That’s not what the near in near peer means…

It’s a measure of military capability between nations. A Near Peer would be a nation that shares similar capabilities for force projection or in otherwords the powerscale is 1:1.

Who is part of this puppet government and who would take over after they leave? Who should take over in your eyes.

You’re so focused on one goddamn aspect of Ukrainian history you can’t look past the Red and Gold tinted glasses.

Who created the conditions which allowed Ukrainian Nazis to come to power? Who created the conditions that lead to people taking up arms against the soviets? Who created the conditions that forced the Ukrainian people of the 1940s to idolise bad people? Who created the conditions today that have prevented spiritual healing in Ukraine necessary to look introspectively at their history and heroes?

Why would a nation perpetually at war with an asshole neighbour be drawn to idolising isolationist and xenophobic leaders?

Do you stop to think before your fingers type out the most braindead, fox news pundit, podcast clippable bullshit or do you just lack the ability to understand Cause and Effect?

Do you understand why a nation at war for three centuries might idolise war criminals?

Do you understand why freedom fighters are labeled terrorists?

Do you understand what it means to fight for survival by any means necessary?

I don’t think you understand how horrifying nation building is. How bloody and disgusting the history of the world can be. Every single hero you can name did horrible. Horrible things in the name of their cause.

This is not a justification of Nazi ideals. This is a lesson on how downtrodden people will cling to any ideology possible if it means living to see tomorrow. Especially when the alternative is famine, rape and slaughter.

Once these conditions are solved, Ukraine can start to heal.

You fail at a fundamental level to understand any sort of subtlety beyond “But… but muh statues.” Shut the fuck up. You probably live in a nation still erecting statues of people who fought against their own government and you likely make the “states rights” argument anytime that’s brought up. Where’s your outrage for civil rights abuses in your own nation?

What are you trying to prove with this article?

That several groups could no longer substantiate weapons bans to Azov because they could not find any long lasting or significant ties to hate crimes or Gross Violations of Human rights originally tabled by the Kremlin?

This article is further evidence that Russia used Azov’s early ties to Ukrianian Nationalism in the East as as a tool to claim Ukraine is a Nazi state.

If that alone is evidence to condemn the whole of Ukraine then this image is enough to condemn the whole of Russia.

You keep trying to provide evidence that russia’s claims are true but your evidence simply proves my point.

I think Ukrainians are erecting statues of people who fought for their liberation. We can villainise them from the outside and one day a more progressive Ukraine will be able to speak to that more.

As of right now, Russian aggression prevents Ukraine from being able to move forward and discuss their bloody history because their present is still bloody thanks to Russia.

By the Soviet Union’s efforts you mean Ukraine’s efforts under the soviet banner right?

T-34 Designed by a Ukrainian.

Major eastern offensive performed by over a million ukrainian conscripts.

Soviet forces being composed of over 4.5 Million Ukrainians with nearly 1 Million additional Ukrainian partisans against the Nazis? Largely outnumbering the pitiful 250,000 Ukrainian supporters of the Nazis.

I’d also remind you that these are the accomplishments of a United Soviet Union held together by the suffering of satellite states like Ukraine. Not the efforts of the withering shadow of a cumstain that remains known as Russia.

Because there is no widespread Nazism in Ukraine. I asked you to prove it, you provided the article as proof but the article refuted your point. You then said it was apologist. So which is it? Irrefutable evidence supporting the kremlin’s position or Apologism?

What about the US Congress lifting the ban on arming Nazis in order to arm Ukraine. Were they also engaging in Kremlin propaganda?

Hmm let me wrack my brain here. You’ll have to point me to the specific wording. The US congress literally said “Nazis can use our weapons”? Or is Nazi a label that Russia has attributed to certain fighters and you’re now repeating?

No, that was just your misinterpretation.

Quoting you:

You should let the New York Times know their direct observations are “Kremlin talking points.”

Are you now saying that Nazi apologism is a Kremlin talking point or not? Because earlier you said the article would prove Ukraine is Nazi but now the article is apologism. Which is it?

LOL

In your previous comment you used the article as proof that Ukraine was a Nazi state because The NYTimes was a credible third party observer I should rely on.

The second this is pointed out, they’re no longer reliable and are infact apologists? Why use the article as evidence anyway?

And the Ukrainian government spending millions erecting monuments for famous Nazis? What’s the apologist spin on that?

How much was spent on Mt Rushmore? Confederate statues? War Monuments? Statues of John A. Macdonald? Napoleon? Churchill, Stalin, Lenin, Sadam, Mao, Hirohito, Eisenhower, Sherman?

There’s no apologism that exists for them. The true answer, is that at the time of their installation, these people were considered heroes and their bad deeds were overlooked due to circumstance. As I said earlier; as time goes on and peace prospers our eyes open to the broader world. Right now, Ukraine’s heroes are “dirty” heroes to us. Because we aren’t suffering the way they are. Due to circumstance the heroes they have are the only heroes Ukraine can rely on because even the right to have scholars as heroes has been taken from them by Russia.

Can you name me a nation builder with a clean record?

From the article you provided:

• "In a statement, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that, as a country that suffered greatly under German occupation, “We emphasize that Ukraine categorically condemns any manifestations of Nazism.”

