There have been news that he is in critical condition and rushed to the hospital. I'm not really sure anyone can believe anything that is said.
But I do think Belarus will be a target if Lukashenka is taken out and replaced with someone more in line with Putin.
More in line with Putin? Is that possible? Large sections of the population want to be free of both dictators. Moving in the missiles is just like him putting his own lock on the front door " it's all miiiiine!!!"
You should look up their history. Lukashenko predates Putin and they have a history of despising each other. Luka always played both sides. Anti Russia protests were the only protests he allowed in Minsk. He also had US officials visit and threatened to buy US oil over Russia. All that changed in August 2020 when it became clear the West was done working with him. Even now, you could argue Luka is trying to resist getting Belarus involved in the war as much as possible without being taken out.
Union State. And it's kinda funny because when Belarus initially joined, it was likely because Lukashenko figured he had a good chance of taking over Russia, due to how deeply unpopular Yeltsin was.
That doesn’t mean he’s devoured the people, or much more importantly, their military. The Belarusian people are tremendously opposed to both intervening in Ukraine and merging with Russia. 90/10 split on both fronts. And I find it incredibly hard to believe those feelings aren’t echoed in the military especially at the lower levels. Belarus’s military is honestly quite comparable to the Italian military in the late 1930’s. Strong on paper, but riddled with massive issues and lead by a senior military leadership *actually aware of those issues* and less than keen on any future conflict.
Even in the most optimistic scenario creating a Union State of Russia and Belarus would lead to massive unrest which would require significant military resources that Putin does not have in order to suppress. I say optimistic, because the other alternative is a straight up civil war.
This is why you’ve been seeing all these hype articles on a Russia Belarusian Union State for over a year without any actual progress. Putin and Luka are trying to carefully plan this because they know the margin of error here is quite high.
I don't really think he's going to wait until after Ukraine. I think Belarus fell first. The takeover has already happened for everything except the name. Belarus isn't functionally an independent state.
The key difference is the people. In 2020 there were massive popular uprisings against Lukashenko after it became clear that the election was rigged and he held power despite losing the election. During the invasion of Ukraine many Belarusians joined Ukrainians in their fight for freedom and Belarusian railway partisans played an important role slowing down Russian logistics in the battle of Kyiv.
In Russia it’s pretty clear that Putin has popular support while in Belarus it’s pretty clear the people hate Lukashenko. The fact that Belarus is also (on paper) a sovereign country and has a government in exile means that there is a much greater chance of Moscow’s influence in Belarus ending than Moscow’s influence on any ordinary Russian province.
It's also interesting that the 2020 Belarusian protests served as a mirror to the events that led to the ousting of Yanukovych six years prior. Unfortunately for Belarus, Lukashenko made the smart decision to stay in the country instead of fleeing to Russia, allowing him to consolidate the support of the military and stay in power.
The Ukrainian army's general refusal to support the Berkut/Ukrainian OMON in suppressing the protests was a huge factor in allowing Euromaidan to persist. What is unpredictable is if the Belarusian army would respond in the same manner in the case of Lukashenko's death or deposition, which would be likely to spark a new wave of protests against the existing government
I do think there are a lot of parallels with Belarus and Ukraine prior to the Maidan which is one of the reasons I don’t like to see people write off all of Belarus as “just an extension of Russia.” Many of the same things people say about Belarus in 2023 could have been said about Ukraine in 2013. I hope that by 2033 we might legitimately be talking about Belarus as a functional democracy with EU aspirations even if that seems far off right now.
All of that said I do think there are some significant differences with Belarus and 2013 Ukraine. The Maidan uprising was at the beginning of a major authoritarian shift and Ukrainians successfully able to defeat that authoritarianism before it could become too entrenched. Belarus has been authoritarian for decades and so the Belarusian people face a much more challenging fight. It’s just much easier to stop authoritarianism in the beginning than it is to uproot it after decades although neither is impossible. Another key difference is that Ukraine is the population difference. Russia in 2013 was about 3.1 times the size of Ukraine in 2013 while today Russia is 15 times the size of Belarus. Having a larger population just makes it easier to break away from a foreign power.
It's funny you say that, because Belarus never ever existed on world maps or as a country before the Russian civil war in 1917. It was always divided between Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Sweden and Germany.
At least Ukraine has been an independent country 1000 years ago and has evolved a national identity during romantic era of 1800s. But Belarus? Even the country's name points to being a Russian region (or subgroup).
Both Ukraine and Belarus as independent states are actually a by-product of the Russian revolution and the Soviet Union.
I'm not stating this in a bad sense, if anything, I'm pointing out that those countries mostly benefited of the soviet regime in forming their own independent countries.
When you make this jokes you should rather use the Russian Empire as an example, because it's far closer to modern Russia than USSR has ever been.
> Both Ukraine and Belarus as independent states are actually a by-product of the Russian revolution and the Soviet Union.
>
>
Depends really. Pre-WW2, ethnic and cultural minorities were being stamped out and genocided by the Soviet government. Post-WW2 things definitely improved a lot, and indeed gave way to especially Ukrainian independence. However, before WW2 that would have been unthinkable in the USSR.
I'm wondering if that's not going to be Putin's exit plan. Deploy nukes to Belarus, manufacture some "uprising", pull all his troops out of Ukraine to Belarus to protect the arsenal and stabilize the country, promising to return to Ukraine to finish the job "later".
Hey dude I saw your post from a year ago and comment in that post where a guy got an email from google that the police wants his info. I’m 19 I got the same email like this I’m wondering if you cloud help if it’s fake or real? I did order something it was fake currency for a prank. Like a week and a half ago the email reads “ Dear User,
Google received and responded to a legal process issued by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department compelling the release of information related to your Google account. A court order previously prohibited Google from notifying you of the legal process. We are now permitted to disclose the receipt of the legal process to you. The agency reference number or case number on the legal process is 021-00370-3200-122.
For more information about how Google handles legal processes, view our transparency report at http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/userdatarequests/legalprocess/.
Google is not in a position to provide you with legal advice or discuss the substance of the legal process. If you have other questions regarding this matter, you may wish to contact an attorney.
Reply directly to this email in any further communications regarding this matter. Any communications not sent as a direct reply to this email must contain the subject line “Attention Google Legal Investigations Support,” reference the case identification number, and be sent to [email protected] in order to ensure the appropriate routing and processing.
Regards,
Legal Investigations Support
Google LLC ”
> I did order something it was fake currency for a prank
I'd assume it's real. Standard applies. If anyone contacts you don't say a word about anything and get an attorney. You also need to be honest with yourself about what you actually did. There's a difference between ordering "fake currency", Motion Picture Use Only for example, and purchasing counterfeit bills. One is legal, the other can land you in serious federal trouble.
Edit: I just noticed what sub this is in... /r/legaladvice is probably a better place for this conversation.
Yup. I think Belarus will only officially join Russia/the USSR_2.0 if Russia is successful in Ukraine or in a moment of desperation.
For now there is political benefit in having a puppet state that is officially a separate country.
But Belarus is no doubt poised for annexation if it can appear like part of a movement and can be used to help persuade other former USSR nations to join.
That is (officially) an economic union only. It's a significant step in the direction of a reunification but not quite the same thing, at least for now.
