Maria Popova

Exactly. And all out of a pathological inferiority complex

We do war ourselves. It flows out of our hearts. We give birth to war. And through war we create our world, our Russian world.”

Putin's philosopher exalts war “Russia’s War” is the latest literary offering from Russia’s favourite crank philosopher, Alexander Dugin. It is not a book about Russia’s war against Ukraine. It is a book about wars and warriors as ...

Ru is thoroughly fascist right now. “What awaits Russia in future? War awaits Russia. We must turn towards war. It is woven into the pattern of our destiny. The question ‘war or no war?’ does not exist. … War is a spiritual metaphysical phenomenon...
workersliberty.org/story/2025-1...

No worries. Occasionally, yes

That's not me :-) You want @mariapopova.bsky.social

The Only Cultural Legacy Russia Leaves Behind Is Scorched Earth Ukraine's rich cultural heritage garners global interest, supported by robust initiatives to promote Ukrainian art, literature, and music worldwide.

Russia’s bombs may level cities, but they can’t bury Ukraine’s identity.

Ukraine’s foreign minister says every destroyed museum or church fuels a new kind of resistance—one fought with art, memory, and truth.

Yes, she continued a much older policy. It's her post-2022 explanations that are awful. Instead of saying "we negotiated in good faith and Ru was imperialist all along" she is absurdly claiming Europe didn't negotiate in good faith and trying to blame everyone else but Pu/Ru for the war.

💪🇺🇦

It's truly awful.

I agree. The traditional left-right cleavage is almost entirely gone

I see what you mean. But I'm not sure how we can wish a centre-left that is both popular and not populist into existence. In my view, anyone who tries that route is accused by the far left of being a sellout centrist. The 2026 NDP leadership campaign seems headed in a populist direction...

Imo, the context in the US and in Europe is different. Your point reflects the problem in the US. Tbh, I'm not certain what the path forward there is. In Europe, the far-right and far-left are banding together to undermine every center-left/center-right government and push pro-Ru/pro-China policies.

War in Ukraine: The French left's impossible consistency In the name of realism and fighting American imperialism, radical parties like La France Insoumise and the Communists plead for negotiations with Russia.

Perhaps you're not paying attention to their position on the war. Every time I mention that the far left is pro-Pu, I get coious gaslighting where people point to one "Pu is bad" statement to dismiss the far-left's consistent anti-Ukr/pro-Ru advocacy www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...

The old ones have a tinge of Santa Claus, the new ones-- of university regalia. I agree the new ones are better.

For the sake of lasting peace in Europe, russia must be defeated.

Putin is the modern day Hitler, you're trying to tell me about "nuance" in interpreting his actions and you advocate against those who try to help Putin's victims, but I'm the fascist collaborator! You're demonstrating truly amazing lack of self-awareness.

You're quite possibly right. I just wanted to explain why I tend to use centrist...

Dunno what you mean exactly by leftist thinker. But there are tons and tons of leftist intellectuals/figures who hold positions that are deeply pro-Pu even if they are careful to use "Putin is a brutal dictator, but..." as a disclaimer. West, Chomsky, Varoufakis, Mignolo, Piker.. the list is long.

The silly analogy you're trying to use reveals your position. Helping Ukraine defend itself is helping Ukraine defend itself. It's not Agent Orange. If Ukraine stops defending itself, it falls under genocidal Ru occupation, which apparently you're okay with. I'm not wasting my time on you.

Spare me. It's exactly the same thing. The "NATO skeptics" want to throw Ukraine under the bus while they fake concern for the Ukrainian working class.

Independent is a quintessentially American term. I think it's not very straightforward in the European context. Center-left and center-right seem perfectly good meaningful terms in the European context.

Nothing and it's great that you don't. Unfortunately, the leadership of the French far-left does support Pu's Ru. Enemy of my enemy kind of thing

Haha. Do you know who the French far-left supports? Putin! The same guy who heads a murderous fascist dictatorship.

Such a tired, silly cliche. Let me emphasize since this poster completely misunderstands my post: I'm calling for confrontation. I think centrists who want to save democracy should absolutely confront the far-right/far-left blob who shares a love for Putin's Ru and other autocracies.

I don’t know enough about French politics to have a good hunch

I’m guessing the French political crisis that’s unfolding right now is a radicalizing event for all centrists. The far-right and the far-left making barely distinguishable statements is deeply off putting.

Fra/Ger took it as a good faith negotiation all along. They even accepted Ru's claim DNR/LNR were real Ukr separatists. She repeats the lie to all pro-Ru's glee who use it as proof the West wanted to “steal” Ukr from Ru all along. She sounds like a Ru propagandist these days. Her legacy is shot.

While people split hairs abt whether Merkel blamed Poland/Baltics for a missed negotiation opportunity in 2022 or only implied it, the worst part of her statement was repeating the lie that the Minsk Agreements were *meant* to give Ukr an opportunity to become stronger when, in fact...

Ukraine endured a large-scale overnight Russian missile and drone attack. Lviv was hit by repeated strikes, including Kh-101 and potential Kinzhal launches. Explosions continued for hours, causing fires and power outages. Public transport in Lviv remains suspended.

Yes, he’s one of the few IR people who didn’t get hoodwinked by the ridiculous argument and is helping to dismantle it.