Not a bad thread so far! Especially when compared to similar threads on Twitter! Russian bots dominate on Twitter!
As for Cv5 & his links to Twitter, Twitter is just not a "source!" But, it does lend credibility to this thread being in the Conspiracy Forum, where I am rarely found. Hence my very late entry to the discussion.
In the interest of Conflict of Interest, I am half Ukrainian- Galacia. My grandparents immigrated from Galacia to Canada before WWI, lucky for me! My grandmother's family (call her Baba!) got an early Land Grant of 160 acres of the best black soil. It's still a working farm, in the family! My great grandfather was killed in Stalin's purges in 1937. I still have a lot of family in Ukraine & Poland, although some if the young men, (my cousins several times removed) were killed early in the war & a Canadian cousin has been sending medical & food supplies to our family there, since the war began. She also has excellent Ukrainian, but my study of the language only started 6 months before the war.
I've also been studying Ukrainian History since the war began. Timothy Snyder, a professor at Yale has an excellent series filmed in the fall of 2022, called "The Making of Modern Ukraine" on YouTube, as well as reading some of the required texts,
"The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine" by Serhii Plokhy;
Bloodlines: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, by Timothy Snyder.
He is an excellent historian, not such a great speaker, but certainly worth the watch for understanding this war! He uses primary sources, which give so much more relevant information, than Wiki articles or Twitter threads. (CV5, please take some time to watch it!) Snyder speaks 10 languages, and besides history, has excellent insight into the background of this war.
My dad often talked about Ukraine- his 5 Ukrainian cousins with Oriental eyes, handed down from Mongol invasions, and the simple geographic fact that Ukraine has few land barriers, except some mountain ranges. He told me about the repeated invasions. Snyder speaks about Germany's goal in WWII to capture Ukraine, get rid of Ukrainians, and use the country to fulfill his goal of "Lebensraum" or "Living Space" for German people. Lucky for Ukraine, Stalin fought back and drove the Soviets out of Ukraine. Unlucky for Ukraine, as it brought back the Russian conquerors, & Ukraine became a Soviet satellite again.
I am very pro-Ukraine, obviously. I don't want any more of my family killed or living under Russia. Russia's entire premise of the invasion is that the "Little Russians" with the same language & culture as Russia need to return to the motherland! Not! Ukrainian is much closer to Polish than Russian, despite both languages using the Cyrillic alphabet. Nor is their religion the same. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is under a Ukrainian patriarch, although the Russian Orthodox Church would say differently. Most Ukrainians are actually Greek Catholic, follow Orthodox rites, Ukrainian language, but are answerable to the pope. The Orthodox Church has never been beholden to the pope, Orthodoxy being established by Byzantine Orthodox missionaries in 900 AD, who also created the Cyrillic Alphabet.
Russia has attempted, through the Tzars & then the Soviets, to Russify Ukraine, back to Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century. I have a list of each act that forbid teaching Ukrainian, printing books or writing in Ukrainian, and pushing Russia in yhr universities, media, schools and general population, esp in the east. Which explains why so many people in the east speak Russian. They speak Russian because of cultural genocide by the Russians! Although the western regions speak mostly Ukrainian and Polish, the language has been compromised by the influx of Russian words. Ukrainian refugees are surprised by Ukrainian-Canadian, which is more "pure" than what is spoken in Ukraine. Although also more archaic!
Of course, I am completely against Putin & his invasion. I'm not saying all of Ukraine is pure & good. The Azov battalion sounds horrible! But again, after studying Ukrainian history, you can understand why, especially after the Holodomor (famine) in 1932-33, created by Stalin to push collectivization forward, when up to 6 million people, mostly peasants, were systematically starved to death by plan, that the Ukrainians viewed Nazi Germany as liberators from Stalin & his policies. When they started killing ALL the Jews, (In Belarus, Poland etc too!) most Ukrainians realized the Germans were at least on par with Soviet Russia & Stalin. A vivid case of choosing between 2 evils! A lose-lose situation, in which some Ukrainians picked the Nazi evil over the Stalinist evil after WWII.
My biggest fear is that Russia will win! They will try to colonize the Baltic States if they beat Ukraine, and other nations in Eastern Europe after that. This is a war about boundaries and resources, too! In fact, probably more about money than language & culture. Ukraine was the "bread basket of Europe!" When the war ends, it will be again. There are other tempting resources, too!
The fact is, Putin is a former KGB goon, and acts like it! People mean little to his imperialistic need to conquer! Yet, as others point out, his sad war really hasn't been a success! He does use unseasoned troops & bad equipment. Maybe he really believes his own propaganda, and thought the Ukrainians would welcome him as a liberator? Yet, that hasn't occurred, even in the east.
As for Crimea, it was only temporarily Russian. The true people of the Crimea were the Tatars, who either escaped to Turkey or were deported to Uzbekistan -every man, woman & child. Just Google "Crimean Tatars" to learn the truth! Of course, Russian NEEDS the Crimea as a port- it's the only southern one they have! Hence the myth of it belonging to Russia, another piece of unmitigated Russian propaganda and misinformation!
My prayer is that Russia will give up & leave. I also pray that the west will continue to supply Ukraine with arms, sadly. War is horrible, but cultural genocide & annihilation are worse! Zelenskyy has his faults! He is a Russian speaking Jew, which was always a sub-culture in Ukraine, although a very large one till Germany got their way, in WWII sadly. But, he is keeping the country focused on winning the war, something they were never allowed to do in the past! Ukrainian freedom -to exist must be fought for!
As for NATO, Ukraine gave up their nuclear weapons to be admitted to NATO, leaving them helpless against Russian nuclear weapons! They better be helping Ukraine!
As someone with Ukrainian heritage, I am proud of my ethnicity & culture. I fear for my family still there! I don't want to see my grandparents' homeland wink out of existence. Ukraine is a proud, historical culture, founded 11 centuries ago. The Rus empire ruled Eastern Europe from Kyiv for 3 centuries before Russia was founded by the Mongols. Russia has always been war like, attacking & grabbing land, wiping out people groups. That has not changed! Russia even stole Ukraine's rightful name, leaving Ruthenia as the interim name for the country!! Just a bit of my knowledge & opinions on this invasion!
Slava Ukraini слава Україні
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