#Belarus elections

[odinsblog]

One of these things is definitely not like the others:

Russia and Belarus are authoritarian states that haven't held fair, free elections in decades.

Vladimir Putin is a dictator who maintains his power through intimidation, political assassinations and sham elections.

And Putin's puppet, Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, literally described himself as "Europe's last dictator."

And anything bad you can say about Ukraine goes quintuple for Russia and Belarus — except for the fact that the Ukrainian army isn’t bombing & mass murdering innocent civilians, and they haven’t invaded another country; and they aren’t committing mass rapes in the cities of their adversaries; and the Ukrainian army also is not abducting thousands and thousands of Russian children and placing them into filtration camps to “reeducate” them into a foreign culture; and and and

Ukraine was not in NATO nor was it applying for membership when Putin invaded. And God help you if you’re dumb enough to believe Putin invaded because he wanted to “denazify” Ukraine. JFC. Do you believe George Bush invaded Iraq because he wanted to find WMDs and spread democracy too?

If you can just hand wave & excuse away all of those Russian war crimes because “communism” or “NATO expansion” or “America bad,” then maybe you should re-examine your priorities.

[goldenstarprincesses]

One thing I never will understand about canon Hetalia is why 99% of the nations are written in a way that clearly is showing that they are not personifications of their government. But that they represent their people/an idea

Yet Belarus is pretty much just a copy paste of the Russian puppet government

[maadilin]

serious post

i made this twitter post raising awareness of the current shitfuckery of countries so called "democracy" and i'd like to raise more please :)))

much of this info comes from @thejuicemedia's honest government ads.

please like, share, and rt!

[huseyintr24]

“Russian #disinformation could skew EU election results.”

The statement by Ursula von der Leyen — President of the European Commission on May 17 of this year once again encouraged me to continue looking into the topic of #disinformation

Surprisingly, when I paid attention to this topic, I immediately began to notice a lot of information on the subject.

In the article it is stated that the President of the European Commission, if she manages to hold the same post for another term, will first of all pay attention to strengthening the EU’s defense against malicious disinformation coming from Moscow. She emphasized that this is top of the agenda in Brussels and across the bloc, with the European Parliament elections less than a month away and hostile actors using sophisticated tools such as generative AI. The article even suggested that Russian #disinformation could skew the EU election results.

It brought up images from my childhood, when everyone was afraid of the 80 Olympics in Moscow because they were expecting terrorist attacks from the US. And then I asked myself: why the whole world is divided into two camps in “their” beliefs:

1) that the threat comes from Russia

2) that the threat comes from the United States

Which category do you fall into?

Doesn’t it surprise you?

I think everyone has such “their” point of view in their heads. Until recently, I too thought that I soberly and critically perceived all information in the media. BUT! I’ve recently learned that #disinformation

comes from KGB agents who have been secretly operating since 1993. The main threat from the KGB is the destruction of democracy around the world.

Hydra is what the respected E. Cholakyan called the KGB. Because they act absolutely secretly and unnoticed through the introduction of negative images into people’s consciousness, which later lead to wars, conflicts, revolutions and eventually to a totalitarian concentration camp.

Yes, but I wonder why most of humanity believes that the threat is coming from Russia. And the answer is on the surface. The fact is that on the territory of the three countries of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus the KGB positions are the strongest. And the Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians suffer most of all from the actions of the KGB…..

When I heard that Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, said that it is necessary to fight against Russian disinformation, I realized that through Ukraine as a bridge to Europe, this KGB Hydra is already reaching the United States. And as it is known, the USA is the stronghold of democracy in the whole world. And having undermined democracy in the USA, all people of the planet will become a prisoner in a digital concentration camp for the KGB.

#EgonCholakian said that: “According to our data in this operation, the enemy does not limit themselves in their choices. For the sake of achieving their goal, they are ready to sacrifice both human lives, political figures and their former territories. They are even willing to allow a full-scale nuclear conflict if it suits their long-term strategy. We must take this information into account in our

strategic planning and preparation for the defense of national security.”