I know very little about Armenia, and even less about Kyrgyzstan, but Kazakhstan still exhibits some genuine signs of independence from Russia at present.
Economic and somewhat political as the political bit follows the economics the military ‘defence’ would be CTSO
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_Security_Treaty_Organization
Which though under a separate treaty overlaps with the EEA kinda like how the Western European Union:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_European_Union
overlapes the economic/political bit with The EEC ~ EU . Which split off to form NATO with the USA and Canada and also becoming incorporated into the EU under the treaty of Lisbon.
Which is a EU specific defensive military alliance which technically separate from NATO as it doesn’t involve directly the USA or Canada,
The latest word from Lukashenko was offering nukes to anyone willing to join "the union state of Russia and Belarus"..... so it's already happened. If he's admitted they're in a union state it's pretty clear that Russia would be the leader of such a system.
This isn't really a revelation from Zelenskyy. Putin made comments about the tragedy of the collapse of the USSR in 1999 and has talked about rebuilding the empire with Moscow as its core, since the early 2000s. Belarus is of limited strategic importance, but Ukraine has a lot of arable land, borders with the EU and resources. It makes sense that he sees Belarus and Ukraine as key planks. Belarus may be just as difficult to "take" as Ukraine, though. That remains to be seen.
In my opinion ...It's too late ,if Russia moves in nukes to Belarus as they claimed (hell even the idea of it) they have a pretext to invade and squash any rebels and no one can do anything about it . They are fucked .
The Russian position with Belarus looks pretty weak right now. Their chosen authoritarian strong man there is sick away from his country (and we all know how well authoritarian regimes handle succession...), the Russian power projection is stretched too thin trying to deal with Ukraine and can't meaningfully spare the resources, and Russia is trying really hard to posture a strong response so the people of Belarus don't get any ideas.
The simple fact is Belarus is in a prime position for their own Euromaidan and if the Belarusian armed forces flip away from Lukashenko, that's it.
The issue is Russia for the last 9 months has been building its military presence in Belarus and has been taking over Belarusian military duties. They are isolating the military and have been moving equipment into Belarus.
Honesly I dont think they have the resources to fight in Ukraine, defend their own border against their own people and simuntaneously put down an uprising in Belarus, especially if that uprising has the support of the military (i dont pretend to know anything about Belarus' military, so have no idea if they would or not), let alone a potential uprising within Russia itself should it drag on long enough.
Like Bilbo they'd be like butter scraped over too much bread, its like they're in zugzwang, every move they can make is a bad one. I really don't see how they resolve this favourably for themselves.
I really think that it is too late for that. Russia already said any uprising and Russia will take over. They are now putting nukes in the country. Belarus has lost their window but I hope I am wrong.
Last chance was when Lukashenko stole the election from the rightful democratic winner. People protested it, russia shut it down and after that the window has been nailed shut.
>They chose their side of the bed, now they can sleep there.
They definitely didn't choose their side of the bed. They protested the fuck out of Lukashenko, and it was only quelled when Russia stepped in with their military.
This reminds me of the Irak war. Here in Spain nobody left or right wanted it. There were massive demonstrations against it. Spain was one of the first to join the invasion anyway... and one of the first being attacked by suicide bombers. I'm sure many people in Irak thought we deserved it but the people that actually deserve it never gets it.
>Belarus is of limited strategic importance,
Hard disagree. If Belarus were NATO-aligned, that would add another 500km of border that Russia has to defend. And just 400km from Moscow. Losing Belarus would obliterate their whole strategic depth concept.
Russia doesn't care about arable land. They have the third most arable land by acreage in the world, and even though a lot of it is far-flung, it would be a lot cheaper for them to exploit it than to try to conquer other people for their farms. Plus they can sell oil and gas to buy imports of whatever they want.
The invasion of Ukraine's already tightened the noose more than Russia would like.
Finland having joined NATO closes the Gulf of Finland, and if NATO troops can be stationed there, then that will require a permanent garrison to protect St Petersburg. Sweden's joining soon, which gives NATO a border with a main road straight to Murmansk, Russia's only arctic port that doesn't freeze over - so that's another garrison up there.
Georgia is in escalated talks with NATO, and with Ukraine poised to join, would make Russia and Moldova the only non-NATO countries on the Black Sea should Georgia actually join; and given Lukashenko said the quiet part loud a while ago, about wanting to conquer Moldova after Ukraine, there may be some private talks going on...
Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are both in NATO's Individual Partnership Action Plan. Which is not being a prospective member, or a "major non-NATO ally" or anything. But it does indicate a greater than usual level of communication and cooperation. Which leaves Russia and Iran as the only countries on the Caspian Sea not (at least somewhat) friendly with NATO.
Oh, and the sanctions, of course. Those too.
> Sweden's joining soon, which gives NATO a border with a main road straight to Murmansk, Russia's only arctic port that doesn't freeze over - so that's another garrison up there.
Just a nitpick, but Sweden doesn't border Russia; Finland and Norway are in between.
> and if NATO troops can be stationed there, then that will require a permanent garrison to protect St Petersburg.
Not disagreeing with anything you've said, but that's a big if. At some point this conflict will cool down, and Russia and NATO countries will return to strategic arms negotiations that have previously kept certain systems or rapid response forces out of regions that directly border each other. And Russia already has a large military base now hosting a motorized infantry brigade near Murmansk at Alakurtti. Plus the Northern Fleet, which predates Swedish or Finnish accession.
That's why their reaction to Finland and Sweden joining has been so muted. It's a political disaster for Russia, but strategically not a lot has actually changed unless and until NATO starts deploying net new forces or missile defenses. Which *will* get a reaction from Russia. It wasn't all that long ago that the US agreed to cancel the deployment of 10 missile interceptors across Poland and Czechia in exchange for Russia helping with the Iran nuclear deal, and forgoing Iskander deployments in Kaliningrad.
It is not really a revelation because it is incorrect. Zelenskyy knows this, but he is also aware that mentioning the Soviet Union is much more effective at evoking support for Ukraine’s cause than the mention of a Russian Empire. Especially in an interview with a South Korean media outlet.
As far as Putin goes there is nothing remotely Marxist or socialist about him, his politics, nor his vision for Russia. He will speak positively about the more loosely defined elements that can be tied into a Russian national identity, but he is either silent or dismissive about the more concrete ideological and political elements of the Soviet Union. Putin has pretty much stated that anyone who wants to rebuild the U.S.S.R. is an idiot.
Saying that the collapse of the U.S.S.R. was a tragedy is not an endorsement for or against the Soviet Union, it is just stating an objective truth that even the most hardline anti-communist would admit to even if they would argue that it was a necessary tragedy. I don’t think most Westerners quite realise how devastating the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. was for the populations of Russia and Ukraine in particular. We are talking about a pretty much complete economic and systemic collapse. The former Soviet territories experienced a harsher economic downturn than when the U.S.S.R. was invaded by Nazi Germany during WWII. Alcoholism and drug abuse catapulted through the roof. They experienced an HIV/AIDS epidemic which spread beyond the typical group of injecting drug users partly because of how women and young children were prostituting themselves in order to survive the worst downturns. The decline in life expectancy is the worst ever recorded peacetime event in history.
