Also required reading
h/t @anon97585346
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Meanwhile the Photoshop experts are out in force.
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While the broader religious nationalism does have deep roots, I still believe that this is mainly Putin’s war, not Russia’s. Many people in his government don’t appear happy about it, and support among the general public is dependent on them getting only wildly distorted news of the situation. If Putin were out of the picture, I’m sure his successor would have little problem calling off the invasion to get rid of the sanctions. However, this may change if the war spills over outside Ukraine and turns into an open war between Russia and NATO - then it would become an existential matter in a more objective sense, not only in Putin’s head, and even current skeptics may rally behind the leader.
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Evacuation routes offered
But they go to Belarus or Russia
Send us hostages
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Rumours that Putin is seriously ill and is being treated with steroids, which might be helping to make him angry and short-tempered.
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It’s all part of a longer cognitive trend of people confusing the abstract model with reality (sometimes willfully), the demand of the current economic consensus that we look at everyone as rational actors in an efficient system, and the expectation of instant gratification that’s normalised by digital technology. Real life is a lot messier, of course, so those useful tools get one only so far in situations like this.
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There’s an old military saying: “Amateurs talk strategy. Professionals talk logistics.”
Yep, it’s been a human thing for a long time, but instant gratification means we’ve got less training in how to deal with it.
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Why because it’s well known that the Nazis love gay people
The head of Russia’s Orthodox Church appeared to blame liberal Western values — drawing particular attention to gay pride parades — for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in his Sunday sermon.
President Vladimir Putin ordered the deadly “special operation” in Ukraine on Feb. 24 to “demilitarize and denazify” the pro-Western country after recognizing eastern Ukraine’s two breakaway territories as independent republics.
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The full quote also puts “Dilettantes talk tactics” in the middle.
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It seems they’ve entered the “prove your loyalty by repeating this crazy shit I say” phase of the dictatorship.
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“How many lights are there?”
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I’m thankful that the Useful Idiots and Campists and Tankies have been largely absent from the discussions here in the past weeks. Between continual bans over the years for their de-railing and victim-blaming behaviour and a generally left-leaning but also educated and well-informed community they seem to have realised that they can’t hang on BB BBS.
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Patriarch Kirill doesn’t need any prompting to say this. The Russian Orthodox Church is effectively a state religion now, and the discourse about Russia being a bastion of traditional values has been going on for years. That’s why the American Right admire Russia.
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Well, one of the reasons. Admiration for a white, authoritarian, strongman leader is a big factor as well.
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Russia disconnects from internet in tests as it bolsters security - RBC daily
Russia has been preparing for this sort of thing for some time. They conducted a few trial runs of being cut off from the internet a few years back. Basically, they wanted to ensure that their network infrastructure could still operate if isolated from the rest of the world.
Somewhat telling, either of the perceived threat of information not filtered through state controlled media or perhaps a fear that they are grounded from having internet access after conducting some manner of cyber attack.
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It’s analogous to what American Xtianists would like to impose on us here. No official declaration, just enthusiastic co-operation with the one-party central government that ensures repression of LGBTQ people, restricts the rights of women to control their own bodies, and promotes anti-Semitism as an expedient political tool.
Fascists are nothing without their culture wars. Hooking the ideology into fundie religion is a powerful move in that regard.
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