Let me remind you once again that the KGB’s influence on people’s minds is through the introduction of negative thought patterns that gradually lead to the undermining of human rights, freedoms and the values of democracy around the world.

Be careful and attentive to any information.

#narrative #artificial #cyberspionage #cybersecurity #disinformation #confidential #elections #EU elections #EU #EU #European Parliament #hacking attacks #state #anticultism #I #EU elections #2024 #video report #KGB #hydra #image #EgonCholakian #consciousness #USA #Russia #Ukraine #Belarus

[wateredwizard]

Both

We have a saying "widać zabory" (you can see the partition)

Because poland was split in half and occupied for over a century all the way until after world war I the country is severely split. The west is more western, often prioritizing left-wing views, more infrastructure and more influenced by capitalistic views, where east is more eastern, with many more field labourers and traditional views.

Most people will say Poland is central, because not only does it make sense geographically (also doesn't put a harsh border between the east and the west) and is a nice compromise between the two extremes that you can find in Poland

I've seen debate on this - do Polish people consider Poland a part of Western or Eastern Europe? From my understanding Eastern Europe is everything east of Berlin ? But also Poland is Roman Catholic so?

(obviously I'd rather this be answered by people from Poland but yk it's the internet so lmfao)

This debate reminds me of if people consider states like Virginia to be part of the south or not lmfao (my partner from the deep south does not but people up here where I live do)

[dserwer1]

Stevenson's army, August 22

– NYT sees trends in recent elections in Ecuador and Guatemala. – FT’s Gideon Rachman sees East Asia hitting a demographic wall. – Both NYT and WaPo see trend of state legislation against China – WaPo sees cluster bombs helping Ukraine – OMB has released new Circular A11, tells agencies how to prepare their budgets [be careful, it’s 1,070 pages] – State has warned Americans to leave Belarus…

[ammg-old2]

Mr. Lukashenko has tried to position himself for greater things since he rose to power in 1994. In the late 1990s, he helped create a union-state — a confederation of sorts — between Belarus and Russia, which he must have eventually hoped to head once the ailing Russian leader, Boris Yeltsin, departed the scene. But Mr. Yeltsin’s successor turned out to be Mr. Putin, who had no intention of playing second fiddle to the head of a minor European state. Instead, as he accumulated power, Mr. Putin exploited Belarus’s deep economic dependence on Russia, especially on heavily subsidized energy, to peel away its sovereignty. Instead of heading a major world power, Mr. Lukashenko found himself trying to fend off a suffocating Russian embrace.

After Russia illegally seized Crimea in 2014, Mr. Lukashenko’s saw his most promising chance to assert himself. Taking advantage of the estrangement between Russia and the West after the invasion and Russia’s backing of a rebellion in eastern Ukraine, he promoted the Belarus capital, Minsk, as a “neutral” venue for East-West dialogue. The city became the place where the warring parties and Russian and European leaders convened to hammer out a deal to end the crisis. The ensuing deals, christened the Minsk Agreements, spelled out provisions for a cease-fire and the reintegration of the rebellious regions into Ukraine, but were never carried out.

Nevertheless, Mr. Lukashenko had demonstrated Minsk’s potential as a meeting place. In 2018 Mr. Lukashenko inaugurated the Minsk Dialogue Forum, which brought together American, European and Russian foreign policy experts for debates on global issues and provided him a invaluable platform to present himself as a statesman uniquely qualified to ease tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Mr. Lukashenko’s second opportunity to reduce its reliance on Russia came in the form of Belarus’s booming tech industry. Since the mid-2000s, it has been a key driver of Belarus’s economic growth, accounting for 7 percent of its total G.D.P. by 2020. It was also an important export sector, sending much of its product to the West, and a magnet for Western investors attracted by Belarus’s well-educated population and low wages. The economic dividends helped provide the funds to transform Minsk itself into a comfortable European city, which enhanced its appeal as an East-West meeting place.