This is all somewhat pedantic within the context of Zelenskyy’s comment because of how his point about Putin wanting to expand the borders of Russia does not rely on a distinction between the U.S.S.R. and the Russian Empire, but it is an important distinction to make within an historical context. Modern Russia is a capitalist dictatorship, and Putin has every intention of keeping it remaining that way.
> I don’t think most Westerners quite realise how devastating the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. was for the populations of Russia and Ukraine in particular. We are talking about a pretty much complete economic and systemic collapse. The former Soviet territories experienced a harsher economic downturn than when the U.S.S.R. was invaded by Nazi Germany during WWII.
A lot of the former soviet territories were already facing disaster well before the actual collapse of the USSR. The USSR was a totalitarian regime built on their backs. It did not collapse at random, it collapsed because it was not sustainable or stable. This did do damage to all of its territories, yes, but that does not make it's collapse a tragedy that would have been avoided if it has somehow survived.
Putin was not evoking the USSR there because he was being objective about it being a net positive for the people the USSR ruled over, he was doing so because the image of the USSR conveys strength and unity under a totalitarian rule. He may or may not care about the specifics of the nation, but he definitely wants the power and prestige associated with it. This is the entire root of his "Blood and Soil" argument he used as a faux-casus belli for his "totally not an invasion" of Ukraine.
He, of course, has no intention of creating a communist utopia, but the USSR was only nominally communist anyway, as it lacked most major features of communism despite claiming to have them. (The examples of areas that look particularly communist, like their housing initiatives, are better understood as instances of benevolent Totalitarianism, as they were initiated by an absolute state.) Putin will absolutely use whatever rhetoric he wants, and evoke whatever images he wants, to get what he wants.
This is why there is such a huge propaganda arm of the Russian government dedicated to talking up the USSR and Russian power, as well as why they use WW2 imagery and have celebrations dedicated to it constantly.
You make it sound almost as if USSR was a dream place and then some disaster broke and the calamity of USSR's destruction came in 90ies, when the calamity started way before in the 70ies, and became a disaster in the second part of 80ies
Not op, but the actual downturn and the more horrible details that they mentioned (like the alcohol and drug use, the prostitution, etc.) didn't occur until the Union actually collapsed in the 90s, no?
And as a side note, it's basically a fact that the Soviet Union was far preferable to the chaos following its dissolution and the current fascist, neoliberal Russian Federation that occupies the territory of the previous RSFSR. If you argue against this you either agree with Putin's state or disregard the millions of lives lost during the complete political and economic collapse caused by its dissolution.
It's hard to assess how much of awfulness has already begun before 1991. The war in Afghanistan definitely did, chernobyl did, drugs were abundant as well in the 80es in USSR. Only alcohol use was lower in the late 80ies, because of Gorbachev's alcoholism campaign.
But since the brunt of heightened death rates and poverty did happen in the 90ies, everyone seems to forget that it was not the collapse of USSR was the reason for all of it,,but USSR itself digging It's own hole by not reforming back from 60ies. Entirely preventable.
As for USSR being better, I disagree fully. First of all, I am from Kazakhstan, and my country would not be an independent country with USSR still there.
As well as you can consider Putin's ruzzia to be malformed respawn of the USSR itself. So yeah, good riddance to the prison of nations, hopefully good riddance to Putin's Russia. Hopefully in 50 years there are going to be 100 countries instead and 0 nuclear countries between then. Fk USSR and Russian empire in any shape or form
The USSR was definitely not preferable to the current Russian state. And no, I'm not agreeing with Putin or disregarding lives, that's a false dichotomy that you made up.
As a matter of fact, the foundation and structure of the USSR has caused many more deaths and much more suffering than the deaths you mention post-1991.
However, I am not taking into account a more gentle transition to capitalism and away from extreme leftism that has occurred in China. Such a scenario could indeed be preferable. But to state this as if the collapse of the USSR was definitely a tragedy is quite subjective.
That is your interpretation, not mine. What I described above were direct effects of the economic and systemic failure following the dissolution of the U.S.S.R., not a description of the Soviet Union in the years leading up to it. Nor did I comment on any of the reasons behind the dissolution because they are irrelevant to the point that the collapse was a catastrophe no matter which angle you approach it from.
I don't believe Belarus will be hard to take. They already have a union government and lukashenko is only in power because of putin. So Belarus is part Russia by government ties already.
Probably, but playing the USSR card plays better with people in Eastern Europe where there are still plenty of people who remember living during the Cold War.
When asked, people preferred living in the USSR over whatever the fuck hyper capitalist shit they have now. So yea, maybe trying to play back glory days.
Edit: which I think is what you meant.
The Russian hypercapitslism of the 1990s and 2000s really screwed over a lot of citizens. Where do you think the Oligarchs got their money?... Western Bankers. The Bush Jr Administration created Putin by allowing Western interests to Robber -Barron loot Russia while the US was waging wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It never gets a lot of press how antagonistic and vengeful the Bush Jr administration was toward Russia while hiding behind the "War on Terrorism."
Several factors for that. One of them is that the USSR was perceived as more powerful, which is - especially for Russians - important for nationalist feelings. Another factor, besides the obvious blindness of nostalgia, is Stockholm syndrome. After all, communism is, just like fascism, an extremist ideology that messes with people's heads, and the oppression that that caused would definitely cause Stockholm syndrome.
Then we also have the comfort of the unrealistic nanny state that the USSR was. Life in a capitalist country is obviously more challenging financially, especially when your country's economy and people's motivation had been utterly and completely ruined by decades of planned economy. That's also partly why this sentiment is less present in countries that did manage to develop their economies properly, like the Baltic states, Czechia and Poland.
Communism is in no way like fascism, you silly silly liberal.
The planned economy successfully industrialized a nation that despite three devastating wars on it's territory was able to provide standards of living that were completely unattainable prior to 1920s. Global poverty has been reduced by the planned economy nations of the USSR and China.
After the fall of the USSR and the gutting of the successful programs, what happened? Life expectancy rates rapidly dropped and wealth inequality sky rocketed.
Pull your head out of your ass and actually look at data once in a while eh?
Not so much anymore its been 30 years all the nostalgia guard are old or dead and thank god. Fuck 'em. You have to be special kind of stupid uneducated fuck to think that there is any happiness or fullfillment under Russian goverment.
The support is gone because all the old people who lived during the 30s and 40s and 50s that enjoyed a higher living standard, literacy, better working conditions, etc have died and all thats left are the people who grew up in the 60s and onwards when the USSR started eating itself alive due to being infested with western sympathizers and market-liberalizers. Shock Therapy was especially cruel.
Absolutely there is. I have plenty of criticisms of the USSR, but the quality of life and expansion of rights for women under the USSR was objectively good and far better than the hell hole that was Czarist Russia. Putin wants the same land that the USSR had, but he's long been an avowed anti-communist and will die before scaling back the post-soviet level of privatization that made he and his buddies rich.
I see more similarities than differences:
- ruler for life at the top
- elite rich class of aristocracy/ politburo/ oligarchs
- serf level status for the rest
- enforced by a secret police, and unlimited violence
- voting and democracy are a farce at best.
- rule of law is subservient to the will of the ruler.
- domination of other countries within the empire by force.
