Today I'd like to talk about Russia's most successful export:
"Peace."
It is probably the most powerful propaganda word in the post-Soviet world.
Say anything critical of Russia and you'll immediately hear:
"Don't you want peace? Do you want war?"
The message is simple:
"If you want peace, submit. If you resist, we'll destroy you."
Russia attacks a neighbour. When the neighbour fights back, Russia says:
"Why don't you want peace?"
Ukraine hears it every day.
Georgia heard it.
Moldova hears it.
The same message is sold to the West. Russian apologists argue that anyone resisting Russia is "prolonging the war" because they refuse to accept "peace."
But here's the trick.
They've corrupted the meaning of the word.
Peace is not humanity's highest value.
Freedom is.
Peace without freedom is submission.
Peace without sovereignty is occupation.
Peace without dignity is slavery.
History shows that free people are willing to sacrifice peace to preserve their freedom.
And in the long run, they usually win.
Fatima Huseynova had just graduated from medical school. She came to Kharkiv for the graduation ceremony.
Today Russians killed her on the street with a guided bomb.
Not Putin. “Ordinary Russians”. The ones who say they’re just small people with no power over anything.
Ведущая: «Мы слышали от Захаровой, что она сочла нужным сообщить нам — в Италии всё рухнет, если мы продолжим поддерживать Киев.»
Сенатор Карло Календа:
«Захарова — отброс. Может, стоит понять, кто такие русские. Это те, кто берёт и депортирует украинских детей в россию, те, кто убивает мирных жителей.
Я вижу очень много людей вокруг с публичным голосом, которые продолжают говорить: «ну да, но у России всё же есть свои причины».
У России нет никаких причин — это страна, которой правят беспощадные убийцы, которые не ценят жизнь, у которых нет морали, и на это нужно отвечать одним — твёрдостью и силой, помогая украинцам победить их на поле боя.»
🇷🇺🇷🇺Russian officer Uldarov: “I ‘cleared out’ a basement of 300–400 civilians, including 40 children.”
According to him, it was a nine-story building. The occupier adds that “he had no choice” and that
he WAS ORDERED TO ELIMINATE EVERYONE:
“I carried out the order with this hand — I killed children. You understand, by order. The thing is, we… we were given the command to wipe out and destroy everyone.
WE WENT TO KILL everyone — women, men, the elderly, and children, even the little ones — five-year-olds.”
The order came from Prigozhin to clear out Bakhmut — to spare no one, neither the old nor the children.
“Wipe them all out.”
In Soledar, it was even worse. Direct quote from Savichev: “Civilians came out. And there was an order — everyone aged 15 and older was to be executed immediately without a word. 20 to 24 people were shot, including ten teenagers aged 15 to 17.”
росіяни проводять геноцид українців, вони вдарили КАБом 3000 кг по українському місту Покровське, Дніпропетровської області 💔
Друзі , поширюйте відео на цілий світ , нехай бачать всі, які росіяни варвари і нелюди ...
A grandmother from Chernihiv region remembers how when the Russians were killing civilians, they asked her how old she was, she answered 96 and then the Russians left her alive but destroyed everything... She says with tears in her eyes that the Russians are destroying her country...
A Russian soldier explains how his unit raped girls aged 10 and 11, forcing mothers to watch - before executing all on the orders from his commander.
The soldier further admits that they did this several times, as they found civilians hiding in basements from the approaching Russians.
This is Russian culture.
"The turning point has already begun. Russians are starting to understand that the war is no longer somewhere far away — it is reaching them personally..
"It's going to get even worse."
- Budanov🇺🇦
@joni_askola Mariupol is the largest war crime committed in Europe since the Holocaust. Anyone watching Russia's destruction of the city knows the toll is higher. Est. 450k lived there pre-war; 120k after invasion. 90% of apartments were destroyed with people inside. The whole city is a tomb.
After the russian missile strike on a residential building in Kyiv, which destroyed an entire section of the apartment block, a bottle of champagne remained intact inside the fridge. Behind it — a notebook.
Help protect Ukraine’s sky and prevent more civilian deaths.
https://t.co/NJNUAIL9f2
FERGUSON: China supplying Iran with weapons, which is more than China dared to do when Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia got dual-use equipment from China. Both Russians and Chinese helping Iranians with targeting, and we [the U.S.] doing precisely nothing to punish them for that.
“Putin is dangerous, but he is not 10 feet tall. Nor is he invincible. He has been made to appear stronger than he is by years of wishful thinking, self-deterrence and delay in the West. Russia can be contained. Ukraine can prevail. All that is required is clarity: to call Putin what he is – an enemy”
More in my piece for @theipaper at https://t.co/rti44FyxyP
PS: The text delivers. The photo, less so.
Last year a russian missile killed 9 Ukrainian children - the highest number of children killed at once in a single russian strike.
• Tymofii, 3 years old
• Arina, 7 years old
• Radyslav, 7 years old
• Herman, 9 years old
• Alina, 15 years old
• Danylo, 15 years old
• Mykyta, 15 years old
• Kostiantyn, 16 years old
• Nikita, 17 years old
We must not forget, we cannot be silent.
To quote Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
I suppose that Churchill could have saved thousands of lives by surrendering to Hitler in 1940
Oddly enough people sometimes want to fight for their own country against an invader