Russia is an imperialist, settler-colonial state.
There is a reason there are Russians living from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, more than seven thousand kilometers away: successive iterations of the Russian state ruled from Moscow have invaded, conquered, settled, and ruled vast areas of the Eurasian continent. This was always an explicitly imperialist project replete with frequent genocides against indigenous communities.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circassian_genocide
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It is in this context that we can understand much of Russia’s recent behavior on the international stage—its invasion and dismemberment of Georgia; its invasion of Syria and transformation of the Asad regime into a client; its mercenary adventures in Africa’s Sahel region; its pursuit of a naval port in Sudan; and, most saliently, its war of conquest in Ukraine.
Yes, Russia claims pretexts for its imperialist aggression in each of these cases. But just as we’re able to see through those pretexts when other actors claim them—is the IDF really “the most moral army in the world”?—we’re smart enough to see through Moscow’s pretexts as well.
https://www.statista.com/chart/amp/30269/wagner-group-countries-of-operation/
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When Russia sold Alaska to the US in 1867, it did so as a colonial power, a peer of the US imperialist project. It was not transferring “Russian” territory but rather the lands and indigenous peoples of Alaska, whom Moscow had conquered, as chattel.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Russia
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And yet, every step of the way, there are leftists who are willing and eager to credulously accept any Russian state lie and dutifully apologize for any Russian state atrocity because they’ve decided that an antagonistic relationship with the US puts the Russian state on some “good team.”
A settler colonial state that commits imperialist interventions on a global scale, ruled by a mafia clique of ultra-rich capitalist oligarchs, is not and cannot be your friend. Cheering for the US against Russia or Russia against the US makes as much sense as medieval peasants cheering for rival lords to come slaughter them, or a beef cow at auction cheering for rival butchers to place the winning bid.
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@HeavenlyPossum Leftists? Putin's lackeys in Europe & North America are on the extreme right. You say “every step of the way” which is weird because I must be living in an alternate universe because somehow I never encounter such a person.
@HeavenlyPossum @timbray yeah, i don't see them on here. when i was active on the ground here in nyc, those people were basically the dregs of the maoist communist party. it's such a weird buch people always side-eyed them at rallies here. like the weirdo uncle who talks to himself in a corner at family gatherings.
@timbray @HeavenlyPossum oh there are, they are out there all over the place.
They are mostly Auth left, so it's no wonder that they pine for a strongman (any strongman will do, really)
