Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5

It feels like I’m repeating myself like a broken record, but someone has to speak the truth regarding Ukrainians and Russians.

"When Stalin seized power in the USSR, life under his regime in Soviet Ukraine became even more brutal. In 1930, Stalinists began the forced deportation of peasants and their violent coercion into collective farms.[21] A particularly horrific chapter was the man-made famine of 1932 and 1933. By seizing harvests based on impossible production quotas—and through the brutal punishment of any farmers caught hiding food just to stay alive—the authorities drove the population to mass starvation. This tragedy is known today as the Holodomor. Through this calculated starvation in 1932 and 1933, the Soviet regime murdered millions of innocent Ukrainians. The systematic persecution and destruction of the Ukrainian people went so deep that the Soviet authorities intentionally purged the Ukrainian intelligentsia and clergy to stifle any chance of Ukrainian development within the USSR.[21] For decades, this crime was swept under the rug. It wasn't until 1988 that it was finally recognized as genocide.[21]

Hitler's conquest of Ukraine provided a momentary reprieve from Soviet oppression, but it simply swapped one predator for another: Hitler promised those very same fertile plains for his own Lebensraum. Naturally, the new occupiers treated Ukrainians with the same contempt, which fueled the rise of partisan movements across the land. But to the Soviet regime, Ukrainians who were deemed "politically dangerous" or "unreliable" became even more suspect "because they didn't fight hard enough for the USSR"—essentially, if you didn't die for the Soviet Union, you were branded a traitor to the state, the people, and the revolution. Any Ukrainians who survived Nazi persecution and fled to Soviet-controlled territory were viewed with immediate suspicion. On the flip side, the USSR would mindlessly throw massive numbers of people into the front lines during its "liberation" campaigns. They systematically formed "fronts" composed of Ukrainians, meaning Ukrainians suffered disproportionately high casualties both while defending against German advances and during subsequent offensive operations where they were once again shoved into the vanguard.[22] Even those Ukrainian POWs and forced laborers who managed to survive German camps and factories weren't welcomed back with open arms in the USSR; they were viewed as "unreliable" because they hadn't died for the cause or had supposedly "worked for the enemy." When you look at the total wartime and postwar casualties in the Soviet Union, Ukrainians accounted for at least 40 percent. A comparison of official census data from 1941 and 1945 reveals the sheer scale of the devastation: due to unnatural deaths, migrations, and forced deportations, the population in Ukraine plummeted from 41.9 million to just 27.4 million.
"

Some smart-ass is going to argue now that it wasn't the Russians who oppressed them, but the Soviet Union... but that's like making a distinction between the government and the people in a centralized regime. They held all the levers of power and used them ruthlessly to dismantle an entire nation.

Joshua Wilson17 said:Fair enough. Look, there are things that can be done about it.
Regarding scheduling: most people work a standard 9-to-5. We could stagger industrial and business hours so energy consumption is spread evenly throughout the day. Right now, massive amounts of energy produced overnight are simply wasted.
As for restrictions: since people tend to look out for themselves rather than the common good, we could limit energy access during peak hours for consumers who aren't vital to the economy.
Then there's restarting certain power plants based on political willpower. There are dozens of nuclear and thermal plants closed across Europe. If they were running, we wouldn't need to import nearly as much of that famous gas and oil. But, of course, it’s easier to just import from Russia; they don't care about pollution, and people don't seem to ask questions.
Investing in renewables to replace imported fuels.
And investing in new tech to lower consumption and replace critical imports like rare earth metals. We already see examples, like cars equipped with solar panels that top up the battery. An average driver with a car like that would rarely need to plug in. We also have hydrogen-powered cars, heavy machinery, and trucks ready to go. With the right policy support, these technologies would scale quickly and replace the old stuff.
If there's any will, there's a way. It doesn't even have to result in job losses; in fact, these new technologies could create hundreds of thousands of new jobs across Europe...

Of course they can.

