Russian lies are meant not only to disinform, to make action more difficult, but also to demotivate, to make action seem senseless. Russian memes work not by presenting Russia as a positive alternative, but by demoralizing others. No one wants to be close to "Nazis," and the simple introduction of the lie is confusing and saddening. The same holds with the Russian meme to the effect that Ukraine is corrupt. A completely bogus Russian source introduced the entirely fake idea that the Ukrainian president had bought yachts. Although this was entirely untrue, Representative Greene then spread the fiction. Senator J.D. Vance also picked up the "yacht" example and used it as his justification for opposing aid to Ukraine. The larger sense of that lie is that everyone everywhere is corrupt, even the people who seem most admirable; and so we might as well give up on our heroes, on any struggle for democracy, or any struggle at all. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelens'kyi, chose to risk his life by remaining in Kyiv and defending his country against a fearsome attack from Russia which almost all outsiders believed would succeed within days. His daring gamble saved not only his own democracy, but opened a window of faith that democracies can defend themselves. It confirmed the basis lesson of liberty that individual choices have consequences. The lie directed at Zelens'kyi was meant not only to discredit him personally and undermine support for Ukraine, but also to persuade Americans that no one is righteous and nothing is worth defending.

Timothy Snyder

Reminder: Russia could end the war instantly, just by going back home to Russia

"Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova may be next. And it is certain if we do not withstand. We have heard recently that they have started talking about Finland, they have started talking about the independence of Uzbekistan, and so on. He [Putin] will not finish this until we collectively finish him."

Unfortunately, Republicans couldn't give less of a fuck. 😒

The speaker of Canada’s House of Commons resigned Tuesday for inviting a man who fought for a Nazi military unit during World War II to Parliament to attend a speech by the Ukrainian president.

Just after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an address in the House of Commons on Friday, Canadian lawmakers gave 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka a standing ovation when Speaker Anthony Rota drew attention to him. Rota introduced Hunka as a war hero who fought for the First Ukrainian Division.

Observers over the weekend began to publicize the fact that the First Ukrainian Division also was known as the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, or the SS 14th Waffen Division, a voluntary unit that was under the command of the Nazis.

Full article

Tagging: @allthecanadianpolitics

I have a new fave photo of Zelenskyy

Imagine that someone—perhaps a man from Florida, or maybe even a governor of Florida—criticized American support for Ukraine. Imagine that this person dismissed the war between Russia and Ukraine as a purely local matter, of no broader significance. Imagine that this person even told a far-right television personality that “while the U.S. has many vital national interests ... becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them.” How would a Ukrainian respond? More to the point, how would the leader of Ukraine respond?

As it happens, an opportunity to ask that hypothetical question recently availed itself. The chair of the board of directors of The Atlantic, Laurene Powell Jobs; The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg; and I interviewed President Volodymyr Zelensky several days ago in the presidential palace in Kyiv. In the course of an hour-long conversation, Goldberg asked Zelensky what he would say to someone, perhaps a governor of Florida, who wonders why Americans should help Ukraine.

Zelensky, answering in English, told us that he would respond pragmatically. He didn’t want to appeal to the hearts of Americans, in other words, but to their heads. Were Americans to cut off Ukraine from ammunition and weapons, after all, there would be clear consequences in the real world, first for Ukraine’s neighbors but then for others:

If we will not have enough weapons, that means we will be weak. If we will be weak, they will occupy us. If they occupy us, they will be on the borders of Moldova and they will occupy Moldova. When they have occupied Moldova, they will [travel through] Belarus and they will occupy Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. That’s three Baltic countries which are members of NATO. They will occupy them. Of course, [the Balts] are brave people, and they will fight. But they are small. And they don’t have nuclear weapons. So they will be attacked by Russians because that is the policy of Russia, to take back all the countries which have been previously part of the Soviet Union.

And after that, if there were still no further response? Then, he explained, the struggle would continue:

When they will occupy NATO countries, and also be on the borders of Poland and maybe fight with Poland, the question is: Will you send all your soldiers with weapons, all your pilots, all your ships? Will you send tanks and armored vehicles with your young people? Will you do it? Because if you will not do it, you will have no NATO.

At that point, he said, Americans will face a different choice: not politicians deciding whether “to give weapons or not to give weapons” to Ukrainians, but instead, “fathers and mothers” deciding whether to send their children to fight to keep a large part of the planet, filled with America’s allies and most important trading partners, from Russian occupation.