But Mr. Lukashenko’s good fortune came to a screeching halt after a few short years — and fully as a consequence of his own actions. His flagrant rigging of the 2020 presidential elections, in which he brazenly claimed to have won with 80 percent of the vote, touched off a huge nationwide protest movement. Mr. Lukashenko’s government detained tens of thousands of citizens. Hundreds were reportedly mistreated or tortured in custody, and dozens of websites were blocked. With his political survival at stake, Mr. Lukashenko turned back to Russia, which was only more than willing to help at the price of his country’s autonomy.

Mr. Putin stepped in to the rescue, backing Mr. Lukashenko’s harsh tactics. He approved a $1.5 billion loan to ease Minsk’s debt burden, sent in “media” experts to help discredit the protesters as pawns of foreign powers, and announced the formation of a Russian “police reserve” that could be deployed to Belarus should the situation further deteriorate.

The crackdown prompted tech workers, who had been at the forefront of the protests, to flee the country in droves. It also made Minsk off limits as a meeting place, as the West levied sanctions and isolated Mr. Lukashenko diplomatically. The situation only grew worse as Russia began using Belarus as a staging ground for the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Mr. Lukashenko, now totally dependent on the Kremlin in his bid to cling to power, was in no position to resist.

Now he has agreed to give refuge to Mr. Prigozhin and some unknown number of his infamous mercenaries who will go to Belarus with him. Mr. Prigozhin cannot feel safe in Belarus knowing the fate of others who have drawn Mr. Putin’s wrath. Mr. Lukashenko won’t benefit in any way from Mr. Prigozhin’s demise on his territory and probably hopes his sojourn is brief. Despite this uneasy arrangement, Mr. Lukashenko will likely not be able to resist the temptation to embellish his role; he’s already claimed to have offered Mr. Putin advice on how to handle the situation. He will endeavor to play the great statesman for as long as he can.

[txttletale]

driving around the usa iwth 144 'not my president' bumper stickers entirely covering my car bearing images of the current presidents of albania, algeria, angola, argentina, armenia, austria, azerbaijan, bangladesh, barbados, belarus, benin, bolivia, bosnia and herzegovina, botswana, brazil, bulgaria, burkina faso, burundi, cameroon, cape verde, central african republic, chad, chile, colombia, comoros, costa rica, croatia, cuba, cyprus, czechia, djibouti, dominica, dominican republic, democratic republic of the congo, ecuador, egypt, el salvador, equatorial guinea, eritrea, estonia, ethiopia, fiji, finland, france, gabon, gambia, georgia, germany, ghana, greece, guatemala, guinea, guinea bissau, guyana, haiti, honduras, hungary, iceland, india, indonesia, iran, iraq, ireland, israel, italy, ivory coast, kazakhstan, kenya, kiribati, kosovo, kyrgyzstan, laos, latvia, lebanon, liberia, lithuania, malawai, maldives, mali, malta, marshall islands, mauritania, mauritius, mexico, micronesia, moldova, mongolia, montenegro, mozambique, myanmar, namibia, nauru, nepal, nicaragua, niger, nigeria, north macedonia, pakistan, palau, palestine, panama, paraguay, peru, philippines, poland, portugal, republic of china, republic of the congo, republic of korea, romania, russia, rwanda, sao tome and principe, senegal, serbia, seychelles, sierra leone, singapore, slovakia, slovenia, somalia, south africa, south sudan, sri lanka, suriname, syria, tajikistan, tanzania, timor leste, togo, trinidad and tobago, tunisia, turkey, turkmenistan, uganda, ukraine, united arab emirates, uruguay, uzbekistan, vanuatu, venezuela, vietnam, zambia, and zimbabwe and i have to update them every time theres a presidnetlai election anywhere

[lucrezianoin]

Trump let it slip that he has a little secret for just after election

They are going for the Russian book of stealing elections and installing a dictator. Just like in Belarus, Georgia and Venezuela.