The single greatest absurdity in the history of Ukraine kicked off on June 22, 1941.
To any historian worth their salt, this is known as the German invasion of the Soviet Union, or Operation "Barbarossa."
If you want to understand just how unnaturally cruel that satrapic communist system was toward Ukrainians, look no further than the fact that many actually welcomed the Germans as liberators.
Of course, they ended up paying a devastating price for that hope later on, rotting away in various Gulags across Siberia.
To make the tragedy even more profound... after enduring the Holodomor, the slaughter on the battlefields, and the endless carnage, they were still met with years of agony in the camps.
So, when we ask ourselves why Ukrainians fight against Russian soldiers with such fierce, unrelenting heart, isn't the answer obvious?
It’s etched into their very blood and DNA!

Gerald Torres84 said:That is precisely what I have been saying. If Russia were to unite with Europe, the combined force of the entire European Union plus Russia would become a massive counterweight to the Americans, the Britons, and the Chinese. And that is simply unacceptable to those powers.
There is just one major issue regarding the Russians. They lack a visionary leader of that caliber. Instead, they are constantly led by autocrats and dictators, and they consistently choose them.

I honestly can't wrap my head around how an EU-Russia union would even work on the ground. Most of the core values that define the EU are viewed as a sickness in Russia, and vice versa. You have liberalism on one side clashing against military dictatorship and deep conservatism on the other; isn't it obvious there's no way such a union could function when you're dealing with two sides of the world that are fundamentally, deeply incompatible?

Roger Fowler said:I honestly can't wrap my head around how an EU-Russia union would even work on the ground. Most of the core values that define the EU are viewed as a sickness in Russia, and vice versa. You have liberalism on one side clashing against military dictatorship and deep conservatism on the other; isn't it obvious there's no way such a union could function when you're dealing with two sides of the world that are fundamentally, deeply incompatible?

It wouldn't happen. Why? Because Russians simply aren't capable of functioning within any alliance where they don't see themselves as the absolute center of the universe, standing above everyone else.

lp

Bryan Booth82 said:It wouldn't happen. Why? Because Russians simply aren't capable of functioning within any alliance where they don't see themselves as the absolute center of the universe, standing above everyone else.

lp

That’s spot on, though even if it weren't, I can't help but wonder how a speech by Greta Thunberg would actually go down in Moscow if she were there lecturing them about pollution? I have a feeling half the room filled with Russian officials and their satellite allies would simply die laughing. It's a cliché example, sure, but an interesting one nonetheless. 😁

I was just looking at the numbers, and it’s striking how much territory we're talking about here. The entire Donbas region covers roughly 53,000 square miles, which is almost exactly the size of the state of Mississippi. Back when things were stable, the population in the Donbas was around 6 million people. But once you factor in the occupation of all of Kherson, most of Zaporizhzhia, and parts of Kharkiv, the total land area being contested actually exceeds the size of a state like Texas.

Roger Fowler said:That’s spot on, though even if it weren't, I can't help but wonder how a speech by Greta Thunberg would actually go down in Moscow if she were there lecturing them about pollution? I have a feeling half the room filled with Russian officials and their satellite allies would simply die laughing. It's a cliché example, sure, but an interesting one nonetheless. 😁

Regarding that point: if you set aside the sudden, aggressive surge in repression that Putin has been cranking up ever since the invasion of Ukraine began, Russia doesn't actually differ much from other post-communist states on this issue. They’re just sitting at the very bottom of the ladder.
Tolerance toward others and differing ideologies isn't an innate trait—it's something that has to be taught, both for individuals and for entire societies.