• “…Questions over how to interpret such symbols are as divisive as they are persistent, and not just in Ukraine…”

• “The Anti-Defamation League considers the Totenkopf “a common hate symbol.” But Jake Hyman, a spokesman for the group, said it was impossible to “make an inference about the wearer or the Ukrainian Army” based on the patch.” “The image, while offensive, is that of a musical band,” Mr. Hyman said."

*Ihor Kozlovskyi, a Ukrainian historian and religious scholar, said that the symbols had meanings that were unique to Ukraine and should be interpreted by how Ukrainians viewed them, not by how they had been used elsewhere. “The symbol can live in any community or any history independently of how it is used in other parts of Earth,” Mr. Kozlovskyi said.

See: Swastika in SEA.

• Russian soldiers in Ukraine have also been seen wearing Nazi-style patches, underscoring how complicated interpreting these symbols can be in a region steeped in Soviet and German history. The Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact with Germany in 1939, so it was caught by surprise two years later when the Nazis invaded Ukraine, which was then part of the Soviet Union. Ukraine had suffered greatly under a Soviet government that engineered a famine that killed millions. Many Ukrainians initially viewed the Nazis as liberators.

I can keep going from this article alone. Did you read the whole thing?

I don’t even know how to combat the level of cognitive dissonance going on here. I have several starting points but you’re just going to continue refuting anything I say with baseless kremlin talking points that further marginalise the Ukrainian people.

There are Nazis, Socialists, Anarchists, Libertarians, Agrarianists, Monarchists in almost every single country and by association their military. As it stands, the Russian military states the eradication of the ukrainian people as a primary goal of their campaign. Though they call it “denazification” it’s just a more supported term for ethnic cleansing. The Kremlin has placed Nazi ideology at the centre of Ukrainian identity thus vilifying an entire nation of people. They have created a fear of “other” amongst their people and drive to dehumanise Ukrainians as fascist dogs.

What this is, political tactics right out of the actual Nazi playbook. Ukraine is labelled as a fascist state by Russia because it provides Casus Belli. They have looked at a vocal minority and a troubled history then used that to justify the idea that Ukrianians need to be erased for Wrongthink.

I do not refute that the AZOV battalion exists, I do not refute that nazis exist within Ukraine or their armed forces. What I do refute is that Nazism, Fascism and ethnic cleansing are the stated goal of the Ukrainian people, their government or their military. Ukraine has fought for a long time to cleanse their politik and ensure a bright future for their people.

What I suppose is that Fascism and Ethnic Cleansing are the stated goals of the Kremlin, their military and many of their people. The idea has just been sold under a centuries long buildup of lies. The only way Russia wins this completely is by changing hearts and minds. They have time and time again proved that they will accomplish this goal by wiping out entire towns of civilians, invading sovereign land, deporting natives and importing russians, then holding referendums at gun point.

Each step of the way, the threads of wool the Kremlin attempts to pull over our eyes have been transparent. Clear as day to all those who take a moment to analyse further than surface level rhetoric and shit flinging.

In Russia’s eyes, in their supporters eyes, Russia can do no wrong so long as Ukraine is worse. So Ukraine is painted as worse. When even Chinese diplomats call for an end to Russian aggression and the cleansing of Ukraine, when even China can say Russia has defiled internationally recognised borders; you don’t have to look far to see that Russia is projecting false accusations on Ukraine to remain “Clean” at home.

To add on to the Nazis in culture bit: John A. Macdonald slaughtered natives, initiated residential schools, Eisenhower supported fascist ideas, Churchill slaughtered Bangladeshis through inaction. We still name places for these people. We still remember their nation building. As time goes on and we become a more inclusive society we recognise the evils of their actions and slowly phase them out of the limelight. We have peace and security. We have the time to find new heroes. New stories and new dreams.

When has Ukraine been afforded the liberty to come together as a nation and lay down arms? For nations as burdened as Ukraine, Palestine, Afghanistan, often times the only heroes who exist are people who have had to do horrible things to make sure their country still exists tomorrow. When the fighting is done, when the swords are sheathed we can sit around and have philosophers build nations. Until such a time as Russia leaves Ukraine alone, they do not have the liberty to name Philosophers as heroes. History is always messy and it is the job of future generations, when the wars are over, to correct record for all to see.

TL;DR: If Russia left Ukraine alone for 10 fucking minutes maybe they could work on correcting the internal politics of their nation that has been struggling to survive thanks to Russian aggression.

Source?

I literally said it did happen. It was literally a people’s revolution that saw the end of a russian puppet taking power illegally and the rise of a people tired of being under the boot?

Do I deny NATO or US involvement? No. That would be naive and counter to historical fact. It would actually almost be as naive as believing the kremlin propaganda points you spew out.

Ukrainians tired of being sold out by their politicians changed the course of power in their nation and in return Russia invaded Crimea. This is fact. With or without US aid. This is fact. The will for change was there. This is fact. Russia openly and brazenly defrauded the Ukrainian election. This is fact.

Prove to me that Nazis took over the entire Ukrainian government. Show me the facts.

It was an organised people’s revolution last I recall. There was clear evidence of fraud working directly opposite of the will of the people. That is fact. Unless you’re saying that’s not accepted fact and can provide evidence to the contrary?

Sorry, when was the last fair election in Ruzzia again?

Who was it that backed the totalitarian ruler that was overthrown by the people of Ukraine?

I may be wrong but I think it may be more pedantic to argue that the incorrect pronunciation of a common phrase should be accepted due to pedantry is more pedantic?

/pedantry