Goodbye Lenin: Russia Launches Z-Day to Undo 70 Years of Communist Nation-Building in Ukraine
Not "denazification", "decommunization" is the big war goal
Putin has cited “demilitarization” and “denazification” as his war goals. There will be no “demilitarization”. The goal is to add Ukraine’s strength to Russia’s, or as much of it as possible. That includes its military potential.
Desire for “denazification” on the other hand is indeed one of the reasons for this war. I wrote that it would be a month ago:
It would be just as much about cleaning up historic Russian lands and cities of UPA pollution. Of refusing to allow a revision of how WW2 is told in Ukraine. It may sound crazy to be moved to war over such symbolic issues, but then there are others who would say that after food and shelter the symbolic stuff is the *only* thing worth fighting for. It is just that until July 2021 we didn’t know that Vladimir Putin may be one of them. Remember this is a religious issue for Russians. Russia’s real cult is not Orthodoxy, it’s WW2.
Euromaidan Ukraine isn’t a Nazi state, but it is one where neo-Nazis and Banderites are given more space, prestige, and respectability than is in good taste. Since that means that Nazis prance around places like Kharkov and Kiev which Russians understand to be historically common Ukrainian-Russian cities that is hugely offensive to Russians, the elite included. To tolerate Nazi and Nazi-adjacent symbols officially flown as far east as Mariupol would mean to live as if Barbarossa had never been reversed, though it had been, and though 25 million died to make it so.
Nonetheless “denazification” is not the biggest reason for the war. As Putin let it slip during his Feb 21 speech the key cause is actually “decommunization”. Specifically reversing the very worst aspects of Communist-era nation-building in Ukraine. Nation-building which took Rusin (“Ruthenian”) peasants who were on track to with urbanization become fully Russified, and instead worked overtime to push them into the then still fringe Ukrainian identity. There is no unringing some bells. Ukrainians will remain Ukrainians after the war, but instead of this ethnic identifier being packaged as eternal victims of Great Russian colonialism, it will be packaged as one of the branches of the “triune” Rus people together with Belarusians and Russians.
I wrote about that too:
Putin has already undone Khruschev’s legacy on Ukraine. If you’re someone like I who didn’t see that coming, then how can you be certain he won’t also move to undo Lenin’s legacy of spinning off Russian territory into an Anti-Russia? Specifically, after he wrote that that is something the country he is the president of can not allow?
As accusations are being flung about who is responsible for this war I think it is important to realize and to remember that the major cause of the present war was already baked in before any of us were born. Sure, NATO, missiles, and all that stuff played a part, but as much as Americans would like to believe otherwise, they are not always at the center of everything. This is an East Slavic civil war with largely East Slavic causes. It is literally the expedition of four East Slavic states (with Pridnestrovie not unsympathetic but too exposed to participate) against the one remaining East Slavic state which had strayed too far from the fold.
Of course, Lenin’s woke spin on nation-building did not make war a hundred years later inevitable. The Ruthenians/Rusini to the north of the Pripyat marshes were also herded by Communists into a non-Russian identity, yet there is no war between Moscow and Belarus. Belarus has never hidden from the reality that Ukraine and Russia are more than just generic neighbors. They are kin. By contrast, EuroKiev especially after 2014 moved to aggressively slash and burn the heavily intertwined links between the branches of the Rus. To place no less than a civilizational fault line between Kharkov and Kursk, between Ruthenia Minor and Ruthenia Major. What EuroKiev has sought to cut Putin’s Moscow has voted to preserve. Their fates will remain intertwined. In a bad way if necessary.
Finally, it is also the case that there is a Cold War II going on. A Cold War more dangerous and unstable than the first one, because where the West felt enmity towards the Soviet Union, toward Russia it feels only loathing. The difference between the two is fear. (After 1970) The Soviet Union was regarded as a near-equal and commanded a measure of respect. By contrast, seeing Russia started out from total collapse Moscow having any power or leverage at all — even just the power to not be a plaything of the West — is experienced as infuriating and ultimately illegitimate. Russia is less a powerful and worthy adversary, and more a deplorable spin-off away from civilization into retrograde barbarism that has somehow acquired an army and a navy.
Yet even though we find ourselves in the middle of this (highly unstable) contest between Washington and its bloc and Russia, it was not fully clear where the border between the two ran, and on which side of the border was Ukraine. Washington felt good about the situation where Ukraine for very little investment and very little risk was slowly drifting toward its side of the border. Instead, Russia has moved to demarcate that border here and now, and to do it on its own terms, at the cost of investment and risk that DC would never undertake for Ukraine, but that a nationalist Russia always would (we just didn’t know until now that Putin had indeed evolved into a credible Russian nationalist).
Another thing, I have criticized Putin for sprinkling his stated cause for war with outrageous FSB fakes. But when it comes to stating the real, ideological case for war he has been incredibly forthright. He stated it all already in his July 2021 article on Ukraine (the decision to go to war was probably already made before the first buildup of March-April 2021) that I heavily promoted on these pages, and cited on several occasions. He restated it again for the entire nation in his February 21st speech.