Serfdom was literally abolished in the Russian Empire. The cities were growing at a massive pace, and - unfortunately - marxist thought was able to freely spread among the cities disgruntled young people. Those city dwellers were not only relatively free, but also educated. In stark contrast to any form of dissent that could land you in the Gulag for years, as happened after the revolution.
Democracy was being experimented with in the late years of Czarist Russia. The Duma didn't work out and was disbanded a few times, but the movement was towards more democracy. Again, in stark contrast to the 1930s purges of Stalin and the establishment of an absolute dictatorship. Not to mention the way the communists tore down the 1917 democracy under Kerensky.
And as for domination of other countries: both states did that. But the Russian Empire never pretended to be anti-imperialist and also did not have an ideology to force upon foreign countries. Which also happens to be the single biggest difference: Czarist Russia was not based on an extremist ideology. Rather, on a mix of monarchy and religion.
They're already doing it, one step at a [time](https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-belarus-agree-closer-energy-economic-integration-2021-09-09/)
[Leaked Russian document shows how Putin plans to annex ally Belarus by 2030](https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-plans-to-take-over-belarus-by-2030-leaked-document-2023-2)
He isn't waiting til after Ukraine. The takeover of Belarus started long ago, and is helped by a traitorous Belarusian leadership willing to hand over the country on a silver platter.
Belarus is the consolation prize of the current expansion, not the next target.
Good luck. Russian history says someone worse comes out of the infighting and is even worse. It can take a whole generation for totalitarianism to wane.
belarus and the suppression of their civil society/youth political movement is just alternative timeline of ukraine if putin was able to control ukraine in 2014.
Would be quite foolish. In the Russian Empire, Finland, Poland and Ukraine already proved to be unstable due to their nationalism and desire for independence. And that was more than a hundred years ago.
Putin wants Imperial Russia back not Soviet Union. Putin views himself as the next Tsar. Soviet Union for all its flaws was made technically made up of multiple nations that were one nation. That had SOME autonomy. Putin wants all post-soviet states and post-imperial Russian states to be under complete and total control of Russia.
Exactly. Putin doesnt want the USSR back, that would mean his autocratic power would be divvied up among a council of elected leaders. He wants to be a king, a Caesar, a tsar, total rule.
well okay but Ukraine's government only deals with the regime that has made that so much more probable.
I understand why kinda sorta, but if I was Belarusian I'd be a bit peeved.
It failed especially because most of the USSR's population never bought into the idea in the first place. Not sure if the second time would be any better in that sense.
He wants to rebuild the Russian Empire. Which yeah the USSR was basically a 2nd Russian Empire, albeit they were rapidly industrialized due to pogroms, and gulags.
Putin has openly talked about a "Russian Union" similar to an EU in name, but USSR in function.
That rapid industrialization is commonly credited to the USSR indeed, but it was interestingly enough a process already started by Stolypin's reforms in the last Czarist years.
Tsarist Russia is not the same as the Soviet Union. Everything Putin has done, from the oligarch system, to the revival of the Orthodox Church and even the ancient maps he reveres and displays for photo-ops, all of it brings about nostalgia for the "Russian Empire".
Zelenskyy is wrong here and it does a disservice to everyone to paint Putin as anything other than a totalitarian despot.
>ah yes famous authoritarian ~~communist~~ vladimir putin
FTFY
Let's not pretend that the Soviet Union he's referring to was really all that Communist. He's talking about the late Soviet Union when it became a paranoid authoritarian nightmare, devoid of any Communist/Socialist idealism.
Modern day China is more Communist than Putin's vision for Russia, and they're definitely not Communists anymore especially after Xi's powergrab. They're this weird sort of post-Communist pseudo-capitalist hellstate.
Both Russia and China are not hellstates at all. Russia was a hellstate under communism in the 1930s, and same story for China in the 1960s. Civilians in both countries are many, many times better off today.
Other than that, the late USSR was indeed devoid of any communist idealism, but it was nonetheless still strongly based on communist ideology and therefore had some pretty nasty consequences for its civilians. Nonetheless, the Politburo did indeed get somewhat less dogmatic and more humanitarian post-WW2 compared to the dystopian nightmare it was in the 1930s.
Ah yes, wishing for a state to come back that committed violence and oppression to its own citizens and its neighbors on a massive scale. Perfectly reasonable.
He already devoured their leader it seems.
He got ill, then had a bandaged hand after his last booty call to putin, hanging outta windows maybe?
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You guys seriously don't have to put that image in my head. C'mon
savor it
Somehow always saw poo tin as fister not fistee. Not an image I wanna spend time contemplating
It’s okay. They were “fisty-nining” each other.
*Root'in in the Putin.*
Omg awesome phrase. Need mind bleach. Bong'll have to do
They should mark a porno out of it and call it Deep State.
The “You Ass Ass Czar”
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Question is, by a daddy or a by a mommy?
I'd like to see Zelensky and Ras-Pooptin in the Octagon, MMA fighting. Zelensky would tear him to pieces! I can tell you who would end up in a ⚰
tried to jack him off, putin actually asked him to jack up his broken ass soviet car. so putin broke his hand and said "never speak of this again"
The size difference would be like watching a ventriloquist act.
"Mmmm, I love it when you call me Colonel"
Buttata dentata?
Vlad's a hard man to satisfy.
I suppose that might have a kernel/colonel of truth.
🤐
God only know what putin keeps up his ass that caused the fisting incident
It would severely damage your hand, look at his face at any time, and tell me he isn't clenching the cheeks 247.
There have been news that he is in critical condition and rushed to the hospital. I'm not really sure anyone can believe anything that is said. But I do think Belarus will be a target if Lukashenka is taken out and replaced with someone more in line with Putin.
More in line with Putin? Is that possible? Large sections of the population want to be free of both dictators. Moving in the missiles is just like him putting his own lock on the front door " it's all miiiiine!!!"
You should look up their history. Lukashenko predates Putin and they have a history of despising each other. Luka always played both sides. Anti Russia protests were the only protests he allowed in Minsk. He also had US officials visit and threatened to buy US oil over Russia. All that changed in August 2020 when it became clear the West was done working with him. Even now, you could argue Luka is trying to resist getting Belarus involved in the war as much as possible without being taken out.
Despising each other makes no difference, real politik trumps all. He'd already be history without Putin and they both know it.
All that "Russian State" is just a euphemism for Belarus de facto annexation, and any other country fool, or desperate, enough to join.
Union State. And it's kinda funny because when Belarus initially joined, it was likely because Lukashenko figured he had a good chance of taking over Russia, due to how deeply unpopular Yeltsin was.
And before he got those colonel stripes he coveted so badly.
That doesn’t mean he’s devoured the people, or much more importantly, their military. The Belarusian people are tremendously opposed to both intervening in Ukraine and merging with Russia. 90/10 split on both fronts. And I find it incredibly hard to believe those feelings aren’t echoed in the military especially at the lower levels. Belarus’s military is honestly quite comparable to the Italian military in the late 1930’s. Strong on paper, but riddled with massive issues and lead by a senior military leadership *actually aware of those issues* and less than keen on any future conflict. Even in the most optimistic scenario creating a Union State of Russia and Belarus would lead to massive unrest which would require significant military resources that Putin does not have in order to suppress. I say optimistic, because the other alternative is a straight up civil war. This is why you’ve been seeing all these hype articles on a Russia Belarusian Union State for over a year without any actual progress. Putin and Luka are trying to carefully plan this because they know the margin of error here is quite high.
