SlAvA UkrAnI!

  • AHemlocksLie@lemmy.zip
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    14 hours ago

    Zelenskyy didn’t cancel elections, though. They’re legally forbidden in Ukraine during martial law, which is only still in effect because Russia is still invading. If anyone canceled Ukrainian elections, it’s Putin because the choice for Ukraine was either submit and lose elections permanently or resist and enact martial law, losing them temporarily.

    • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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      9 hours ago

      Russia is clearly after the Donbass, not all of Ukraine. Elections will persist even after the almost certain conclusion, that being full annexing of the 4 oblasts. This is the sensible outcome, considering western Ukraine coup’d the president supported by the Donbass region in a Banderite takeover:

      Since the Banderite coup in 2014, Ukraine has been in a civil war where Kiev has been ethnically cleansing the Donbass region. The Minsk agreements were both tanked by Ukraine and the west, meaning diplomatic solutions to the Civil War were tried, and failed.

  • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    From the latest Perceptions of Democracy index, from NIRA Data:

    Ukrainians are among the most skeptical of the democratic processes in their country. Meanwhile, even a country as hotly contested as Venezuela, faith in elections is skyrocketing. And this is gathered by a western org run by a NATO official.

    • AnarchoEngineer@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      As always, I would like to point out that these kinds of surveys of public opinion are not really evidence of anything besides public opinion itself.

      You cannot assert that a certain country has more or less of some quality simply because more people in that country said they think they do more frequently than people in a different country did.

      For example if you asked Americans (particularly those in the south or rural areas) if they thought their country was more “free” than the rest of the world, you would probably get higher numbers than you would from most other regions of the world despite the fact that America is not that free relative to much of the world.

      • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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        2 days ago

        Trends in perception, as well as comparison, does tell a good story. In many ways it’s a superior method of data gathering on democracy than the standard method of defining democracy as whatever the Nordics are doing, and then grading everyone based on how closely they follow that.

        • AnarchoEngineer@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          2 days ago

          Direct comparison of perception of democracy by people who have lived in both countries would be much clearer evidence of differences in democracy itself.

          However, the raw perception of democracy without any other reference to other democracies does not allow for comparison/measurement of democracy itself but rather indicates how happy individuals feel within their current democracy.

          The data is a good story and it does encode information, but that information is more significantly influenced by culture, current events, and overall happiness of the populace than it is by “level of democracy”

            • AnarchoEngineer@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              2 days ago

              If you follow the comment chain you’ll see me and cowbee talk about how subjective the term “democracy” is.

              However, we can illustrate my point using proof by counter example. It is entirely possible to imagine two countries with the same government structure (and hence “democracy”) but with different answers to this kind of survey.

              Imagine two nearly identical countries each with corrupt governments having the exact same structure and culture etc. The only major difference between them is that in one of the countries, a recent scandal has occurred which was able to bring to light deep seated corruption and criminal activity of many public figures, whereas similar acts are being committed by the govt. of the other country, but none of it has been brought so fully to light yet.

              The citizens of the former country are likely to rank their “democracy” lower than the citizens of the latter would rate their own, despite the fact both governments have equal amounts of corruption. Hence, surveys of popular opinion of democracy are not directly indicative of the “level of democracy” or level of corruption or fidelity etc. etc… QED.

          • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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            2 days ago

            Sure. When I mean comparison, I mean in trends. If a country scores lower in one year while another scores higher, and this trend repeats, it’s a sign of improving and decaying conditions. Democracy isn’t really something you can measure directly, which makes the entire subject pretty muddy.

            • AnarchoEngineer@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              2 days ago

              that’s why I put quotes around “level of democracy.” If everyone in a country had to vote directly for any and all government action, that is kind of the purest democracy possible, but it would not be a very effective method of government especially for large countries.

              In order to rank democracy in a meaningful way, one would need to decide on what the desired outcomes of a “good” democracy are and which outcomes are most important etc. which would make the scale subjective.

              • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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                2 days ago

                Even that would not be democratic, as it ignores the role of ownership of production and distribution. In a capitalist economy, such would still be subject to the same mechanisms preventing bourgeois democracy from following the will of the proletariat.

      • woodenghost [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        2 days ago

        So would you say, that actively hostile imperialist western nations and their propaganda apparatus know more about democracy in Venezuela than Venezuelans?

        For example if you asked Americans (particularly those in the south or rural areas) if they thought their country was more “free” than the rest of the world, you would probably get higher numbers than you would from most other regions of the world

        Maybe this data will surprise you then:

  • Big Baby Thor@sopuli.xyz
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    2 days ago

    What part of martial law do you not understand?