These are inevitable social processes. While the general trend tends to move toward progress, the process itself isn't always a straight line upward.
With the Russians, we've seen stagnation for a long time now, which is honestly for the best. In a few years, they'll be looking from Moscow toward Kyiv... much like how we used to look from Chicago toward Vienna. 🤔🤔
Of course, there will always be those who would rather look toward Mexico City... 🤣

Best,

Donna Wells2 said:The single greatest absurdity in the history of Ukraine kicked off on June 22, 1941.
To any historian worth their salt, this is known as the German invasion of the Soviet Union, or Operation "Barbarossa."
If you want to understand just how unnaturally cruel that satrapic communist system was toward Ukrainians, look no further than the fact that many actually welcomed the Germans as liberators.
Of course, they ended up paying a devastating price for that hope later on, rotting away in various Gulags across Siberia.
To make the tragedy even more profound... after enduring the Holodomor, the slaughter on the battlefields, and the endless carnage, they were still met with years of agony in the camps.
So, when we ask ourselves why Ukrainians fight against Russian soldiers with such fierce, unrelenting heart, isn't the answer obvious?
It’s etched into their very blood and DNA!

👍

Paul Flores13 said:I was just looking at the numbers, and it’s striking how much territory we're talking about here. The entire Donbas region covers roughly 53,000 square miles, which is almost exactly the size of the state of Mississippi. Back when things were stable, the population in the Donbas was around 6 million people. But once you factor in the occupation of all of Kherson, most of Zaporizhzhia, and parts of Kharkiv, the total land area being contested actually exceeds the size of a state like Texas.

That territory offers zero utility while the fighting is still active. Under wartime conditions, that land is nothing more than a massive drain on Russia's resources.

Russia needs to secure a decisive military advantage within those borders to actually force a peace agreement that ends the conflict. But they aren't making any headway.

So, it’s all just a heavy lift for Russia. They're holding onto scorched earth—no people, no economy, just ruins...

Joshua Bishop3 said:If you’re actually following this whole war between Ukraine and Russia, you seriously need to watch this:

There's this Finnish Intelligence Colonel who has spent his entire life studying Russia—their mindset, how they operate, all of it—and he's laying it all out in this video.

The video is in Finnish, so just make sure to hit the CC button for subtitles, but man, it is absolutely worth your time.

Honestly, it kind of blew my mind because I’ve talked to Russians online before and always figured we were basically on the same page as Europeans, you know? Like, we share the same core values and think along similar lines. Turns out, that’s just not true at all. The way they process things and act... it's just completely different from us. They’re foreign to us, having a totally different mindset, almost like how we view the Chinese, but everyone expects that level of difference with China. This was a massive wake-up call for me, and suddenly a lot of things are clicking into place—from their behavior in this current war to some other weird interactions I've had with Russians in the past.

He explains it perfectly: in the Russian mentality, lying is perfectly acceptable as long as you're doing it for the sake of your group, and if you do, you don't lose any respect within that circle. Just look at what Lavrov was doing right when the war kicked off. You could even draw some parallels to our neighbors over in the North America... because it feels like they live in their own parallel reality sometimes. And even in this conflict, they seem much more aligned with Russia and their specific values than with the West.

That’s accurate. I actually looked into the family trees of Colin Powell and Tony Blair. It turns out Powell has Russian blood because one of his great-grandmothers ended up with a Russian man who stayed in Alaska after the territory was sold to the Americans. As for Blair, it was discovered that a Russian diplomat at the English court added that gene to his lineage.

Paul Flores13 said:I was just looking at the numbers, and it’s striking how much territory we're talking about here. The entire Donbas region covers roughly 53,000 square miles, which is almost exactly the size of the state of Mississippi. Back when things were stable, the population in the Donbas was around 6 million people. But once you factor in the occupation of all of Kherson, most of Zaporizhzhia, and parts of Kharkiv, the total land area being contested actually exceeds the size of a state like Texas.

A high-ranking official from JPMorgan Chase mentioned the other day that sanctions are going to set Russia back by a decade.
When you layer that on top of the actual costs of the war and the massive loss of revenue from selling natural resources to the EU—which accounted for over 50% of their budget—the math starts getting ugly.
If you add it all up... they are staring down years of starvation and crushing poverty. It makes me wonder: what does "securing" the Donbas actually mean to an average Russian citizen if they can't even afford bread?
The October Revolution will look like a minor hiccup compared to the catastrophe heading their way.

