Don’t worry, lemmygrad will be here in a second with a bunch of whataboutism about the US.

And yet, tankies still defend this corrupt capitalist state just because it’s not the US.

Nevermind political persecution, assassinations, repression of LGBT people, invasion of neighbouring countries, etc. As long as it’s not the US, it’s all good.

You seem to be ignoring the fact that after the fall of the USSR, Russia didn’t want their assets to be sold or leased to western companies (understandably), so they let corrupt officials take them for pennies of what they were actually worth. Those officials became the oligarchs.

Russians cannibalised Russia.

So, what you’re saying is that the countries that sided with the West got a better deal than the ones that became Russian puppets?

Eastern European countries that opened to western trade and diplomatic relationships improved significantly.

Eastern European countries that became Russian puppets didn’t.

Explain that.

Because the Black Sea Fleet is station in Sevastopol and Sevastopol is a vital strategic resource? Are we speaking the same language?

So if the US has a fleet statinoned in another contry’s territory, should they just be allowed to take it?

Non-sequitor?

What don’t you follow?

Do you also support US-backed countries to take territory as they see fit? Or does that only apply to countries you like?

Okay so you know that UA was shelling Donbass and killing people for years, and the Rada was very openly hostile to the Russian speaking Ukrainian minority, right?

A Russian-backed separatist group starts a conflict and Ukraine responds.

Does Ukraine not have the right to defend their territory?

Could I get a sticker instead?

You can get some crayons to munch on.

I don’t have the time for the classic tankie “reply with a wall of text and deflections”, I actually have a real job to attend to. But some main points.

Do you know that the Russian Black Sea Fleet is based in Sevastopol? Did you know that it’s an incredibly important strategic asset? What do nation states do when an incredibly important strategic asset is threatened? Do they defend it?

Do you also know that Russia took Sevastopol from Ukraine back in 2014?

Tell me, do you also support Israel’s claims on Palestinian territory?

Do you know what the Russian Federation’s stated causus belli for the invasion is?

Yes.

Do you know what the causis belli for the US’s invasion of Iraq was? Are you stupid enough to believe that one as well? Or does believing causus belli only applies to whatever country is not an ally of the US?

What do you know?

I know you should get a gold medal on mental gymnastics and double standards.

So, why didn’t Belarus improve at the same rate as the Baltic countries?

They both started from the bottom, right?

Funny how living standards in the ex-soviet countries have improved considerably since joining the EU, but that has not been the case for the ones that chose to be kept under Russia’s sphere of influence. 🤔

Looks like the EU is really bad at looting, they should learn from Russia.

I would say most leftists (specially the libertarian type), are not on the side of Russia on this.

Tankies have just been really loud with their mental gymnastics lately.

Russia invades a neighbour who dares to attempt to have stronger ties to the west.

West supplies neighbour with weapons to defend itself.

Tankies on Lemmy: “oh no, Russia is being oppressed”

No, it started that way? Do you mean started to be more all encompassing?

So, didn’t the term come to describe people who support the USSR imperialist practices by rolling into countries with tanks?

Anyone who has researched the USSR enough to cut through capitalist propaganda knows Russia is now a neolib-ish bourgeois democracy.

Have you ever seen anything written by the average lemmy tankie? They will defend Russia because it’s not the US.

If the US invades a middle eastern country because of “terrorists”, the true motive is oil (which I don’t disagree with). But if Russia invades Ukraine because they could potentially become a competitor petrol state in Europe more aligned with the EU, then it’s actually “nazis”.

No, I was suggesting that tankie came to describe USSR supporters (which modern apologists project onto Russia, as if the wall never fell). I am aware of the origin of the term.

My comment was a reply on people supporting whatever Russia and China do. It takes a jab at both.

Imagine thinking Chinese workers own the means of production, or not even knowing where the term “tankie” comes from.

Imagine defending Russian and Chinese imperialism because “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”.

I’m just gonna sit back and enjoy the tankies from lemmygrad denying or trying to justify this one as well. 🍿