[The link leads to 2 min. video.]
Alexander Borodai is a member of Russian Duma and one of the founding fathers of the “DPR” (Donetsk People Republic) under FSB control.
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First, he admits that any ceasefire for Russia will only be a temporary freeze in the war, because Putin’s main goal will not be achieved - taking control of all of Ukraine and establishing a puppet Russian regime. Any independent Ukraine for Russians is “Western weapon”.
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Second, he admits that Russia has been waging war with the help of people like him in Ukraine since 2014, and in 2022 it only continued with a full-scale invasion.
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And most importantly, third, he directly says that the problem is not that Ukraine can be in NATO. The problem for Russians is that they consider all of Ukraine to be their “historical territory” and that Ukrainians “do not exist as a nation at all”, and that Ukraine is inhabited by “divided Russians”.
Yeah, there’s nothing to admit here. The inherent chauvinism apparent in statements like yours should repel everybody with a little bit of decency.
No chauvinism. These are facts. And you know this. There are even russians who agree with what I am saying, not because they lack decency, but because they actually want their society to change.
Playing into russian victimhood narratives, treating them like children and coddling their worst instincts is not doing russians any favour.
Kinda weird that you assume that I know, and you know, what the overwhelming majority of Russians is thinking. I mean, I can make a general assumption, that obviously, they are no revolutionaries. They go to work every day. They have children they have to take care of. They have a pretty similar life to ours and therefore don’t want trouble upending their lives for the worse. If the government has imperial ambitions, it usually collides with people’s interests. I can say that without knowing one Russian.
Now I have a little bit of an…advantage? That is, I do know many Russians and yeah, none of them has genocidal tendencies. They also don’t claim that it is one of their national traits. National victimhood is just pretty fashionable inside nationalist governments. It is not limited to Russia, too.
Life isn’t a Star Wars movie. Going to work everyday and taking care of your children is not incompatible with being a genocidal imperialist. You can even not want any invasion to impact you directly and still be a genocidal imperialist.
So what that the russians you know aren’t genocidal imperialists? All the russians I speak to aren’t genocidal imperialists either, what are you trying to say? The reason why I said you know this and you’re just playing is because of these sort of arguments.
“We don’t know anything and even if we do it is all wrong unless it portrays russians as innocent children and who should never take responsibility for anything.”
You almost certainly know that all research (literally from any source, using any methodology, even multi-decade longitudinal research) shows that anything between a strong majority to an overwhelming majority of russians support genocidal imperialism.
And unlike you, I’ve actually lived in russia for many years and I speak fluent russian (and yet I constantly had to deal with racism by the russians because I am of a mixed ethnicity).
So spare me your fake humanism. It’s just more convenient for you to white wash their support for genocidal imperialism.
Your assumptions about me are just as ludicrous as the ones about Russians.
Goodbye
Unfortunately, these are not assumptions, but factual results of a very broad range of research, sometimes conducted over decades.
You on the hand assume that I am just shitposting or “spreading hate against the innocent”. That’s why I brought up the fake humanism. You can’t even imagine the possibility that I more than happy to read critiques and alternative viewpoints on the research I am alluding to. The problem being is that none of it is convincing and similar to your arguments it devolves into “trust me bro!” and “all research is wrong unless it aligns with my opinion of russian society”. Do you want some examples?
If you knew what you were talking about and weren’t engaging in fake humanism, you would have had an argument that goes beyond “your views are ludicrous!1!1!!”.
But you don’t.
Ah, the research you are alluding to:
Why should I trust you, bro?
Instead you want to show me examples of your arguments with some other posters? I’ve seen some examples here, and all it boils down to are anecdotal references of yours. That’s also why I brought up mine. Of course they don’t account for much.
You really didn’t bring up anything to prove your accusation of enthusiasm for genocide ingrained in the Russian people.
Did you ever ask for any research on this topic or even meaningfuly engage with what I was saying E.g. How do you know this? Have you considered the limitations inherent to specific research methodologies? What about the “philosophical” arguments about the validity and interpretation of political polling?
You never mentioned any of the above points and just went with “you are chauvinist and an enemy of all that is decent in this world!”. And I went with your flow, is that really surprising to you?
Who said anything about ingrained? I don’t believe it is ingrained in a physical or biological sense. It’s a reflection of the choice they make. One that I would argue are enabled by people like yourself who feel the need to deny reality and whitewash russian genocidal attitudes.
Sources
Some more specialized research that addresses some of the clown logic that you often hear in such discussions “they don’t actually support genocidal imperialism, the vast majority are very afraid and lying in the polls!!!”
Solid support or secret dissent? A list experiment on preference falsification during the Russian war against Ukraine - Note how the authors explicitly state that their preference falsification adjusted estimate for support for the full scale invasion (65%) likely underestimates the true level of support.
Do Russians support the military invasion of Ukraine? - This is minor part of the report, but they do show how preference falsification is irrelevant with respect to often criticized (by allegedly liberal russians) Levada findings about ~85% support for the annexation of Crimea that has been stable from 2014 to 2021.
«А когда уже победа-то наша будет?» - In russian, maybe somebody made a good English language translation, I don’t know. A damning take on “non-political” russians’ view of genocidal invasions. The funny thing is that this qualitative research was run by opposition-minded russians. I am surprised they even published it.
Don’t trust opinion polling about support in Russia for the Ukraine invasion. A weak counter argument to findings similar to [1], does not in any way address the general points in [2],[3],[4]. The author explicitly denies [2] without providing any context or explanation. It’s the “I don’t believe any research unless it portrays russian society in a good light” factor so to speak.
Yeah, so it’s limitations of methodology and philosophical arguments that are preventing the sources you have provided from proving your initial claim. Can’t argue with that. Bit weird though, because you came along and said your assumptions were based on facts.
Glancing through your information, I see numbers from the Atlantic Council that don’t surprise me. Reasons for government support that are largely known, like on the Japanese website. Nothing of that supports what you are saying.
But: Cool that we can agree that those attitudes are not ingrained. And because numbers seemingly don’t help us, let’s talk about how these genocidal tendencies are a reflection of the choices Russian people make. What are those choices? (Later we can talk about how “people like me” enable those)
Edit:
I think I should have noticed this earlier:
Your initial comment under the post with a ridiculous title like that, is just that: a propaganda piece.
The Article:
Russians showing their real intentions after all
You:
Most Russians are genocidal anyway. And that’s a fact.
Me:
Discussing…. Fuck that, I am out.