But there would be other consequences too. One of the most horrifying weapons that Russia has used against Ukraine is the Iranian-manufactured Shahed drone, which has no purpose other than to kill civilians. After these drones are used to subdue Ukraine, Zelensky asked, how long would it be before they are used against Israel? If Russia can attack a smaller neighbor with impunity, regimes such as Iran’s are sure to take note. So then the question arises again: “When they will try to occupy Israel, will the United States help Israel? That is the question. Very pragmatic.”

Finally, Zelensky posed a third question. During the war, Ukraine has been attacked by rockets, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles—“not hundreds, but thousands”:

So what will you do when Russia will use rockets to attack your allies, to [attack] civilian people? And what will you do when Russia, after that, if they do not see [opposition] from big countries like the United States? What will you do if they will use rockets on your territory?

And this was his answer: Help us fight them here, help us defeat them here, and you won’t have to fight them anywhere else. Help us preserve some kind of open, normal society, using our soldiers and not your soldiers. That will help you preserve your open, normal society, and that of others too. Help Ukraine fight Russia now so that no one else has to fight Russia later, and so that harder and more painful choices don’t have to be made down the line.

“It’s about nature. It’s about life,” he said. “That’s it.”

“Putin kills whoever he wants, be it an opposition leader, or anyone else who seems as the target exactly to him. “After the murder of Alexei Navalny, it’s absurd to perceive Putin as a supposedly legitimate head of a Russian state and he is a thug who maintains power through corruption and violence.” “He has just yesterday tried to send us all a clear message as the Munich Security Conference opened, Putin murdered another opposition leader. “So please, let’s not fear Putin’s defeat and the destruction of his regime. Let’s instead work together to destroy what he stands for. It is his fate to lose, not the fate of the rules based world order to vanish.” “Do not ask Ukraine when the war will end. Ask yourselves why Putin is still able to continue it.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's response to Putin's terrorism, including his murder of Alexei Navalny in prison yesterday. Note especially: Putin has NO legitimacy and the modern Russian state he has created has NO legitimacy. This is a terror state that built an infrastructure to protect the endless self-enrichment of thieves, and which murders anyone who gets in the way of that goal. Such a terrorist infrastructure also needs to invade other countries in order to maintain power. PUTIN MUST BE STOPPED NOW.

every time I hear some dumbass on tumblr claim the Ukrainian government is anti-Semitic I want to beat the shit out of them with a chair. but I can’t do that, so let me hit you with some fun facts instead:

prior to the invasion, Ukraine had Europe's fifth largest Jewish population. (x)

prior to the invasion, Ukraine had the world's 11th largest Jewish population. (x)

As You May Have Heard, their current president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is both Ukraine’s sixth president and Ukraine’s first Jewish president. for comparison, the US has had 46 presidents and Biden is our second Catholic. 

Ukraine has had a total of 16 Prime Ministers (not including 2 acting PMs), 2 of which have been Jewish: Volodymyr Groysman and Yukhym Zvyahilsky. (x)

in 2014, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ihor Kolomoyskyi, and the Ukrainian Speaker of Parliament, Groysman mentioned above, were both Jewish. (x) (x) btw, you’ll notice Putin features a lot in these articles...

this makes Ukraine the world’s first country aside from Israel to simultaneously have a Jewish head of state and a Jewish head of government. super neat!!!! (x) 

Ukraine's Jewish population is majority Haredi and Orthodox. Hasidic Judaism actually originated in Ukraine. (x) 

also of Ukraine's cities, the ones with the biggest Jewish population aside from Kyiv? Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Odessa. (x) go see what Russia has done to those cities. just go see. 

not to seem like I’m pushing an agenda or anything* but maybe Vladimir ‘openly cites Stalin as inspiration’ Putin perhaps is not your best source of information?

Like I mentioned in my last post, I tend not to dwell on politics much, but I accidentally came across an article in Politico about the history of Russian colonialism in Alaska, and just when I thought I couldn't hate Putin any more...ooh boy. Read it here.

I love starting the day by crying, don't you?

Because we have dignity and we will not allow our freedom to be taken away from us. Because we have to protect our freedom in order not to lose our dignity. Because we know and remember one of the important wisdoms we learned long ago: how important it is not to be afraid, how important it is to fight. - Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Zelenskyy smoking a cigarette while in costume playing Napoleon Bonaparte is something I didn’t know I needed

ngl this might be the sexiest thing this man has said yet <3