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(en) Belarus, Pramen: HOW THE FUCK IS THAT POSSIBLE?! (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]
Date
Thu, 19 Jan 2023 08:08:53 +0200
These are words from a recent song by one of the vocalists of the band Kasta
Vladi. The phrase, after 10 months of full-scale war in Ukraine, continues to be
almost the main question of Russian society. How is it that from being very
"great" nation, Russians have suddenly become outcasts all over the planet? Yet
many continue to ignore the great-power chauvinism that brought us here. ---- The
invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and the subsequent full-scale war earlier this year
are not the only massacres the Russian government has engaged in. Take, for
example, the war in Chechnya. Recall a bit of history - when the USSR collapsed,
part of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR seceded into the Chechen Republic, out of the
control of Moscow's elites. For dreams of independence the Kremlin drowned
Chechnya in blood, killing up to 100 thousand civilians according to various
estimates. The dead Russian soldiers were counted then as now, but thanks to the
work of the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers it is known that at least 14,000
soldiers died in the first Chechen war alone.
Grozny was razed to the ground then, just as many Ukrainian cities are destroyed
now. Then Russian society responded moderately to the military action against the
independent republic, and in the presidential elections 81% of the population
voted for the Russian empire: 52% for Putin and 29% for Zyuganov. We all know how
the war in Chechnya ended for the Chechen people. The Russian Federation was able
to hold Chechnya and thus sent a signal to all the other peoples who found
themselves under Moscow's boot - we will drown the uprising for independence in
blood and we are ready for any losses.
Next was South Ossetia and the silence of Russian cities against Moscow's
imperial policies. The occupation of Crimea and the introduction of troops into
eastern Ukraine were not a serious threat to Putin's political power in the
Kremlin either.
In 2015, the Moscow regime sent its troops to Syria to support the dictator
Bashar al-Assad, against whom the local population rebelled back in 2011. The
actions of the Russian military in Syria are one reason why the deaths of Russian
officers are celebrated across the planet. At least half a million people have
died in the country's civil war, and some of those people were killed by Russian
troops.
What was the reaction of Russian society to this? None. Xenophobia and racism,
such important components of great-power chauvinism, helped not just to justify
inaction, but also to make Syrians once again "savages" who did not deserve
freedom (as it had been done to Chechens, Georgians, Dagestanians, and others).
And now we are asked "how is it fucking possible" after three decades of imperial
policy of the Russian Federation (and before that the USSR and the Russian
Empire) that the soldiers of the new empire march into neighboring countries to
conquer new territories and enslave new peoples? How is it fucking possible that
during a bloody war you care more about closing McDonald's than you do about the
health and safety of your neighbors? How is it fucking possible that Russians
tell the whole world about Putin's bloody regime, but many in their entire lives
have never once tried to fight the regime. How is it fucking possible that in a
country of 144 million people only several dozen thousands (at best) come out to
protest?
That's how it's possible that while you're sleeping and dreaming about the great
Russian state, that state becomes a reality and not everyone likes the look of it
anymore. Don't try to make excuses for your inaction all these years. Much more
important is what you are doing now. And without risk you can't stop Putin and
his horde. So think about whether you should move to Germany or France or try to
fight and stop whining about the "good" Russians.
Alexei Stoev for pramen.io (opinion of the author can differ from opinion of the
collective)
https://pramen.io/en/2023/01/how-the-fuck-is-that-possible/
_________________________________________
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