Ukraine - Russia Conflict
- Thread starter randomradio
- Start date
Wheat and genocide.
by Anna Colin Lebedev
(French academic, specialist in post-Soviet societies), may01:
Seen from Ukraine, what is currently happening in the Russian-occupied southern territories, and especially around Kherson, is a macabre reminiscence and continuation of the Great Famine, described in Ukraine as genocide. Thread
. 1/18
The Great Famine is a great tragedy for Ukraine and a founding event of its identity. In 1931-33, Moscow organised the "Holodomor", an artificial famine in Ukraine, in an attempt to crush Ukrainian peasants resisting the Soviet regime. 2/18
An estimated 4-6 million people died as a result of the famine. Ukrainian peasants were locked up in their villages, guarded by the army. All their wheat crops and seedlings were confiscated, as well as livestock and supplies. 3/18
The repression has a punitive purpose. The power does not have a vital need for the soup pot and the chicken of every Ukrainian peasant. The peasants must be made to bend to the Soviet system. Entire villages are decimated, cannibalism breaks out. 4/18
For the Ukrainian state, the famine organised by Moscow is genocide. Because of the intentions of the state, but also because the repression of the countryside is accompanied by the extermination of the Ukrainian intellectual elites in the cities. 5/18
For historians, the debate on the genocidal nature of the famine is still ongoing. Example of the debate's arguments: for historian A. Graziosi, the project was not genocidal at the beginning, but it became so as the months went by. 6/18
In Russian society, the Ukrainian famine is not well known, except in circles of historians inserted in international networks. I am sure that most Russians, and none of the Russian military firing on civilians in Boutcha, have heard of it. 7/18
But for the Ukrainians, the parallel is immediate. More than a parallel: a continuity. A confirmation of Moscow's continuing genocidal intent towards them. When they speak of genocide, the Ukrainians do not do so for the striking formula. 8/18
Yet today, voluntarily or involuntarily, Russia is reproducing the techniques of the 1930s. In the Zaporizhya region, there are reports of confiscations of wheat which the peasants refuse to sell at half price. 9/18
This information is confirmed by the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Agriculture. There are also reports of tractors and other military machinery being stolen and taken to Russia. 10/18
Low-priced (stolen?) products from the Kherson region, one of the most agricultural regions of Ukraine, are sold in Crimea. "Excellent quality and very low prices", says a satisfied head of the local administration. 11/18
In the Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia, the local legislature unanimously votes to "expropriate last year's and this year's reserves of farmers in the Kherson region" for the benefit of Siberian markets. 12/18
Since then, the Krasnoyarsk administration has denied this, claiming that its website was hacked. But to be honest, such a decision would not surprise anyone. I'm willing to bet that no one in the assembly has heard of the Great Famine. 13/18
I am not commenting on the genocidal nature of the current war. As with the Great Famine, the evolution of the war is transforming Russia's intentions and modus operandi. What I wish to emphasise is the great historical blindness. 14/18
Russia is all the more sick of its history because it does not know it. The recourse to the most brutal violence is facilitated by the ignorance of the history of Stalinism. The closing of Memorial goes hand in hand with the Boutcha massacres. 15/18
The confiscation of grain does not (today) have the same gravity as the massacres of civilians. But they help to confirm Russia's genocidal project. In this respect, they make it difficult to negotiate with the Russian authorities. 16/18
How could the Ukrainian authorities, for example, accept keeping Kherson under Russian control, when the evidence seems to converge that the local population is at risk of a new genocidal famine, a new Holodomor? 17/18
I wouldn't be surprised if the Russian elites have no awareness of the historical symbolism of what the military is doing on the ground. And that's bad enough. But if the Kremlin is aware of it, it's even worse. End. 18/18 (DeepL)
Thread by @colinlebedev on Thread Reader App
(w/ sources)
by Anna Colin Lebedev
(French academic, specialist in post-Soviet societies), may01:
Seen from Ukraine, what is currently happening in the Russian-occupied southern territories, and especially around Kherson, is a macabre reminiscence and continuation of the Great Famine, described in Ukraine as genocide. Thread
. 1/18The Great Famine is a great tragedy for Ukraine and a founding event of its identity. In 1931-33, Moscow organised the "Holodomor", an artificial famine in Ukraine, in an attempt to crush Ukrainian peasants resisting the Soviet regime. 2/18
