this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2024
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the_dunk_tank

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It's the dunk tank.

This is where you come to post big-brained hot takes by chuds, libs, or even fellow leftists, and tear them to itty-bitty pieces with precision dunkstrikes.

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Libs: "THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO QUESTION THAT THERE'S GENOCIDE IN XINJIANG, AND IF YOU DARE TO BRING UP THE LACK OF EVIDENCE OF ANY SORT OF ABUSE FOR THE PAST 3 YEARS YOU'LL GET BANNED!!!!"

Also libs: "Didn't you know that 15k of the 40k humans murdered in Gaza were actually terrorists? it-is-known Also, lots of civilians die in wars like the one happening in Gaza, it's sad but inevitable"

smuglord

Fuuuuuuuuuck this shit.

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[–] vovchik_ilich@hexbear.net 47 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

To actually answer your experiment: the war in Ukraine is an imperialist war between capitalist Russia and a proxy of the capitalist west (mainly US through NATO influence). Russia is on a scary and dangerous trend towards fascism, and I have loved ones directly suffering the consequences of this.

Edit: not just Russia, to be fair. France, Germany, the US (just to name a few western countries) are clearly on a similar and equally worrying trend. And nobody seems to care when other eastern European countries such as Poland literally ban communist parties (as a good fascist would do), and have people in congress using fire extinguishers against jewish symbols during Hannukah.

Anyone who had a look at Lenin's "Imperialism: highest stage of capitalism" and took it seriously, knew that there would be war in Europe as soon as they realized that the means of production of the former USSR were auctioned in a corrupt fashion, and their structure of ownership went not to western hands, but to national interests that collide with those of the US. Since that moment, it was just a matter of time that there would be conflict.

Wow, materialist analysis of a conflict, instead of simplistic "Putin bad" or "NATO bad"? (both of these statements being true). Now, what do you answer?

[–] RomCom1989@hexbear.net 39 points 2 months ago

You're going at it wrong

You need to add some Marvel references and throw in some hamburger analogies so the drone-like WASPs posting this shit can understand

[–] ikilledtheradiostar@hexbear.net 24 points 2 months ago (2 children)

What I don't understand about Russia is, if they're capitalist then why don't they engage in imperialism? The capitalists there have the same interests as capitalists everywhere. Why weren't they folded into the hegemony they way capitalists of Europe were?

[–] Cowbee@hexbear.net 36 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

As we all know here, I am very stupid i-love-not-thinking but I'll give this a shot based on my current understanding.

The USSR was not Imperialist, so when it was sliced up and sold to nationalist Capitalists, there were no readily available colonies to exploit, and Western Powers had already divied up the Global South amongst themselves. With little international exploitation, the Russian Bourgeoisie is Nationalist in character, exploiting their internal proletariat. Meanwhile, Western Powers seek the industrial base of Russia, causing constant conflict.

Russia therefore aligns with BRICS after failing to join NATO and take their "share" of Imperialist super-profits. They tried, and were rejected!

[–] ikilledtheradiostar@hexbear.net 30 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I appreciate the response. I need to probably read more about the topic

[–] Cowbee@hexbear.net 25 points 2 months ago

Same here, hence the preface, but I did feel comfortable enough in said analysis to post my reply.

[–] Belly_Beanis@hexbear.net 15 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I think you could also describe Russian foreign policy in the Middle East (namely Syria) as "adventurism." AFAIK they're still occupying parts of Syria with no real exit strategy. While this was done at the request of Syria's government in order to combat ISIS, Putin hasn't let the opportunity pass him by to build oil pipelines and whatnot.

Russia has always been called "the sick old man of Europe" for a reason.

[–] Leon_Grotsky@hexbear.net 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I wouldn't say "Always"

The first popular usage of the phrase was Tsar Nicholas I calling the Ottoman Empire the sick man in the 1800's, and it was ascribed to alot of nations by alot of nations after WWII.

[–] heggs_bayer@hexbear.net 4 points 2 months ago

Nowadays Europe is the sick man of Europe.

[–] Commiejones@hexbear.net 26 points 2 months ago

Putin tried really had to be taken into the fold imperialism. He assisted the west in its looting of Russia. He tried to join NATO but the crypto fascists who run NATO will never forgive the Slavic peoples for destroying the third reich. After getting teased and given the run around for decades he slowly wised up to the game. Putin realized by 2014 they wouldn't let him be a European but until late 2023 he still didn't understand that the west could never be trusted.

[–] RaisedFistJoker@hexbear.net 7 points 2 months ago

I dont think the war in ukraine is an inter imperialist war, it is an anticolonial war started by the national bourgeoisie

Losurdo (2017):

The risk of a great war remains as a result of the efforts, on the part of the United States, to stop anti-colonial revolutions, and to construct a new colonial counter-revolution. The US stands opposed China, but we can also consider here the position of Russia. In my books I insist on a point which is perhaps neglected: the history of Russia in general — not just of Soviet Russia, but of Russia in general — is, on the one hand, the history of an imperial and expansionist power, but there is another aspect to this historical reality: Russia has been at risk of becoming a colony for a very long time. We all know about the invasions by Hitler, by Napoleon, by Charles XII, by the Mongols. For example, if we remit ourselves back to the beginning of the 17th century, it was the Polish who exercised power in Moscow. Immediately after World War I — after the defeat of Tsarist Russia — Russia was in danger of being balkanized, of becoming a colony. Here I quote Stalin, who said that the West saw Russia like they saw Central Africa, that they were trying to drag it into war for the sake of Western capitalism and imperialism. [2]

The end of the Cold War, with the West and the United States triumphant, once again put Russia at risk of becoming a colony. Massive privatization was not only a betrayal of the working classes of the Soviet Union and Russia, it was also a betrayal of the Russian nation itself. The West was trying to take over Russia’s massive energy deposits, and the US came very close to acquiring them. Here Yeltsin played the role of “great champion” for the Western colonization effort. Putin is not a communist, that much is clear, but he wants to stop this colonization, and seeks to reassert Russian power over its energy resources.

https://redsails.org/losurdo-and-opera/