Good luck, USA, you'll need it

[alwida10]

Ugh. I hate getting political, so have some bullet points.

- Putin laments the fact that the Soviet Union has vanished. One of his major goals is to re-establish it. This has been said openly.

- the Soviet Union included regions young people from today know only as autonomous countries, including Armenia, Aserbaidschan, Estland, Georgia, Kasachstan, Kirgisien, Lettland, Litauen, Moldawien, Tadschikistan, Turkmenien/Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Usbekistan, Belarus. (Countries in bold are the countries I remember evidence of Russia has tampered with. Might be more, since my memory sucks.)

- to ensure the comeback of the Soviet Union, Putin (Russia) uses war tactics to destabilize, control and manipulate the countries to make it more likely to re-unite with Russia. Remember how Belarus’s elections have been tampered with and the bloody crushing of the protests? Moldavia has been calling for help regarding the Russian troops in their country. If you haven’t heard about Ukraine, this post isn’t for you.

- if you are able to read Russian, it’s easy to find the war plan Russia has developed to ensure this goal, including the annexation of Ukraine, Moldavia up to attacks on Poland and east-Germany.

- the biggest problem for Russia to reach this goal is the NATO, and that mostly because the USA had the NATO’s back.

- as long as the nato stands together it’s almost impossible for Putin to reach his goal.

- “devide and conquer”

-by now it’s well documented that Russian involvement led to Trump’s victory.

- the same people, who organized Trump’s campaign, later campaigned for the pro-Brexit side.

- Trump (being right wing) wanted the US to leave the NATO. Brexit has weakened the cohesion in the EU.

- the right wing parties have been growing in Europe. Italy and Netherland have already elected right wing parties as their leadership. The right wing party in Germany is most likely the second strongest party in the eu elections right now. (Yes, the modern day Nazis. Yes, Nazis.)

- right wing parties are more likely to say “what do I care about my neighbors getting bombed? I’m caring about MY people.” They support getting big (hence powerful) positions such as the NATO getting divided into smaller, easier to beat fractions. Poland does not stand a chance against Russia on its own. The NATO does.

- both Iran (because of the conflict in the Middle East) and China (because of their intend to annex Taiwan) love and support Putin’s tactic to divide and weaken the NATO. The USA are madly powerful, but not even they are able to take on three nuclear powers at the same time.

——

k, why am I talking about this?

-> if you come across anti-Biden, anti-EU, anti-democrat, pro-segregation posts or opinions you NEED to ask yourself if this might be political manipulation to weaken your country. It had been the young voters who put Trump out of office. It’s the young voters Russia and other manipulative powers have on their radar now. YOU are the target to reach their goals.

-> yes, this includes pro-Palestine messaging if it leads into a “don’t vote for Biden” narrative.

[mariacallous]

It’s not [just] about optimism — it’s a peak of defiance. They understand that there’s nothing to lose anymore. This is the final battle, so either we fight or end up as the next Belarus. So yeah, we don’t really have any other option but to be optimistic. 

Georgian journalist Anna Gvarishvili, head of the Investigative Media Lab at the University of Georgia about the continuing protests against the illegitimate recent elections in Georgia

[sailorsally]

Yesterday, May 28 Georgian Parliament overrode the President's veto and finally adopted the foreign influence law.

According to this law, following an anonymous tip, the government is allowed to demand any type of personal information from you - including sexual and health history - and use it against you.

Every organisation getting more than 20% of funding from foreign countries will be considered to be a foreign agent and so will be the people who work within these organisations. This directly threatens legitimate elections this coming October because most NGO's that guarantee fair elections are in fact financed from outside of Georgia by the EU or the USA and will be banned from the election process following this law.

This exactly has been the whole point of passing the law. The Georgian Dream ruling party knows that there is no way they can stay in power legitimately so they are engaging all their resources to falsify the votes and do it illegally.

It's important to me as a Georgian that everyone knows none of the laws Georgian parliament is passing are what people want. There have been 200k+ people protesting this daily since mid April while being beaten up, blackmailed, and incarcerated for their protest.