An estimated 4-6 million people died as a result of the famine. Ukrainian peasants were locked up in their villages, guarded by the army. All their wheat crops and seedlings were confiscated, as well as livestock and supplies. 3/18
The repression has a punitive purpose. The power does not have a vital need for the soup pot and the chicken of every Ukrainian peasant. The peasants must be made to bend to the Soviet system. Entire villages are decimated, cannibalism breaks out. 4/18
For the Ukrainian state, the famine organised by Moscow is genocide. Because of the intentions of the state, but also because the repression of the countryside is accompanied by the extermination of the Ukrainian intellectual elites in the cities. 5/18
For historians, the debate on the genocidal nature of the famine is still ongoing. Example of the debate's arguments: for historian A. Graziosi, the project was not genocidal at the beginning, but it became so as the months went by. 6/18
In Russian society, the Ukrainian famine is not well known, except in circles of historians inserted in international networks. I am sure that most Russians, and none of the Russian military firing on civilians in Boutcha, have heard of it. 7/18
But for the Ukrainians, the parallel is immediate. More than a parallel: a continuity. A confirmation of Moscow's continuing genocidal intent towards them. When they speak of genocide, the Ukrainians do not do so for the striking formula. 8/18
Yet today, voluntarily or involuntarily, Russia is reproducing the techniques of the 1930s. In the Zaporizhya region, there are reports of confiscations of wheat which the peasants refuse to sell at half price. 9/18
This information is confirmed by the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Agriculture. There are also reports of tractors and other military machinery being stolen and taken to Russia. 10/18
Low-priced (stolen?) products from the Kherson region, one of the most agricultural regions of Ukraine, are sold in Crimea. "Excellent quality and very low prices", says a satisfied head of the local administration. 11/18
In the Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia, the local legislature unanimously votes to "expropriate last year's and this year's reserves of farmers in the Kherson region" for the benefit of Siberian markets. 12/18
Since then, the Krasnoyarsk administration has denied this, claiming that its website was hacked. But to be honest, such a decision would not surprise anyone. I'm willing to bet that no one in the assembly has heard of the Great Famine. 13/18
I am not commenting on the genocidal nature of the current war. As with the Great Famine, the evolution of the war is transforming Russia's intentions and modus operandi. What I wish to emphasise is the great historical blindness. 14/18
Russia is all the more sick of its history because it does not know it. The recourse to the most brutal violence is facilitated by the ignorance of the history of Stalinism. The closing of Memorial goes hand in hand with the Boutcha massacres. 15/18
The confiscation of grain does not (today) have the same gravity as the massacres of civilians. But they help to confirm Russia's genocidal project. In this respect, they make it difficult to negotiate with the Russian authorities. 16/18
How could the Ukrainian authorities, for example, accept keeping Kherson under Russian control, when the evidence seems to converge that the local population is at risk of a new genocidal famine, a new Holodomor? 17/18
I wouldn't be surprised if the Russian elites have no awareness of the historical symbolism of what the military is doing on the ground. And that's bad enough. But if the Kremlin is aware of it, it's even worse. End
. 18/18 (DeepL)Thread by @colinlebedev on Thread Reader App
(w/ sources)
How exactly do we plan to do it?? When Pakistanis have basically covered up the lead we had over them with the turkish drones and j-10 coming in. Along with the vt-4's. We cannot sustain a two front war with the current size of our airforce.
East Pakistan was easy because we had the local population being anti-pakistani and we had the ground work for 7 months with a sustained insurgency.
The Baloch insurgency is just an irritant while the pashtun insurgency won't ever cross the red line where it destabilize the core pakjabistan...
These tb-2's are gonna be a huge headache if we don't get more ew. I hope we deploy Scorpius G's and upgrade the samyukta's.
It's clear the Russian ew is not that sophisticated nor is there radar tech.
Turkish drones and J-10s will not do much.
Both army and air force are not ready for two-front. But neither is the whole of Pakistan.
East Pakistan wasn't easy, we made it work.
They have failed to even jam Starlink, which is a commercial satellite network of Elon Musk.
It's not the initial batch. It's that the Chinese and Turks will be pumping more of these cheap drones and aircrafts if we go at a war. Similar to what's happening in Ukraine.