Donna Wells2 said:The single greatest absurdity in the history of Ukraine kicked off on June 22, 1941.
To any historian worth their salt, this is known as the German invasion of the Soviet Union, or Operation "Barbarossa."
If you want to understand just how unnaturally cruel that satrapic communist system was toward Ukrainians, look no further than the fact that many actually welcomed the Germans as liberators.
Of course, they ended up paying a devastating price for that hope later on, rotting away in various Gulags across Siberia.
To make the tragedy even more profound... after enduring the Holodomor, the slaughter on the battlefields, and the endless carnage, they were still met with years of agony in the camps.
So, when we ask ourselves why Ukrainians fight against Russian soldiers with such fierce, unrelenting heart, isn't the answer obvious?
It’s etched into their very blood and DNA!

If they lose this war, they're looking at the exact same scenario.

Roger Fowler said:That’s spot on, though even if it weren't, I can't help but wonder how a speech by Greta Thunberg would actually go down in Moscow if she were there lecturing them about pollution? I have a feeling half the room filled with Russian officials and their satellite allies would simply die laughing. It's a cliché example, sure, but an interesting one nonetheless. 😁

I wonder where they even found her; the whole world seems to be making fun of her and her sponsors at this point.

James Phillips92 said:I wonder where they even found her; the whole world seems to be making fun of her and her sponsors at this point.

That’s just how democracy works, isn't it—everyone gets their say and fights for their own little slice of the pie? I could just as easily have brought up LGBTQ rights, which, if you look at Russia, are treated as a sickness even in 2022, leaving people with absolutely no standing. We aren't talking about economics here; we're talking about fundamental human rights. Honestly, Russia and the EU might as well be living on different planets. Aside from being Homo sapiens, what else do we actually have in common? That's pretty much where the connection ends. There isn't even a theoretical chance of any kind of union between the EU and Russia ever taking flight, mostly because, from an American perspective, Russians just seem far too backward and unrefined for that sort of thing.

Roger Fowler said:That’s just how democracy works, isn't it—everyone gets their say and fights for their own little slice of the pie? I could just as easily have brought up LGBTQ rights, which, if you look at Russia, are treated as a sickness even in 2022, leaving people with absolutely no standing. We aren't talking about economics here; we're talking about fundamental human rights. Honestly, Russia and the EU might as well be living on different planets. Aside from being Homo sapiens, what else do we actually have in common? That's pretty much where the connection ends. There isn't even a theoretical chance of any kind of union between the EU and Russia ever taking flight, mostly because, from an American perspective, Russians just seem far too backward and unrefined for that sort of thing.

They’d eventually civilize, I suppose. They have that same stubborn defiance you see in Mexicans, yet all their oligarchs anchor their yachts in the West, keep their villas in the West, and most importantly... send their kids to school in the West.
The whole Eastern European region has historically lagged behind the West; some have caught up, while others are still trailing. But no matter how much they resist, if you ask them why they won't join, they just stare at you like you've lost your mind (take the Americans in Poland, for example).
The real issue with Russians is this massive superiority complex that nobody else in the East seems to possess to that degree. They don't view the EU as an equal; instead, they act like they should be the ones managing what they perceive to be the "manager" of the US and Europe. The reality is the exact opposite, which creates an unbridgeable gap.
That’s why they’re currently gathering up the former Soviet states and looking toward India; even Putin is bringing up Africa. They target the weaker players, both politically and culturally—and despite India's massive capacity, it remains a culturally problematic place dealing with foundational issues like basic hygiene.

Seriously, all we ever talk about is how we’re gonna go broke just trying to drive to the grocery store because fuel prices are insane. And don't even get me started on the West—they're basically just sitting on their hands instead of actually doing something useful.