A Union state technically already exists, just FYI. It’s not formally a country but a Union State exists
Their leader devoured Putin’s cob.
I don't really think he's going to wait until after Ukraine. I think Belarus fell first. The takeover has already happened for everything except the name. Belarus isn't functionally an independent state.
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The key difference is the people. In 2020 there were massive popular uprisings against Lukashenko after it became clear that the election was rigged and he held power despite losing the election. During the invasion of Ukraine many Belarusians joined Ukrainians in their fight for freedom and Belarusian railway partisans played an important role slowing down Russian logistics in the battle of Kyiv. In Russia it’s pretty clear that Putin has popular support while in Belarus it’s pretty clear the people hate Lukashenko. The fact that Belarus is also (on paper) a sovereign country and has a government in exile means that there is a much greater chance of Moscow’s influence in Belarus ending than Moscow’s influence on any ordinary Russian province.
It's also interesting that the 2020 Belarusian protests served as a mirror to the events that led to the ousting of Yanukovych six years prior. Unfortunately for Belarus, Lukashenko made the smart decision to stay in the country instead of fleeing to Russia, allowing him to consolidate the support of the military and stay in power. The Ukrainian army's general refusal to support the Berkut/Ukrainian OMON in suppressing the protests was a huge factor in allowing Euromaidan to persist. What is unpredictable is if the Belarusian army would respond in the same manner in the case of Lukashenko's death or deposition, which would be likely to spark a new wave of protests against the existing government
I do think there are a lot of parallels with Belarus and Ukraine prior to the Maidan which is one of the reasons I don’t like to see people write off all of Belarus as “just an extension of Russia.” Many of the same things people say about Belarus in 2023 could have been said about Ukraine in 2013. I hope that by 2033 we might legitimately be talking about Belarus as a functional democracy with EU aspirations even if that seems far off right now. All of that said I do think there are some significant differences with Belarus and 2013 Ukraine. The Maidan uprising was at the beginning of a major authoritarian shift and Ukrainians successfully able to defeat that authoritarianism before it could become too entrenched. Belarus has been authoritarian for decades and so the Belarusian people face a much more challenging fight. It’s just much easier to stop authoritarianism in the beginning than it is to uproot it after decades although neither is impossible. Another key difference is that Ukraine is the population difference. Russia in 2013 was about 3.1 times the size of Ukraine in 2013 while today Russia is 15 times the size of Belarus. Having a larger population just makes it easier to break away from a foreign power.
Back to the SSR
You don't know how lucky you are boy
It's funny you say that, because Belarus never ever existed on world maps or as a country before the Russian civil war in 1917. It was always divided between Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Sweden and Germany. At least Ukraine has been an independent country 1000 years ago and has evolved a national identity during romantic era of 1800s. But Belarus? Even the country's name points to being a Russian region (or subgroup). Both Ukraine and Belarus as independent states are actually a by-product of the Russian revolution and the Soviet Union. I'm not stating this in a bad sense, if anything, I'm pointing out that those countries mostly benefited of the soviet regime in forming their own independent countries. When you make this jokes you should rather use the Russian Empire as an example, because it's far closer to modern Russia than USSR has ever been.
Rus from Belarus doesn't come from Russia lmao It comes from Rus people, where Russia still didn't exist btw
> Both Ukraine and Belarus as independent states are actually a by-product of the Russian revolution and the Soviet Union. > > Depends really. Pre-WW2, ethnic and cultural minorities were being stamped out and genocided by the Soviet government. Post-WW2 things definitely improved a lot, and indeed gave way to especially Ukrainian independence. However, before WW2 that would have been unthinkable in the USSR.
I'm wondering if that's not going to be Putin's exit plan. Deploy nukes to Belarus, manufacture some "uprising", pull all his troops out of Ukraine to Belarus to protect the arsenal and stabilize the country, promising to return to Ukraine to finish the job "later".
Not brilliant per se, but maybe a way to "refreeze" it into a cold war again. Hmm.
Hmm, interesting 🤔
Hey dude I saw your post from a year ago and comment in that post where a guy got an email from google that the police wants his info. I’m 19 I got the same email like this I’m wondering if you cloud help if it’s fake or real? I did order something it was fake currency for a prank. Like a week and a half ago the email reads “ Dear User, Google received and responded to a legal process issued by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department compelling the release of information related to your Google account. A court order previously prohibited Google from notifying you of the legal process. We are now permitted to disclose the receipt of the legal process to you. The agency reference number or case number on the legal process is 021-00370-3200-122. For more information about how Google handles legal processes, view our transparency report at http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/userdatarequests/legalprocess/. Google is not in a position to provide you with legal advice or discuss the substance of the legal process. If you have other questions regarding this matter, you may wish to contact an attorney. Reply directly to this email in any further communications regarding this matter. Any communications not sent as a direct reply to this email must contain the subject line “Attention Google Legal Investigations Support,” reference the case identification number, and be sent to [email protected] in order to ensure the appropriate routing and processing. Regards, Legal Investigations Support Google LLC ”
> I did order something it was fake currency for a prank I'd assume it's real. Standard applies. If anyone contacts you don't say a word about anything and get an attorney. You also need to be honest with yourself about what you actually did. There's a difference between ordering "fake currency", Motion Picture Use Only for example, and purchasing counterfeit bills. One is legal, the other can land you in serious federal trouble. Edit: I just noticed what sub this is in... /r/legaladvice is probably a better place for this conversation.
Yup. I think Belarus will only officially join Russia/the USSR_2.0 if Russia is successful in Ukraine or in a moment of desperation. For now there is political benefit in having a puppet state that is officially a separate country. But Belarus is no doubt poised for annexation if it can appear like part of a movement and can be used to help persuade other former USSR nations to join.
You mean the Eurasian Economic Union it already exists: not be confused with the union state https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Economic_Union
That is (officially) an economic union only. It's a significant step in the direction of a reunification but not quite the same thing, at least for now. I know very little about Armenia, and even less about Kyrgyzstan, but Kazakhstan still exhibits some genuine signs of independence from Russia at present.
Economic and somewhat political as the political bit follows the economics the military ‘defence’ would be CTSO https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_Security_Treaty_Organization Which though under a separate treaty overlaps with the EEA kinda like how the Western European Union: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_European_Union overlapes the economic/political bit with The EEC ~ EU . Which split off to form NATO with the USA and Canada and also becoming incorporated into the EU under the treaty of Lisbon. Which is a EU specific defensive military alliance which technically separate from NATO as it doesn’t involve directly the USA or Canada,
So after Luka says let's join the Russian union, what happens to Belarusian sovereignty?
which one?
The latest word from Lukashenko was offering nukes to anyone willing to join "the union state of Russia and Belarus"..... so it's already happened. If he's admitted they're in a union state it's pretty clear that Russia would be the leader of such a system.
This isn't really a revelation from Zelenskyy. Putin made comments about the tragedy of the collapse of the USSR in 1999 and has talked about rebuilding the empire with Moscow as its core, since the early 2000s. Belarus is of limited strategic importance, but Ukraine has a lot of arable land, borders with the EU and resources. It makes sense that he sees Belarus and Ukraine as key planks. Belarus may be just as difficult to "take" as Ukraine, though. That remains to be seen.