Everything was laid out in the open, but of course, being a head of state such episodes when Putin is leveling with his audience, are surrounded by episodes when he is serving up official double-speak. You have to know which is which. If it is as radical as his Ukraine article was it’s probably sincere. If he is instead downplaying something, eg saying that war is unthinkable, or that withdrawal is starting, or that war goal is “demilitarization” or that there will be no occupation, then that is something you really can’t take to the bank because that is something he would say whether it was true or not.
There is no politics of truth, not to mention war of truth. This FSB shit is tasteless and unnecessary given 7 years of broken Minsk agreements.
I congratulate you for seeing clearly and not being afraid of insulting the illusions some of your readers.
All those pro-Putin sites telling us there will be no war because Putin does not take the bait, now there is no admission of wrong analysis. Never trust ideologues!
Now, after Russia has dealt with the Ukraine Issue, it’s time for Russia to:
and let the West drown neck- deep in its own sh*t.
If only the CCP would grow some balls right about now. I don’t want war, and I don’t want Death to reign supreme, however as an American — I’d love to see my gov’t get a fat ugly bloody nose. Of course too many here worship Death, so that would merely make us go full retard.
Totally agree, lets go full retard and wipe out the dirty war whore ruskies.
Then when the radiation settles, we can teach the children how evil the russians were.
Is time also for Putin do crash the holocaust laws and promote History revisionism!!!
Little do you know Putin is in on the covid hoax as a member of the WEF .he agrees with the new world order agenda.
>>>”Remember this is a religious issue for Russians. Russia’s real cult is not Orthodoxy, it IS WW2.”
So; there will be a Russia/Hungary common border ? and a common border with Poland and Roumania ? (all three under NATO occupation at present) Allegedly this is exactly what Russia wanted to avoid, a direct contact with NATO. Well, at least the border between Poland and White Russia will really be closed now, and Luka the subhuman Shenko will have to keep the infestation he imported, in his own backyard and living-room.
No homeland, no self-determination for the people of Halych, who lived there, in their own kingdom, long before Mother Russia & Pan-Slavia was a wet dream in somebody’s pants.
(how secure is the future of Bosnia and Kosovo ? if the train runs on time between Kiev and Belgrade ?)
Putin said the only way war would begin was if Ukraine attacked the Donbass.
Ukraine kept building forces at Western (US/UK) direction along the demarcation line and began heavy shelling. The West was gun running,,, plane after plane to Kiev dropping off arms and munitions. Putin had no choice,,, every day of waiting put Russian troops in more danger. The Republics knew they could not take on Ukraine’s 150 – 200,000 man buildup, asked for help and Russia is now eliminating Ukraine’s ability to wage war. Putin has sat for years while Ukraine kept shelling the Republics and killing civilians. It would be difficult if I were a citizen of Ukraine to remain patriotic to a regime that made second class citizens out of these Republics and kept on killing them. The Republics simply did not want anything to do with the illegal government the US and West installed by funding a coup. I cannot blame them for breaking away.
I blame Putin for waiting so long to correct the situation the West created. The Minsk agreement was never going to be implemented by Ukraine. They wanted the Republics back as a slave master relationship. The US did the same during its war between the States and is presently foisting another. The South was completely destroyed and that is what they wanted the Ukrainians to do to those Republics.
The Ukro-Nazis were helped by the US same as it helped the Nazis in Germany before England decided to declare war on Germany over Poland. The US and West are now firmly fascist States. Fascism demands aggression and the submission of citizens.
I only hope Russia is generous enough to change the course of Ukraine to a more peaceful nation, a better economy and to allow them to keep what’s left of their territory.The People there deserve it after having their economy destroyed and turned into attack dogs by the West. The other nations of Eastern Europe should take this as a warning and stop being so damned warlike but they won’t.
As I said before,,, this is all a diversion brought on by the West I assume to get people to forget about the fake virus, the restrictions and the mandates. The West simply pounded the war drums too hard and this time Putin was not bluffing.
Some useful perspectives:
Western states which are currently trumpeting the absolute and universal applicability of the principle of the territorial integrity of states had no problem with supporting the self-determination of peoples in Eritrea, East Timor, South Sudan and, with a heavy helping hand from 77 days of NATO bombing in flagrant violation of international law, Kosovo.
The barest majority of UN member states (97 out of 193) currently extend diplomatic recognition to Kosovo. Decisions in this regard are inevitably influenced by potential precedents close to home. Of the five EU member states which do not recognize Kosovo, two, Cyprus and Spain, have concerns with separatist movements on their own territories, while Greece withholds recognition out of solidarity with Greek Cypriots.
Finally, the U.S. government’s first-in-the-world status in recognizing Israeli sovereignty over occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and in recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over the occupied Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara) — in all three cases, contrary to the wishes of the entire occupied people — makes clear that the only principle consistently adhered to by the U.S. government in such matters is the fundamental principle of contemporary international relations: It is not the nature of the act that matters but, rather, who is doing it to whom.
Most governments, particularly powerful ones, choose their “principles” from an à la carte menu in accordance with their preferred flavor du jour.
