The Duluthian

28/ To dismiss the link between Soviet nostalgia and Russia’s actions is to erase the lived histories of nations that endured both Soviet and Russian domination.

20/ The Kremlin’s annual “Immortal Regiment” marches, ostensibly commemorations of WWII, have become rituals of militarized state identity by blurring past and present, implying that to fight in Ukraine is to finish the Great Patriotic War.

19/ In occupied territories, Soviet monuments destroyed during Ukraine’s post-USSR era of independence have been rebuilt, while Ukrainian memorials are erased. School curricula reintroduce Soviet-era “patriotic education.” Streets revert to their Soviet names. This is not simple innocent nostalgia.

5/ Putin has been explicit about how he feels:
“The collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century.” This line, delivered in 2005 and repeated countless times since, isn’t just nostalgia from a man who built his existence on his time in the KGB.

3/ This weak "defense" is repeated as if this weird secondhand nostalgia for the USSR were an aesthetic preference or a form of anti-capitalist sentiment detached from present-day violence. This separation is fiction.

1/ while it does make me giggle to see a hardcore/death metal band in oregon wearing "soviet straight edge" hoodies, i'm also fed up with weird soviet romanticization. soviet romanticism directly fuels russia's war in ukraine and the spread of russian imperialism. i'll explain why -

Absolutely nothing. Just the mass loss of life in a campaign of collective punishment. Online, it served a gateway for cranks to promote braindead conspiracies

Can't believe it has been 2 years since the October 7 attacks. And since then so much in the region has changed.

Gaza is in ruins with over 60k dead, majority of the Israeli hostages are returned or dead, Hezbollah and Iran were weakened, and the Assad regime no longer exists.

This not even mentioning the open calls for genocide or people cheering on the killing of civilians in real life. Or the massive increase in anti Jewish and anti Muslim hate crimes and incidents that followed. I don't blame anyone who lost their faith in humanity after that.

I still haven't forgotten how garbage, unhinged and cancerous Twitter (and social media) was in October/late 2023 even by its own standards.

Never before in my life had I ever seen so much bloodlust, hatred and genocidal levels of dehumanization. Who even needs Neo Nazi sites anymore?

Yea covid for sure

This is a statistic that speaks to a community that is very scared. That fear is part of why Zionism took off. If you want to oppose Zionism, you need to make sure Jews feel safe and welcome in diaspora. Which means doing the exact opposite of justifying stabbings at synagogues on Yom Kippur.

Two more: Half Life (or its 2020 remake, Black Mesa) or Kingdom Come Deliverance II

Two others are Battlefield 1 and Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord

Mordhau

Lane is an obscure pro-Putin conspiracist whose content consists of conspiracies around Kirk’s death & fawning over Putin

Carlson appearing on such a podcast is a prime example of how Kremlin sympathizers platform fringe nobodies to advance Putin’s propaganda under the guise of “independent voices”

"Every synagogue in the world is a valid target unless they actively release a statement rejecting Israel to this person's liking" is the same logic of "Every Palestinian person is a potential terrorist unless they actively denounce Hamas."

1) my synagogue openly calls for an end to the genocide in Gaza, and it doesn't stop of us from receiving threats and requiring security.

2) "just don't go to the only synagogue(s) in your location on Yom Kippur" is a ridiculous ask of observant Jews.

If I had a penny for every time some idiot claimed that Russia must be allowed to do whatever it wants or else World War III will erupt, I’d be swimming in wealth.

Appeasing aggression invites escalation. Holding Russia accountable for its provocations is what actually deters it.

Durov has become a sort of new Assange for Russia, now that Assange is no longer useful

Your resistance, sir

You do not, actually, gotta hand it to code pink

The Russian propagandists are coping and crying hard today. And I am loving every second of it.

ngl, bangers like these make me want to go back to the bad site

Margarita Symonyan’s role in architecting this war is often underplayed, she’s always been there forming a perception in Russian minds, the results of which we see today

It’s actually quite easy to sell a low quality/crappy product in my home city of Duluth. There’s one simple trick. This trick is just slapping “Duluth” in the name of the product/company and voila! You have something that people will buy despite it being of poor quality

Yay another “killing people who had the guts to fight fascists when you didn’t is the real anti fascism” take

voting is a fucking sacred duty and the fact that people don't treat it with the respect that it deserves is telling. you are not "selecting" an electoral product on the market - you are engaging in a form of mobilization and deciding what your values are

Meeting Zelensky / meeting Guterres

Man, I love it when these fake leftists tell on themselves. The struggle for complete liberation is a "ridiculous and maximalist position"

Palestinians have a much less likely chance to end West Bank occupation, yet I would never say that's anything other than a noble struggle deserving support.