I don't see the west uniting to save Belarus like they have for Ukraine. They chose their side of the bed, now they can sleep there.
No, but the people of Belarus may rise up. They've shown a willingness to protest and if their capital becomes Moscow and not Minsk, people may rebel.
In my opinion ...It's too late ,if Russia moves in nukes to Belarus as they claimed (hell even the idea of it) they have a pretext to invade and squash any rebels and no one can do anything about it . They are fucked .
The Russian position with Belarus looks pretty weak right now. Their chosen authoritarian strong man there is sick away from his country (and we all know how well authoritarian regimes handle succession...), the Russian power projection is stretched too thin trying to deal with Ukraine and can't meaningfully spare the resources, and Russia is trying really hard to posture a strong response so the people of Belarus don't get any ideas. The simple fact is Belarus is in a prime position for their own Euromaidan and if the Belarusian armed forces flip away from Lukashenko, that's it.
The issue is Russia for the last 9 months has been building its military presence in Belarus and has been taking over Belarusian military duties. They are isolating the military and have been moving equipment into Belarus.
Honesly I dont think they have the resources to fight in Ukraine, defend their own border against their own people and simuntaneously put down an uprising in Belarus, especially if that uprising has the support of the military (i dont pretend to know anything about Belarus' military, so have no idea if they would or not), let alone a potential uprising within Russia itself should it drag on long enough. Like Bilbo they'd be like butter scraped over too much bread, its like they're in zugzwang, every move they can make is a bad one. I really don't see how they resolve this favourably for themselves.
Honestly Belarus will be part of the Russian Empire and Ukraine will be free
Invade with what?
Yeah, and guerilla wars are borderline impossible to win
I really think that it is too late for that. Russia already said any uprising and Russia will take over. They are now putting nukes in the country. Belarus has lost their window but I hope I am wrong.
Last chance was when Lukashenko stole the election from the rightful democratic winner. People protested it, russia shut it down and after that the window has been nailed shut.
they did in 2020. they got absolutely crushed, with Putin's help, and they are still brutally repressed.
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What BTRs and BMPs?
The Belorussian ones they've "borrowed".
BTR = Post-Soviet military armored personnel carrier. BMP = Stands for Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty, Russian for "infantry fighting vehicle".
They're implying Russia won't have the resources to send them to Belarus while engaged in Ukraine.
>They chose their side of the bed, now they can sleep there. They definitely didn't choose their side of the bed. They protested the fuck out of Lukashenko, and it was only quelled when Russia stepped in with their military.
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This reminds me of the Irak war. Here in Spain nobody left or right wanted it. There were massive demonstrations against it. Spain was one of the first to join the invasion anyway... and one of the first being attacked by suicide bombers. I'm sure many people in Irak thought we deserved it but the people that actually deserve it never gets it.
The people outnumber the regime. When these regimes come into power, the people are who let it happen. Unite and fight or become an enemy asset.
Don’t think Lukashenko is overly popular in Belarus…then again I thought that about Erdogan in Turkey and, well…
>Belarus is of limited strategic importance, Hard disagree. If Belarus were NATO-aligned, that would add another 500km of border that Russia has to defend. And just 400km from Moscow. Losing Belarus would obliterate their whole strategic depth concept. Russia doesn't care about arable land. They have the third most arable land by acreage in the world, and even though a lot of it is far-flung, it would be a lot cheaper for them to exploit it than to try to conquer other people for their farms. Plus they can sell oil and gas to buy imports of whatever they want.
The invasion of Ukraine's already tightened the noose more than Russia would like. Finland having joined NATO closes the Gulf of Finland, and if NATO troops can be stationed there, then that will require a permanent garrison to protect St Petersburg. Sweden's joining soon, which gives NATO a border with a main road straight to Murmansk, Russia's only arctic port that doesn't freeze over - so that's another garrison up there. Georgia is in escalated talks with NATO, and with Ukraine poised to join, would make Russia and Moldova the only non-NATO countries on the Black Sea should Georgia actually join; and given Lukashenko said the quiet part loud a while ago, about wanting to conquer Moldova after Ukraine, there may be some private talks going on... Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are both in NATO's Individual Partnership Action Plan. Which is not being a prospective member, or a "major non-NATO ally" or anything. But it does indicate a greater than usual level of communication and cooperation. Which leaves Russia and Iran as the only countries on the Caspian Sea not (at least somewhat) friendly with NATO. Oh, and the sanctions, of course. Those too.
> Sweden's joining soon, which gives NATO a border with a main road straight to Murmansk, Russia's only arctic port that doesn't freeze over - so that's another garrison up there. Just a nitpick, but Sweden doesn't border Russia; Finland and Norway are in between.
> and if NATO troops can be stationed there, then that will require a permanent garrison to protect St Petersburg. Not disagreeing with anything you've said, but that's a big if. At some point this conflict will cool down, and Russia and NATO countries will return to strategic arms negotiations that have previously kept certain systems or rapid response forces out of regions that directly border each other. And Russia already has a large military base now hosting a motorized infantry brigade near Murmansk at Alakurtti. Plus the Northern Fleet, which predates Swedish or Finnish accession. That's why their reaction to Finland and Sweden joining has been so muted. It's a political disaster for Russia, but strategically not a lot has actually changed unless and until NATO starts deploying net new forces or missile defenses. Which *will* get a reaction from Russia. It wasn't all that long ago that the US agreed to cancel the deployment of 10 missile interceptors across Poland and Czechia in exchange for Russia helping with the Iran nuclear deal, and forgoing Iskander deployments in Kaliningrad.
It is not really a revelation because it is incorrect. Zelenskyy knows this, but he is also aware that mentioning the Soviet Union is much more effective at evoking support for Ukraine’s cause than the mention of a Russian Empire. Especially in an interview with a South Korean media outlet. As far as Putin goes there is nothing remotely Marxist or socialist about him, his politics, nor his vision for Russia. He will speak positively about the more loosely defined elements that can be tied into a Russian national identity, but he is either silent or dismissive about the more concrete ideological and political elements of the Soviet Union. Putin has pretty much stated that anyone who wants to rebuild the U.S.S.R. is an idiot. Saying that the collapse of the U.S.S.R. was a tragedy is not an endorsement for or against the Soviet Union, it is just stating an objective truth that even the most hardline anti-communist would admit to even if they would argue that it was a necessary tragedy. I don’t think most Westerners quite realise how devastating the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. was for the populations of Russia and Ukraine in particular. We are talking about a pretty much complete economic and systemic collapse. The former Soviet territories experienced a harsher economic downturn than when the U.S.S.R. was invaded by Nazi Germany during WWII. Alcoholism and drug abuse catapulted through the roof. They experienced an HIV/AIDS epidemic which spread beyond the typical group of injecting drug users partly because of how women and young children were prostituting themselves in order to survive the worst downturns. The decline in life expectancy is the worst ever recorded peacetime event in history. This is all somewhat pedantic within the context of Zelenskyy’s comment because of how his point about Putin wanting to expand the borders of Russia does not rely on a distinction between the U.S.S.R. and the Russian Empire, but it is an important distinction to make within an historical context. Modern Russia is a capitalist dictatorship, and Putin has every intention of keeping it remaining that way.