    A country being invaded can be and will be overthrown if possible. In fact, it’s been done many times in European imperialist history.

    That’s why the clause exists, even before democracy was normalized in Europe. Just find someone else in line for procession and install a puppet prince.

    It’s even been abused. Some speculate that Trump would trigger martial law to stay in office - or even Netenyahu himself clinging to power.

    In the end you don’t want a captured government. That’s also historically been really bad.

      • Big Baby Thor@sopuli.xyz
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        3 hours ago

        Read history, bro - instead of suckling at the feet of Putin. Martial law does not exclude democracy, as democracy is more than national elections and representative democracy (not that you’d know anything about that) - but a change in government can actively sabotage defences and weaken a nation to be overrun by a foreign agressor 👏 while 👏 the 👏 nation 👏 is 👏 being 👏 invaded.

        But tell me how Maripol being leveled is somehow good for renovation plans.

  • Tabitha ☢️[she/her]@hexbear.net
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    2 days ago

    I don’t see any blue states going along with any potential attempts by Trump to cancel the election. There is literally nobody who is going to invade mainland USA in the next 3 years. It’s just not in the cards. In Ukraine, women my age notice that 10% of their dating pool is gone (dead, moved abroad, missing?). The average US citizen is going to experience whatever obvious false flag, just something less impactful than 2020s “wearing masks”, even if that’s literally a drone strike from Latin America, and they’re going to cancel elections over it?

    • TiredTiger@lemmy.ml
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      2 days ago

      I still think their play is that if Trump is succeeded by another Republican or if Trump himself becomes too unpopular, they coup him, and we wind up with a military junta. The libs would be so busy applauding their ‘saviors’ that they wouldn’t even notice their rights being taken away until it’s too late. I think the capitalists are tired of democracy, and want to be able to drop the pretenses without ceding control.

  • astar26@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Just for factual correctness (don’t actually care about your opinion) - no Israeli election was cancelled. Bibi himself lost an election in 2020.

      • astar26@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        As I said, not going for any gacha. Also not versed enough on Ukraine politics to comment. Just saying that no Israeli election was cancelled (we’re going to have one in a couple of months).

        Decided a while ago I don’t want to get into internet arguments, big waste of time which can be used for more significant things.

        • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml
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          1 day ago

          I didn’t even meant to argue, just wanted to put it into perspective for lurkers. We could even go further and note that there is huge support for genocide in various forms and methods in Israel, but Zelensky got explicitly elected on his promises of deescalating and stopping the civil war.

    • 1Malayali@lemmy.ml
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      2 days ago

      Actually, the opposite.

      Crazy to see many imperialist supporters trying to justify Western capitalist puppets/allies

        • 1Malayali@lemmy.ml
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          2 days ago

          You made a classic ad hominem attack since you had no proper response to the meme.

          I replied to see your reaction and it confirms it then.

            • 1Malayali@lemmy.ml
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              15 hours ago

              Attacking the person and not the point?

              Should I have termed it as ‘Poisoning the well’ or something else?
              What term would you have used?

              • LeninsLinen@lemmygrad.ml
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                13 hours ago

                An ad hominem would be to dismiss an argument by attacking the person or circumstances. You know, like calling someone a Russian bot.

                Secondly, I think you missed the point of the image. You claim to believe America is bad, but simultaneosly adopt it’s views on geopolitical rivals uncritically. Yes, including the view that anything that portrays the west in a negative light being “Russian propaganda”. Funnily enough, that’s the real ad hominem and is something incredibly common to hear coming out of liberals.

              • potustheplant@feddit.nl
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                13 hours ago

                While that is correct, it’s not what the comment you replied to did. There’s no criticisim to you as a person. It simply says that the argument reads as “whataboutism” so yup, your reply doesn’t really make sense.

                • 1Malayali@lemmy.ml
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                  11 hours ago

                  Are you isolating that comment alone, while ignoring the original comment? I was talking about that one. Not any towards me, but the original OP.

                  I mentioned that they did not have any response, other than trying to poison the well and implying stuff about the memes community, OP and other posters.

    • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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      2 days ago

      Venezuela is more democratic than western countries. Why is it that westerners demonize revolutionaries for not following the political process, and demonize electoralists for following the political process anyways? Because both are threats to capital.

      • unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth
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        2 days ago

        …maybe because many westerners are worried about losing their democracy? I mean, when democracies Fall, they usually don’t make room for better democracies, historically speaking.

        • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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          2 days ago

          Westerners in general don’t have democracy, capitalists have democracy in the west. That’s why the implementation of socialism is necessary, bringing democracy to the working classes and kicking out the capitalists.

          • unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth
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            2 days ago

            Just because the majority of the people in a country disagree with you doesn’t mean it’s not a democracy. In many western countries there are (still) free and fair elections. This is verifiable. But democracy lives off of active participation, and there are people (read: fascists) who see democracy as a threat and do everything they can to sow FUD in order to reduce election participation.

            • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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              2 days ago

              Elections are not indicative of democracy. The fact that capital is what determines which parties are viable, what candidates are allowed to run, and controls the entire economy means that elections in capitalism are more of a pressure valve than an actual way to get your voice across. Capitalism is incompatible with working class democracy.

              • unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth
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                2 days ago

                How the hell are elections not indicative of democracy? I mean, just because you have elections doesn’t mean you have a proper democracy (e.g. if there is only one party available), but how those elections are run says a lot. They’re the core of any democracy. Democracy is, by definition, the people being ruled by the people. So you need some form of governance that is accountable to the people.

                And capital is far from the only thing that determines if parties are viable. Yes, it plays too much of a role (especially in the US, but there are many western countries that aren’t the US), but let’s not pretend it’s some mysterious being that decides everything. That ignores so many important factors.

                • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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                  2 days ago

                  Elections aren’t democracy, as you said democracy is rule by the majority. Pluralism, the ability to choose between parties, isn’t actually democracy either. A single party system can be more democratic if it’s a consultative democracy and reflects the will of the majority, like how it works in China (though China obviously has many, many elections). That also doesn’t mean pluralism is inherently antidemocratic, countries like the DPRK have multiple political parties with seats (even if the majority are held by the WPK), just that the will of the majority be upheld.

                  In capitalism, a tiny class of people controls the most essential means of production and distribution for society. The state represents their interests, and any parties that exist must represent them, or instead have strong grassroots support and work against the state (such as the Bolsheviks). Choosing between any number of capitalist parties doesn’t mean workers are going to be represented. No western country represents the will of the majority.

                • zbyte64@awful.systems
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                  2 days ago

                  Capitalism is not some mysterious being, its a phenomenon and it is fundamentally incompatible with democracy. If the workplace was democratized then you would not have capitalism.

    • RiverRock@lemmy.ml
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      2 days ago

      Lol you still believe what the Epstein Burger Reich tells you about other countries, that’s fucking embarassing

    • Flyberius [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      2 days ago

      They literally had an election and it was a very close run thing we’re the US backed puppet nearly won.

      But yeah, sure, it’s a dictatorship, whatever…

    • EmmiLime@lemmy.ml
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      2 days ago

      True… thankfully the glorious US bombed those undemocratic dictator fishing ships and invaded their country to righteously kidnap their undemocratically un-elected president and his heinous wife while killing people.

      Now it gets to be a true democracy! Where their country starts going through liberalization and worsening social nets as their future is sold off to private sectors. Truly no longer a dictatorship.

        • AntiOutsideAktion@lemmy.ml
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          5 hours ago

          The two bads you’re lumping together are mass murder and “a disreputable source didn’t like how you ran that election”

          Actual harm versus theoretical harm at some point in the future to a non material concept

          You’re deranged

          And that’s not even getting into the fact that the non-harm you elevate was used as justification to commit the mass murders you diminish.

          Psycho.

          • Danitos@reddthat.com
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            5 hours ago

            I was pointing out the logical fallace in claiming Venezuela is not a dictotarship just because US is a horrible country.

            • AntiOutsideAktion@lemmy.ml
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              5 hours ago

              Oh okay so you were just ignoring how the outside world is the context for this conversation.

              So you’re just a fundamentally dishonest and unserious person. And you’re actively defending the side the murders in the hundreds while attacking the side getting murdered.

          • Danitos@reddthat.com
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            5 hours ago

            I know. What’s your point? I’m not claiming US is a utopia, or have done no harm, I’m not even doing any claim about US. My claim is Venezuela is a dictatorship, and I think arguing “It is not, because US bad” is not a valid refutation to my claim.

    • asdasd201@lemmygrad.ml
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      2 days ago

      Ah yes, a dictatorship where American puppets can b¡tch and moan about not letting the US ravage their countries can partake in elections.

      Just stop consuming the Eagle Burger Institute slop my dude.

      • Danitos@reddthat.com
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        2 days ago

        When did I claim it wasn’t? Why do you all have an obsession of dimissing any criticism of Venezuela with a reference to US? I’m not even from there.