Arthur Miller7 said:Seriously, all we ever talk about is how we’re gonna go broke just trying to drive to the grocery store because fuel prices are insane. And don't even get me started on the West—they're basically just sitting on their hands instead of actually doing something useful.

Ever since I can remember, I haven't seen this many tourists flooding the area since early June. It is absolutely packed!

George Robinson43 said:Ever since I can remember, I haven't seen this many tourists flooding the area since early June. It is absolutely packed!

It’s not just in America—people are traveling everywhere right now. Airports are a total mess because they're short-staffed, yet the passenger numbers are basically back to pre-pandemic levels. And don't even get me started on hotel prices; they've gone through the roof. My buddy works at a travel agency, and he says renting a car in the US is hitting over $150 a day lately... and you have to book way ahead of time just to get anything.

Donna Wells2 said:It feels like I’m repeating myself like a broken record, but someone has to speak the truth regarding Ukrainians and Russians.

"When Stalin seized power in the USSR, life under his regime in Soviet Ukraine became even more brutal. In 1930, Stalinists began the forced deportation of peasants and their violent coercion into collective farms.[21] A particularly horrific chapter was the man-made famine of 1932 and 1933. By seizing harvests based on impossible production quotas—and through the brutal punishment of any farmers caught hiding food just to stay alive—the authorities drove the population to mass starvation. This tragedy is known today as the Holodomor. Through this calculated starvation in 1932 and 1933, the Soviet regime murdered millions of innocent Ukrainians. The systematic persecution and destruction of the Ukrainian people went so deep that the Soviet authorities intentionally purged the Ukrainian intelligentsia and clergy to stifle any chance of Ukrainian development within the USSR.[21] For decades, this crime was swept under the rug. It wasn't until 1988 that it was finally recognized as genocide.[21]

Hitler's conquest of Ukraine provided a momentary reprieve from Soviet oppression, but it simply swapped one predator for another: Hitler promised those very same fertile plains for his own Lebensraum. Naturally, the new occupiers treated Ukrainians with the same contempt, which fueled the rise of partisan movements across the land. But to the Soviet regime, Ukrainians who were deemed "politically dangerous" or "unreliable" became even more suspect "because they didn't fight hard enough for the USSR"—essentially, if you didn't die for the Soviet Union, you were branded a traitor to the state, the people, and the revolution. Any Ukrainians who survived Nazi persecution and fled to Soviet-controlled territory were viewed with immediate suspicion. On the flip side, the USSR would mindlessly throw massive numbers of people into the front lines during its "liberation" campaigns. They systematically formed "fronts" composed of Ukrainians, meaning Ukrainians suffered disproportionately high casualties both while defending against German advances and during subsequent offensive operations where they were once again shoved into the vanguard.[22] Even those Ukrainian POWs and forced laborers who managed to survive German camps and factories weren't welcomed back with open arms in the USSR; they were viewed as "unreliable" because they hadn't died for the cause or had supposedly "worked for the enemy." When you look at the total wartime and postwar casualties in the Soviet Union, Ukrainians accounted for at least 40 percent. A comparison of official census data from 1941 and 1945 reveals the sheer scale of the devastation: due to unnatural deaths, migrations, and forced deportations, the population in Ukraine plummeted from 41.9 million to just 27.4 million.
"

Some smart-ass is going to argue now that it wasn't the Russians who oppressed them, but the Soviet Union... but that's like making a distinction between the government and the people in a centralized regime. They held all the levers of power and used them ruthlessly to dismantle an entire nation.

It appears I fall into that category of "wise guys," because I’m going to maintain that the very concept of communism was inherently anational. A massive collection of communists, secret police, prison guards, and low-level thugs—many of whom were of Jewish, Georgian, Ukrainian, Armenian, and so on, descent—held the reins, while the Russian ethnicity itself still lacks any distinct entity within the Russian Federation today.🙄
P.S. Glory to Ukraine!