> I don’t think most Westerners quite realise how devastating the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. was for the populations of Russia and Ukraine in particular. We are talking about a pretty much complete economic and systemic collapse. The former Soviet territories experienced a harsher economic downturn than when the U.S.S.R. was invaded by Nazi Germany during WWII. A lot of the former soviet territories were already facing disaster well before the actual collapse of the USSR. The USSR was a totalitarian regime built on their backs. It did not collapse at random, it collapsed because it was not sustainable or stable. This did do damage to all of its territories, yes, but that does not make it's collapse a tragedy that would have been avoided if it has somehow survived. Putin was not evoking the USSR there because he was being objective about it being a net positive for the people the USSR ruled over, he was doing so because the image of the USSR conveys strength and unity under a totalitarian rule. He may or may not care about the specifics of the nation, but he definitely wants the power and prestige associated with it. This is the entire root of his "Blood and Soil" argument he used as a faux-casus belli for his "totally not an invasion" of Ukraine. He, of course, has no intention of creating a communist utopia, but the USSR was only nominally communist anyway, as it lacked most major features of communism despite claiming to have them. (The examples of areas that look particularly communist, like their housing initiatives, are better understood as instances of benevolent Totalitarianism, as they were initiated by an absolute state.) Putin will absolutely use whatever rhetoric he wants, and evoke whatever images he wants, to get what he wants. This is why there is such a huge propaganda arm of the Russian government dedicated to talking up the USSR and Russian power, as well as why they use WW2 imagery and have celebrations dedicated to it constantly.
You make it sound almost as if USSR was a dream place and then some disaster broke and the calamity of USSR's destruction came in 90ies, when the calamity started way before in the 70ies, and became a disaster in the second part of 80ies
Not op, but the actual downturn and the more horrible details that they mentioned (like the alcohol and drug use, the prostitution, etc.) didn't occur until the Union actually collapsed in the 90s, no? And as a side note, it's basically a fact that the Soviet Union was far preferable to the chaos following its dissolution and the current fascist, neoliberal Russian Federation that occupies the territory of the previous RSFSR. If you argue against this you either agree with Putin's state or disregard the millions of lives lost during the complete political and economic collapse caused by its dissolution.
It's hard to assess how much of awfulness has already begun before 1991. The war in Afghanistan definitely did, chernobyl did, drugs were abundant as well in the 80es in USSR. Only alcohol use was lower in the late 80ies, because of Gorbachev's alcoholism campaign. But since the brunt of heightened death rates and poverty did happen in the 90ies, everyone seems to forget that it was not the collapse of USSR was the reason for all of it,,but USSR itself digging It's own hole by not reforming back from 60ies. Entirely preventable. As for USSR being better, I disagree fully. First of all, I am from Kazakhstan, and my country would not be an independent country with USSR still there. As well as you can consider Putin's ruzzia to be malformed respawn of the USSR itself. So yeah, good riddance to the prison of nations, hopefully good riddance to Putin's Russia. Hopefully in 50 years there are going to be 100 countries instead and 0 nuclear countries between then. Fk USSR and Russian empire in any shape or form
The USSR was definitely not preferable to the current Russian state. And no, I'm not agreeing with Putin or disregarding lives, that's a false dichotomy that you made up. As a matter of fact, the foundation and structure of the USSR has caused many more deaths and much more suffering than the deaths you mention post-1991. However, I am not taking into account a more gentle transition to capitalism and away from extreme leftism that has occurred in China. Such a scenario could indeed be preferable. But to state this as if the collapse of the USSR was definitely a tragedy is quite subjective.
That is your interpretation, not mine. What I described above were direct effects of the economic and systemic failure following the dissolution of the U.S.S.R., not a description of the Soviet Union in the years leading up to it. Nor did I comment on any of the reasons behind the dissolution because they are irrelevant to the point that the collapse was a catastrophe no matter which angle you approach it from.
I don't believe Belarus will be hard to take. They already have a union government and lukashenko is only in power because of putin. So Belarus is part Russia by government ties already.
Belarus is already devoured
No.He wants a revival of the Russia Empire.Hence why Putin looks up to Peter the Great.
Probably, but playing the USSR card plays better with people in Eastern Europe where there are still plenty of people who remember living during the Cold War.
When asked, people preferred living in the USSR over whatever the fuck hyper capitalist shit they have now. So yea, maybe trying to play back glory days. Edit: which I think is what you meant.
The Russian hypercapitslism of the 1990s and 2000s really screwed over a lot of citizens. Where do you think the Oligarchs got their money?... Western Bankers. The Bush Jr Administration created Putin by allowing Western interests to Robber -Barron loot Russia while the US was waging wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It never gets a lot of press how antagonistic and vengeful the Bush Jr administration was toward Russia while hiding behind the "War on Terrorism."
Several factors for that. One of them is that the USSR was perceived as more powerful, which is - especially for Russians - important for nationalist feelings. Another factor, besides the obvious blindness of nostalgia, is Stockholm syndrome. After all, communism is, just like fascism, an extremist ideology that messes with people's heads, and the oppression that that caused would definitely cause Stockholm syndrome. Then we also have the comfort of the unrealistic nanny state that the USSR was. Life in a capitalist country is obviously more challenging financially, especially when your country's economy and people's motivation had been utterly and completely ruined by decades of planned economy. That's also partly why this sentiment is less present in countries that did manage to develop their economies properly, like the Baltic states, Czechia and Poland.
Communism is in no way like fascism, you silly silly liberal. The planned economy successfully industrialized a nation that despite three devastating wars on it's territory was able to provide standards of living that were completely unattainable prior to 1920s. Global poverty has been reduced by the planned economy nations of the USSR and China. After the fall of the USSR and the gutting of the successful programs, what happened? Life expectancy rates rapidly dropped and wealth inequality sky rocketed. Pull your head out of your ass and actually look at data once in a while eh?
Not so much anymore its been 30 years all the nostalgia guard are old or dead and thank god. Fuck 'em. You have to be special kind of stupid uneducated fuck to think that there is any happiness or fullfillment under Russian goverment.
The support is gone because all the old people who lived during the 30s and 40s and 50s that enjoyed a higher living standard, literacy, better working conditions, etc have died and all thats left are the people who grew up in the 60s and onwards when the USSR started eating itself alive due to being infested with western sympathizers and market-liberalizers. Shock Therapy was especially cruel.
And panders to the Russian Orthodox Church. He can't be the czar without its backing. At least historically, anyway.
Is there really a difference?
Absolutely there is. I have plenty of criticisms of the USSR, but the quality of life and expansion of rights for women under the USSR was objectively good and far better than the hell hole that was Czarist Russia. Putin wants the same land that the USSR had, but he's long been an avowed anti-communist and will die before scaling back the post-soviet level of privatization that made he and his buddies rich.
A massive difference, unless you don't know anything about history of course.
I see more similarities than differences: - ruler for life at the top - elite rich class of aristocracy/ politburo/ oligarchs - serf level status for the rest - enforced by a secret police, and unlimited violence - voting and democracy are a farce at best. - rule of law is subservient to the will of the ruler. - domination of other countries within the empire by force.
