When Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, Putin’s approval shot up to 80%. They are trying to paint this narrative that the dictator madman Putin is unilaterally attacking Ukraine against the popular will of his people. Putin’s approval rose to 69% (nice) after this latest operation. It was 8 points lower in August. Even by Jacobin’s own single source, when they’ve only had a short period to poll these issues and things are dynamic, half of ordinary Russians do support the recognition of LPR and DPR. So that contradicts the title of the article.
Of course that doesn’t make ordinary Russians the bad guys. It’s just that your average westerner who can’t find Ukraine on a map thinks they know better about complex geopolitics than people who actually live in the region. Unsurprising.
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It is scary. Almost like the neocons, western ultra leftists like Vaush et al, and neo-nazis are starting to join hands.
It is worth me clarifying though, while this Jacobin article is trying to argue the Russian people aren’t with Putin on this, and that’s wrong, it is true that the Russian people don’t want this war. The ones who wanted and started this war since 2014 are the imperialists in NATO. Russia has only intervened in countries that were promised NATO membership, Ukraine and Georgia. People who think Russia is rebuilding an empire through force and would have attacked regardless don’t appreciate the timing of these interventions either. The Russians want to live in peace without jeopardizing security.
The Russians want to live in peace without jeopardizing security.
Yes, but that may not be what their government wishes (for various sorts of interests). Just ask any political refugee (eg. anarchist/queer people) from ex-USSR and they will tell you that Putin is rebuilding the Russian Empire and will provide you with ample evidence of both hard and soft power applied throughout ex-Empire/ex-USSR colonies. A key difference with historical russian empires though, is that Putin is delegating a lot of power to local rulers (eg. Kadyrov/Lukashenko) so that on paper their regions appear to be politically independent: it’s not formally an Empire. It’s a trick he learnt from western powers (USA in south america, France in Africa, etc).
No, they plan to federalize Belarus and Russia and other former soviet states when ready. They do want to formally establish a super nation, it’s just not possible right now.
Edit: I was unaware of something. Unification between Belarus and Russia could come sooner than expected. There is a referendum to update Belarus’ consititution tomorrow incidentally.
It’s no secret that the Russia wants to rebuild this Eurasian civilization. The question is still open how they accomplish this. Everything we’ve seen points to Russia respecting self determination for this and using cooperative means. Intervention in Ukraine and Georgia is not motivated by expansionism but by security concerns.
Countries don’t respect self determination for moral reasons, they do it for essential reasons. Basically, it is better that people join you willingly then by force. Russia could have totally conquered Georgia in 2008 easy. Instead they supported a couple of separate regions to ensure it would be legally impossible for the country to join NATO. The timing of this intervention came just months after Georgia was promised NATO membership.
In Ukraine, Russia only intervened in 2014 during the Maidan coup, when a pro NATO government was installed. And they did the same thing that they did in Georgia. They made it impossible for Ukraine to join NATO. They could have completely annexed Ukraine in 2014, but they didn’t
So I disagree, I think that is what the government wishes. It’s important to recognize that while Russia has dreams of rebuilding this Eurasian civilization with Ukraine, the West also has designs on Ukraine becoming part of EU and westernizing. I don’t see how the West is any different than Russia in this regard, except that they have no historical relation to Ukraine, while Russia does.
The ideal outcome would have been to respect Ukraine’s neutrality. Get all NGOs, spies, foreign military equipment out of Ukraine. It can be a buffer between Ukraine and Russia. This is still possible. This is what Putin is now offering as a condition of surrender and that the United States just supported. It is now up to Zelensky to decide whether this is acceptable, but it seems like negotiations fell through.
It’s important to recognize that while Russia has dreams of rebuilding this Eurasian civilization with Ukraine, the West also has designs on Ukraine becoming part of EU and westernizing.
That is entirely correct. Both forms of imperialism should be condemned. But right now my solidarity goes with the people who are immensely suffering (war is no joke) due to one side of the conflict invading them with all the force they could gather (we’re not talking about a few hundred/thousand soldiers “maintaining piece” in threatened areas). I mean of course both forms of imperialism are evil, but i don’t think “soft power” and military invasion can be lightly compared.
This is still possible. This is what Putin is now offering as a condition of surrender and that the United States just supported.
Source? I may have missed some news, but last russian-side news i was reading said army would withdraw when Ukraine would be disarmed as a nation, which is a funny euphemism for “harmless colony”.
I wouldn’t call Russia imperialist. Imperialism isn’t just attacking other countries, the word is relatively new and coined in the 1870s to describe a late stage of capitalism. It is economically motivated at its root. Russia’s actions are not logical from an economic standpoint. Ukraine is the poorest country in Europe. The benefits of attacking Ukraine are far outweighed by the costs and sanctions.
Here’s the source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2022-02-25/putin-reportedly-open-to-talks-on-ukraine-neutrality-video
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When shit meets fan, it often happens that enemies become friends. For instance, in 1939 Finland the communists and the right (who had fought a bitter war against each other just 20 years prior) joined to fight against the aggressor, Soviet Union.
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Poor Russia, even though they gave up communism for good old capitalism the nazis are still coming after them. What does it take to satisfy them? Poor little Russia! Now it has to invade other countries to protect itself!
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Says the tankie.
Almost too many pro-NATO elements supporting Nazism showed up yesterday, which seems like a scary trend.
It’s easy to do when Putin calls everyone he doesn’t like a Nazi. Never mind that that’s a much more limited segment of the population with little political power. Ukraine could get down to solving the problem with actual neo-Nazis if Putin would butt out of its business. Instead, Putin will likely use Nazis as an excuse to unseat a Jewish Ukrainian president. Irony much?
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Hey, I’m not the one spraying Nazi accusations everywhere.
Putin’s approval rose to 69% (nice)
I think that approval rating was measured before Putin started the war against Ukraine.
You went ahead and read your source, didn’t you? :) That’s good.
Gun referred to this https://theconversation.com/putins-public-approval-is-soaring-during-the-russia-ukraine-crisis-but-its-unlikely-to-last-177302 which refers to https://www.levada.ru/2022/02/04/odobrenie-institutov-polozhenie-del-v-strane-doverie-politikam/ which shows that Putin’s approval rating was 69% in January 2022.
Fair enough, I’ll correct it
I already had no idea why russians seem to support Putin as much as they do for 22 years
Because the people who don’t have been tortured, murdered, disappeared, or have managed to escape the country and become refugees in the rest of the world. I mean that’s pretty much the same story in any dictatorship. source: i first-hand know several people who have been tortured by russian security services
Nobody, except right wing politicians, weapon industries and integral idiots, wants a war
Russia overall did not want war. But Ukraine has waged war on Donbass since 2014, violating the Minsk protocol. Ukraine has shown hostility towards Russia and wanted to join NATO. That is a declaration of war intentions by the US’ own principles (citing the Cuban missile crisis)
The Minsk protocol was violated by both sides before the ink was dried. If you were Ukraine and Russia was actively involved in slicing off portions of your country, would you not seek protection with cooperation with more powerful countries? After all, Russia likely would not have dared launch this invasion if Ukraine was in NATO lest Russia get slammed with the full force of Article 5.
🇺🇦 defeat Putssin and everyone wins.
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I didn’t think of that Putssin = SS , thanks for making the link for all.
Ban me if you don’t like what I say and consider that I have banned you from now on. Sometimes it is best to ignore what we consider to be trolls.
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Your links are right on the spot !
(( tldr : 1= Putin’s Neo-Nazi Helpers
2= Russian neo-Nazi organisation Russian National Unity ))
