoretical discussion. The reality of the matter is that russian language and culture are a tool of russian genocidal imperialism (just look at the state of say the Komi language, if you even know that such a language exists). To fight russian genocidal imperialism, you need to get rid of russian insignia and russian chauvinist, slave-mentality thinking. And yes, this also means recognizing that Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine and that we have our our great artists and heroes.

Europe needs to get rid of all russians.

No visiting EU for any russian citizens until russia leaves all occupied territories, hands over all war criminals and provides financial compensation for all the damage they’ve done.

Russians can playing the victim. You’re not doing them any favours by coddling them and treating them like infants.

Where did I say I don’t recognize the brutality and the dysfunction of the US police?

So what do I not understand about ACAB?

I am not talking about US internal polemics. I am saying that a concept such as “ACAB” is not fundamentally not viable. You need a police force. One that takes the side of the people when things get tough.

Nah, it’s because the article is bullshit.

The “kind of see where both sides are coming from” is de facto support for russian genocidal imperialism.

We don’t need Pushkin statues, we have our own artists and our own heroes.

Getting rid of russian language and russian “culture” is a legitimate aim when your country has suffered multiple genocides and centuries of colonialism. Russian culture is trash and has no value. It’s like saying Islamic state culture is legitimate. Would you be opposed to getting rid of Nazis imagery too?

This is just the economist’s version of teenage edgelord posts. I would like to invite the author and their family to Donbas (this is where me and my family or from), we’ll see what he thinks about Pushkin after that.

Why do you assume I or my buddies have any opinion on “all lives matter”. I am not from the US.

I am talking about practical, real world matters. A good police institution, one that is loyal to society and not to oligarchs/crooks is something to strive for. Meaningless, self-indulgent polemics such as “ACAB” (if you can even call this a polemic) is not the way to go.

Because “ACAB” is not a viable approach. Even in a society where all the oligarchs and their lackeys are serving multi-decade prison terms, you still need a police institution.

And framing this as a “competition” inherently whitewashes the crimes of the russian police.

Have you ever dealt with russian police? And if yes, in what context? What is your russian like, what level is it?

Keep in mind I explicitly said that US police are brutal.