When Cuba wanted to join the Warsaw Pact 60 years ago, America attempted an invasion (Bay of Pigs) and then threatened Russia with WWIII if it did not withdraw its missiles and armed forces.
Now Russia is doing the same over Ukraine joining NATO, but Biden unlike Khrushchev did not heed the warning. The Democrats will pay a big electoral price on insisting Ukraine’s right to join NATO when they never had the intention of enforcing it.
On February 16, The New York Times reported that the United States is building “a highly sensitive U.S. military installation” in Poland, just 100 miles from Russia’s border. The base, which is scheduled to begin operation this year, is a site from which the U.S. could deploy nuclear-armed missiles.
“The advanced and potentially nuclear armed missile deployments in Poland, Romania, and on the Black Sea constituted a clear threat to Russia,” Jack Rasmus, professor of politics and economics at St. Mary’s College, wrote.
The last drop in the bucket were the U.S. plans to install parts of its missile defense system in eastern Europe. This neither makes sense to protect Europe, nor is it geographically relevant against (nonexistent) missiles from Iran or North Korea. The only plausible reason for these new weapons is to break the Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) balance that protected against a nuclear exchange during the cold war.
Putin made clear that he regards the West hardening its line about arming Ukraine as an existential threat to Russia. “The US gave the orders to Zelensky to threaten the development of nuclear missiles. That is what brought this to a head. The US knew that was going to happen and wanted it to happen. They are leading Putin around as in a dog collar.” Then Zelensky threatened to develop nuclear weapons and repudiated the Minsk Agreements. As Putin explained, Ukraine already has so many of the necessary nuclear capabilities that the last steps are within reach.After 5 years, Putin lost patience.
Meanwhile, Biden didn’t have the DECENCY to pick up the phone to call Zelenskyy, the President of a country NATO convinced to give up its Nuclear Arsenal promising it would be “protected” by Europe and US. ?
After decades of hearing US politicians boastingly describe the US as the “exceptional nation,” justifying its repeated violation of international law with invasions of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Panama, Grenada, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, El Salvador, and “regime change interventions in a host of other countries, because it could, all the while telling the rest of the nations of the world that they had to strictly obey the “rules-based order” of international relations, that countries do not invade or violate the borders of other countries, suddenly there is another nation that has decided it is “exceptional.”
We broke our promise to not expand NATO to the east. There are now NATO members on Russia’s border.
We are arming the Ukrainian military with offensive weapons.
The CIA is providing para-military training to Ukrainians believed to have ties to the neo-Nazi AZOV battalion.
The United States has invaded Iraq twice, Afghanistan, Panama, Grenada, Libya, Syria, Somalia and the Balkans all in the name of defending freedom or some other interest trumped up as a deadly threat.
The United States repeatedly refused to rule out Ukraine as a member of NATO.
the Ukrainian government is committing against Russians and all other citizens who speak Russian in Ukraine. Ukraine waged a kind of “jihad“ against the Russian language and culture.
From January 16, 2020, Ukraine translated all its services into Ukrainian by force of law. So: all shops, cafes and restaurants, banks and pharmacies had to comply with this shameful law. All employees have become obliged to communicate with customers – guests and clients – exclusively in Ukrainian. The Russian language has become completely banned. The mass media also came under attack from Ukrainization. Now, 75 percent of programs on national television are broadcasted in the Ukrainian language, and by 2024, the obligation will be – 90 percent.(1)
All these actions of the Ukrainian government, which have clear elements of fascism, forced pro –Russian forces in Ukraine to react. That is why there were riots in Ukraine with the desire to separate large parts of the territory from Ukraine.
It is clear to all analysts dealing with Ukraine that today`s Ukraine is United States instrument against Russia.
The fact that Kiev received at least $200 million in U.S. “lethal aid” as well as other Western-made weapons over the past two months, means that Kiev rejects a peaceful solution. And Russian President Vladimir Putin has been offering this peaceful solution for years.
Maxim Grigoriev, a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, director of the Foundation for Research on Democracy, who began his speech by summarizing the results of eight years since the coup in Kiev. “The political results of Euromaidan are even sadder than the economic ones,” he said. “This includes war crimes – deliberate shelling of women and children in Donbas. We see what is happening inside Ukraine, it is the fight against dissidents, when those who do not share the views of the country’s leadership are killed, arrested, kidnapped. This includes the fight against TV channels, including “Ukrainian death squads” – “Azov”, “Right Sector”. They kill dissidents and are trained by the same instructors who prepared “death squads” in Latin America.
PROFESSOR JOHN MEARSHEIMER: THE SITUATION IN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE. https://youtu.be/Nbj1AR_aAcE
lets just nuke em, thats all we deserve. full blown nuclear war. Then we can feel smug in the after glow of a nuclear winter. why do old men like yourself talk rubbish, this faut that fault, blah blah blah. We fix it now with nuclear war. pussy
Do not let all these bloody Judo-Bandera bastards to escape
Zionist mafia in US runs the show
yeah, lets nuke em all
You may find some value in this…
-The Soviet Cult of Childhood
blogs.bu.edu/guidedhistory/russia-and-its-empires/elise-alexander/