Susan Ruggles

Rethinking Ukraine: An Open Letter to Medea Benjamin and Nicolas Davies slrimagination.blogspot.com/2023/01/open-l…

You know, the conquest and enslavement of Ukraine -- with its natural and human resources, its geographic position in Europe, its brains, its access to the sea, and its extraordinarily rich breadbasket -- was in the 18th century one of the key factors that enabled tsarist Moscow to proclaim itself the Russian Empire. Through control over Ukraine, it achieved unprecedented power and remained, in its various forms, a scourge of Europe right up to very 1991. Today, looking at these photographs (and this is the Russian oil port of Tuapse burning again tonight) I find myself understanding clearly that the Russian Empire in many ways began with Ukraine, and it is Ukraine that will bury it. And that will be the ultimate act of historical justice for all the centuries of enslavement, Holodomors, savage bloodshed, and isolation from the civilized world.

This man exhibits the supreme confidence of someone who has no idea that he has no idea what he's talking about

This is the true legacy of DOGE - the utter decimation of medical research. MAGA idiots will try to tell you this is just cutting DEI programs. Keep in mind DOGE was filled with such idiots they killed physics grants that mentioned 'polarization' (of light) because of "DEI".

So we're calling these guys the "Liquor Cabinet"?

Teachers in Russia’s Chelyabinsk region were instructed to read out an edited version of a speech by Adolf Hitler. Eight out of 12 schools agreed. The stunt was organized by Belarusian activist Vladislav Bokhan, known for previously persuading Russian teachers to wear tinfoil hats as part of the fake "Helmet of the Fatherland" campaign. Bokhan took Hitler’s speech from September 1, 1939, replaced "Danzig" (Gdańsk) with "Donbas," and "Reich" with "Russia," and, posing as representatives of the ruling United Russia party, suggested that teachers record an address to Russian soldiers. As part of his project "Triumph of the Moth," the actionist demonstrates how closely modern Russia aligns with the 14 features of Ur-Fascism described by Umberto Eco. According to Bokhan, 12 out of 14 have already been confirmed through his actions.

In November 2013, Yanukovych was blackmailed by Putin: if he dared to sign the agreement with the EU, Putin would take large parts of Ukraine, according to Hennadiy Moskal (2018). Yanukovych also told the Lithuanian president Grybauskaitė that he was being blackmailed by Putin.

The inevitable conclusion from the released Putin-Bush transcripts: Putin didn’t invade Ukraine because he opposed NATO enlargement. Putin opposed NATO enlargement because it would have prevented his goal of invading and eliminating Ukraine. The ideas he had a quarter century ago - that Ukraine (and Kazakhstan) are “artificial countries” that have been “given away” by Russia and therefore must return — are the ideas he still holds today.

I think it’s bad that the FBI director is being paid by the Russian government.

To raucous applause in Moscow, Russian academician Nigmatulin cites that as Russia now ranks 51st out of 53 developed nations on economic parameters, that it's time to oust the leadership responsible for the catastrophe.

Officially one of my fave cat videos of all time now

2014 Donetsk - mass protests against the Russian occupation of Donetsk. This was after the Russians started killing protesters - people were not scared and went out to protest anyway.

@CaolanReports I expect lots of shredding and fleeing in the US too, once the Trump administration gets kicked out of office.

There’s bins full of shredded documents outside the ministry of foreign affairs in Budapest because the government handover became a crime scene this week. Lots of Orban’s circle will be fleeing to Moscow.

@vincempls Trump is the Second Coming, alright — the Second Coming of Hitler.

July 21 1935: The Führer orders a new reception hall and ballroom to "entertain foreign diplomats" at the Chancellery. Underneath the dance floor is an air raid shelter. A 2nd deeper bunker is built next to this in 1944, where he would spend his last days as the Reich collapsed.

Take a good look folks. These are the Minnesota boundary waters. Every Republican senator voted to allow a Chilean billionaire to mine it. The minerals will go to China. This truly enrages me. It should you as well. Fuck, and I mean fuck… The @GOP 🖕

@BiankaB12 I’m starting to think that the Budapest Memorandum was a cynical ploy to disarm Ukraine, with the expectation that it would eventually be retaken by Russia, one way or another.

It’s worth acknowledging that for over a century, U.S. policy - across both Democrats and Republicans - has consistently treated the preservation of Russia as a higher priority than the sovereignty of the nations on its border. - 1919: Wilson and Lansing, at Paris, back a “strong, united Russia” and decline to recognize Ukrainian independence. - 1991: Bush warns Ukrainians in Kyiv against “suicidal nationalism” three weeks before they declare independence; privately tells Gorbachev a Soviet collapse isn’t in America’s interest. - 1994: Clinton secures Ukraine’s nuclear disarmament with “assurances,” not guarantees, the stronger commitment was refused. - 2014: Obama denies Ukraine lethal aid after Crimea, citing Russia’s “escalation dominance.” - 2022: Biden and Sullivan slow-walk tanks, ATACMS, and F-16s under the banner of “escalation management”. - 2025: Trump and Vance press Kyiv to surrender territory Russia hasn’t even conquered, renounce NATO, and cap its army - while framing Russian maximalism as “concessions.” The lesson here is that nobody else will care nor protect your sovereignty, and neither Ukraine, nor any other nation, ought to be seeking security assurances from someone else, especially with this track record. The best course of action remains European integration, so this collection of states of various sizes and output - can work and cooperate, and when it comes down to it - defend and negotiate as one strong block, not individual small nations. Everything else is futile.

Since some supposed anti-imperialists are pathetically lamenting the collapse of the USSR, let me repost this article and emphasize why I think we're misconstruing the meaning of the 1990s economic hardship. 1991 was liberation, not just collapse. eurozine.com/liberation-not…

When encountering arguments like these, I think it’s important to remember that portraying both sides as “the same” to foster apathy and cynicism is one of the primary strategies used in Russian propaganda and disinformation.

@LibbySnowflak Reichstag 2014.

12 years ago russian neo-nazis tried to seize Odesa at gunpoint. As Ukrainians fought back, they fled, set their own building on fire, and russian propaganda spent a decade blaming Ukraine for it. Video shows the moment the pro-russians started the fire themselves.

@JayinKyiv “This factory of lies will be put to an end.” — Peter Magyar

Magyar cleaning house.