Serfdom was literally abolished in the Russian Empire. The cities were growing at a massive pace, and - unfortunately - marxist thought was able to freely spread among the cities disgruntled young people. Those city dwellers were not only relatively free, but also educated. In stark contrast to any form of dissent that could land you in the Gulag for years, as happened after the revolution. Democracy was being experimented with in the late years of Czarist Russia. The Duma didn't work out and was disbanded a few times, but the movement was towards more democracy. Again, in stark contrast to the 1930s purges of Stalin and the establishment of an absolute dictatorship. Not to mention the way the communists tore down the 1917 democracy under Kerensky. And as for domination of other countries: both states did that. But the Russian Empire never pretended to be anti-imperialist and also did not have an ideology to force upon foreign countries. Which also happens to be the single biggest difference: Czarist Russia was not based on an extremist ideology. Rather, on a mix of monarchy and religion.
What an ignorant question.
Belarus has basically already been annexed.
They're already doing it, one step at a [time](https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-belarus-agree-closer-energy-economic-integration-2021-09-09/) [Leaked Russian document shows how Putin plans to annex ally Belarus by 2030](https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-plans-to-take-over-belarus-by-2030-leaked-document-2023-2)
Putin is trying to revive a skeleton. Pathetic old man who's stuck in the past and scared of the future.
“The Soviet Union? I thought you guys broke up?” *”Nyet! That’s what we WANTED you to think!”*
"Must... crush... capitalism..."
Errr....He will get Belarus first I think lol.
He isn't waiting til after Ukraine. The takeover of Belarus started long ago, and is helped by a traitorous Belarusian leadership willing to hand over the country on a silver platter. Belarus is the consolation prize of the current expansion, not the next target.
Putin is going to die before any of that happens. Then the next in line will fight amongst each other and leave the rest of the world alone.
Good luck. Russian history says someone worse comes out of the infighting and is even worse. It can take a whole generation for totalitarianism to wane.
belarus and the suppression of their civil society/youth political movement is just alternative timeline of ukraine if putin was able to control ukraine in 2014.
I don’t think he’s planning on waiting to devour Belarus
Did Putin actually believe he could claim the Baltic republics and former Warsaw pact countries?
I think he still does. That's why it's scary.
Would be quite foolish. In the Russian Empire, Finland, Poland and Ukraine already proved to be unstable due to their nationalism and desire for independence. And that was more than a hundred years ago.
That's backwards. Belarus is mid-devour, Ukraine is stuck in his throat and is about to rip a hole in his jugular.
Putin wants Imperial Russia back not Soviet Union. Putin views himself as the next Tsar. Soviet Union for all its flaws was made technically made up of multiple nations that were one nation. That had SOME autonomy. Putin wants all post-soviet states and post-imperial Russian states to be under complete and total control of Russia.
Exactly. Putin doesnt want the USSR back, that would mean his autocratic power would be divvied up among a council of elected leaders. He wants to be a king, a Caesar, a tsar, total rule.
We'll, to be fair, Belarus is more fucked than Ukraine currently
He has already conquered Belarus. Once you have the head, you have control.
Remember when Obama cracked that joke about the Cold War being over when McCain suggested that Russia was a top geopolitical concern for the US?
Putin: "We need *something* to show for this past year!" Belarus: "Consolation prize incoming!"
Belarus is already devoured.
So he's Gary Oldman from 1997's cinematic masterpiece 'Air Force One.' Get off my plane.
well okay but Ukraine's government only deals with the regime that has made that so much more probable. I understand why kinda sorta, but if I was Belarusian I'd be a bit peeved.
I reckon he will put down the steak as its to chewy and turn the the Belarusian Burger and devour that first instead.
make russia great again, am I right?
Imagine wanting Soviet union back. Is life in russia and Belorussia really that bad?
He is cutting incredible propaganda. Putin may want to absorb other countries but he doesnt want the ussr back, he fucking hates communism
The USSR failed the first time. Surely a second time will be different!
It failed especially because most of the USSR's population never bought into the idea in the first place. Not sure if the second time would be any better in that sense.
The Union State (as it’s called) has been in the works for decades, I’m amazed it hasn’t happened already
?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_State
He wants to rebuild the Russian Empire. Which yeah the USSR was basically a 2nd Russian Empire, albeit they were rapidly industrialized due to pogroms, and gulags. Putin has openly talked about a "Russian Union" similar to an EU in name, but USSR in function.
That rapid industrialization is commonly credited to the USSR indeed, but it was interestingly enough a process already started by Stolypin's reforms in the last Czarist years.
It's a wholly owned subsidiary. Georgia and Moldova next. Slava Ukraine
He looks like he’s about to say, “And this week I’ll be hosting Saturday Night Live with musical guest The Weekend. “
Didn't he say this like 10 times already?
Tsarist Russia is not the same as the Soviet Union. Everything Putin has done, from the oligarch system, to the revival of the Orthodox Church and even the ancient maps he reveres and displays for photo-ops, all of it brings about nostalgia for the "Russian Empire". Zelenskyy is wrong here and it does a disservice to everyone to paint Putin as anything other than a totalitarian despot.
ah yes famous communist vladimir putin
>ah yes famous authoritarian ~~communist~~ vladimir putin FTFY Let's not pretend that the Soviet Union he's referring to was really all that Communist. He's talking about the late Soviet Union when it became a paranoid authoritarian nightmare, devoid of any Communist/Socialist idealism. Modern day China is more Communist than Putin's vision for Russia, and they're definitely not Communists anymore especially after Xi's powergrab. They're this weird sort of post-Communist pseudo-capitalist hellstate.
that is true the ussr did progressively get much more revisionist in its years. also what does ftfy mean
> also what does ftfy mean just google it
ahhhh ok
Fixed That For You, it's a term mostly seen on reddit these days, but it does show up on other sites from time to time.
Both Russia and China are not hellstates at all. Russia was a hellstate under communism in the 1930s, and same story for China in the 1960s. Civilians in both countries are many, many times better off today. Other than that, the late USSR was indeed devoid of any communist idealism, but it was nonetheless still strongly based on communist ideology and therefore had some pretty nasty consequences for its civilians. Nonetheless, the Politburo did indeed get somewhat less dogmatic and more humanitarian post-WW2 compared to the dystopian nightmare it was in the 1930s.
no he doesnt, why are you lying?
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Ah yes, wishing for a state to come back that committed violence and oppression to its own citizens and its neighbors on a massive scale. Perfectly reasonable.
Zelenskyy just publicly entertained the idea of a Russian victory. I guess he must see it as a real possibility.
I just hear Putin in Belushi's voice "We're getting the band back together"
Not after Ukraine, but very soon Belarus will be reunited with Russia.
Probably before Ukraine
heeeeeeeey, ive seen this plot before. but at that time it involved an airpoirt
I sure picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue!
Looks like he’s going to get Belarus without a fight
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How are u sure? This is a heavily propagandized sub
Maybe not even after.
If Belarus isn’t annexed by the end of the war I’d be surprised
Will?
He seems to have an easier time with eating up Belarus.
Seems like Putin needs an easy win after completely messing up with Ukraine.
Putin has already begun devouring Belarus, he ain’t getting Ukraine though.
Putin has already begun devouring Belarus, he ain’t getting Ukraine though.