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A post on Ask Lemmygrad by user Cyber Ghost titled "What are the reasons why Russia attacked Ukraine?"
Below is the comment by user @cfgaussian reading: "The Nazi Kiev regime attacked the ethnically Russian Donbass for eight years intending to commit genocide in their quest for an ethnically pure Ukraine and Russia finally came to their aid after it became clear that the Minsk agreements were never going to be honored. Also, NATO was turning Ukraine into a hyper militarized threat to the integrity and security of Russia itself. Refusal of the US and Europe to negotiate on a new inclusive security framework, refusal to stop NATO expansion eastward, and the relentless and violent anti-Russian psychosis that has gripped Ukraine since the Maiden coup that triggered a civil war in a country in which half or more of the population are essentially Russian became intolerable."
User Summertime Soviet has replied to the comment saying "It's a shame we can't pin comments on posts, because this one would get a pin from me.
so instead, have this Farmer_Heck seal of approval"
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OG OP actually asked a good question. Aside from regional cultural claims and geopolitical military perks Ukraine also holds massive significance for its ports, grain production, and the oil pipeline that crosses from Russia to Western Europe.
Not condoning Russia's actions, from it, but if they had managed to get away with it they'd be in a vastly better position on the world's stage.
Yeah it's a good question, but asking it in lemmygrad it's like asking the meaning of life from a dog. At best you get unintelligible barking.
That's what I don't get. All these tankie morons are hiding behind the flimsiest of "Nazi persecution" lies. Ukraine is just flat out amazing for Russia strategically, it's very clear what they wanted. Not to mention some fat ore reserves they have parked in the ground for burgeoning industries.
But no, it has to be Nazis and Western agendas while they bomb schools and residential neighborhoods with these extremely accurate bombs they possess but choose not to use...
Because propaganda dictates that you need to the moral high ground in war. Else its very difficult to sell to your soldiers the idea of dying in foreign land.
And that propaganda seems to be awfully effective, judging from lemmygrand and hexbear comments (even though I am pretty sure some of those users do not really believe it, but are paid to write those comments)
Some of the users are probably like greentext flatearthers, simple unpaid trolls trying to see who can come up with the biggest bullshit... they just happen to be useful fools for the propaganda machine.
I don't get why bots have to be part of the argument. People being stupid or having a backwards political agenda is a valid and sufficient explanation when talking about the right. We tend to forget that Lemmy is more like the backrooms of the internet than a politically relevant platform and dedicating bots or paid trolls for such a small community seems a little exaggerated to me. Fringe parts of the internet are far easier to sway with a small group of obnoxious people than, say, Reddit.
I can understand Russia not being excited about the prospects of a NATO ally being on their border, but their own actions drive Ukraine towards NATO.
Also the whole Nazi thing is pretty stupid. It's not like Ukraine holds a patent on neo nazis. Most Western countries have them even countries like Germany that have outlawed them, and Russia does too.
Russia already has what, four or five NATO members states on their doorstep: The Balkan states, now Finland, Turkey is pretty close and controls the Bosporus⦠and Poland borders Belarus which is a client state of Russia now.
Yeah Russian has taken some major Ls in that department recently. Russia's strategy historical was to have buffer states so they had room to fall back before their enemies reach anything they cared about. Now with Finland NATO could line tanks up to roll into Saint Petersburg if a war ever broke out.
That isn't even the dumbest thing Russia has claimed. They also said that they invaded Ukraine because it was full of... Satanists.
Also worth mentioning, in addition to those things, the relatively recently discovered oil and gas deposits in Ukraine, much of which is off the coast. Before the first invasion (where they took Crimea), Ukraine was getting ready to tap into that and compete with Russia for western energy money.
Oh, that alone explains a LOT. As usual, a proxy war between larger players' interests.