We need all the support we can get from the international community in this fight against our pro Russian government. The situation is very dire - the existence of Georgia as a country will be decided in coming days/weeks/months.

This exact law was passed in Russia in 2012 and then edited several times since in order to strengthen the regime over the years. It has been used as the main tool to scare and terrorize the few free thinkers in Russia and throw them into jail.

According to the latest addition to the law (just last month) nobody who works in a company that gets 20% or more of its money from outside Russia is allowed to vote in elections.

This law has also been passed in Belarus some years ago and is greatly contributing to banning any anti government/ anti Russia opinions within the county.

I ask everyone who is a friend of Georgia and my friend to please talk to the representatives in your governments and ask them to sanction the members of Georgian parliament and the ruling party, as well as their family members so these traitors who have been stealing our money and storing it in European and American banks, going on long vacations with their families financed by corruption and have been bringing their wives to the US to give birth and get residence card will at least feel some type of discomfort following their decision to insult the Georgian people in the worst possible way and give over our hard fought & won independence to Russia willingly.

[philsmeatylegss]

Okay, idk if anyone will see this, but it’s driving me nuts how Zionists are using the situation in Syria to say “why are no pro-Palestine people talking about this? It’s because no Jews are involved.”

No, it’s because western media rarely reports on tragedies and foreign conflict that they can’t make money off of. And, more unfortunately, the media is aware that most westerners don’t care about humanitarian crises that don’t involve them (or their money).

It’s why you hear very little also about the Sudan war, Ethiopian humanitarian crises (especially with Tigrays and other territories and ethnicities), the very active military dictatorship is Burkina Faso, Haiti becoming a failed state and being abandoned by everyone, the (hopefully soon ending) war in Myanmar/Burma, the dictatorships in Eritrea, Venezuela, Belarus, Turkmenistan, and Equatorial Guinea, the civil war in the Central African Republic, protests in Georgia, the complete stripping of rights for women in Afghanistan, and the humanitarian crises (other than Sudan, DRC, and Palestine) in so many places including but not limited to South Sudan, Yemen, Ethiopia, the Rohingya, Venezuela, Central African Republic, Somalia, Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Haiti, Lebanon, Mali, and Sahel.

It’s not an antisemitism problem. It’s a problem of westerners not giving a shit about developing countries and conflicts that involve our allies/don’t involve us. Which should make you fucking angry.

Palestine, Sudan, and DRC are the tip of a devastating iceberg that includes the current situation in Syria and thousands of other entries. It’s not a competition.

So instead of complaining about who cares about what, use your platforms to spread information about these events. Don’t complain about certain people not talking about Syria, start posting and talking about Syria.

Or will you just admit you are using humanitarian crises and the devastation of millions to further you opinion?

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians are fleeing on top of the millions of Syrian refugees who also have fled in the past years. If that bothers you, talk about them, advocate for them rather than wasting time attacking others for not caring.

Incase anyone is interested in any of the stuff I mentioned above, here’s a few sources:

Syria:

What’s happening in Syria? A simple guide

What’s happening in Syria? How an old conflict in the Middle East erupted again

What's happening in Syria? What to know about the complex, long-simmering civil war

(Video) What is happening in Syria?

Who are the rebels who have seized control of Aleppo, Syria?

Sudan:

Civil War in Sudan

Crisis in Sudan: What is happening and how to help

(Wikipedia) Sudanese civil war (2023–present)

Ethiopia:

Conflict in Ethiopia

Tigray: the war the world forgot

Crisis in Ethiopia: What you need to know and how to help

Desperation in Ethiopia as hunger crisis deepens

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC):

Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo

A guide to the decades-long conflict in DR Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo crisis, explained

Burkina Faso:

What Burkina Faso’s Tragic History Teaches Us

(Video) Burkina Faso: The World’s Most Neglected War

Once again, Burkina Faso is the world’s most neglected crisis

Haiti:

Haiti crisis: Facts, FAQs, and how to help

What’s Happening in Haiti? Explainer on Gang Violence, Hunger Crisis and Humanitarian Aid to Civilians

Myanmar/Burma:

Nine Things to Know About Myanmar’s Conflict Three Years On

Myanmar, ravaged by civil war, teeters on the edge of famine

UN accuses Myanmar's military of mass killings, torture since 2021 coup

Eritrea:

(Video) Isaias Afwerki: Dictator who has ruled Eritrea for 31 years

Eritrea: Events of 2022

Venezuela:

Venezuela: Reversing the Slide into Dictatorship

Evidence shows Venezuela’s election was stolen – but will Maduro budge?

Belarus:

After 30 years in power, 'Europe's last dictator' remains firmly in control

Why Belarus is called Europe’s last dictatorship

Turkmenistan:

Here's what it's like inside Turkmenistan, the secretive Asian dictatorship

(Video) The Weirdest Dictatorship on Earth: Turkmenistan

Equatorial Guinea:

EQUATORIAL GUINEA: ‘The government uses violence to dominate through fear’

The politics of autocratic survival in Equatorial Guinea: Co-optation, restrictive institutional rules, repression, and international projection

Central African Republic:

Conflict in the Central African Republic

(Wikipedia) Central African Republic Civil War

Georgia:

Georgia is being rocked by growing protests. Here’s what you need to know

Why protests in the country of Georgia matter

Afghanistan:

Afghanistan: Taliban rule has erased women from public life, sparked mental health crisis

Back to basics: Fighting for women’s rights under the Taliban

South Sudan:

South Sudan Refugee Crisis Explained

Instability in South Sudan

Yemen:

Yemen Crisis Explained

Yemen humanitarian crisis

The Rohingya:

Rohingya Refugee Crisis Explained

Far from the Headlines: Myanmar – The Rohingya crisis

Somalia:

Crisis in Somalia

Somalia: Climate change, conflicts and rising cost fuels humanitarian crisis

Lebanon:

What’s happening in Lebanon

Far from home: inside Lebanon’s displacement crisis

Mali:

Crisis in Mali: What you need to know and how to help

Do not ignore Mali’s multifaceted humanitarian catastrophe

The Sahel:

A call to action: The humanitarian crisis in the Sahel is worsening

Violent Extremism in the Sahel

Responding to neglected crises in the Sahel

[valcaira]

Another parliamental election is coming up in Belarus. It'll be rigged in Lukashenko's favor again.

I feel hopeless. Four years ago the streets were filled with protestors among which was my uncle. People were locked up, beaten, raped and murdered by the military. Even still anyone who dares to utter anything against the dictator is going to be silenced one way or another.

I don't think there is going to be another wave of protests again. Maybe a couple fringe groups of people will stand up but Lukashenko has shown us one thing: He is a tyrant and will use any means necessary to keep Belarus tightly in his iron fist.

I doubt that even the media will pay any attention to the elections. The slacktivists definitely won't. It's going to be another silent sweep of rigged elections, oppression of any opposition and Lukashenko the swine escapes the consequences again.

I wish someone would finally kill the bastard.

I'm angry and sad.

[dontforgetukraine]

"I want to say a few words about the new "it's only Putin" discussion, which is not fact-based in any way. Unfortunately, the imperialistic mindset is widespread in Russian society. This is also true for large parts of the Russian opposition. There is even a faction within the "opposition" that is more radical than Putin (and no, I'm not trying to downplay Putin). They advocate for more efficient killing of Ukrainians, argue that Ukraine should be subjugated more quickly, and claim that the inefficiency of the Russian military is slowing down or even endangering the rebuilding of a Russian empire, Soviet Union 2.0, or whatever they envision.

These people are so radical that they criticize the government in ways that put them at risk of imprisonment. Igor Girkin is one of these people, but there are many others. There is also a large network of radical NGOs that fully support the Kremlin's imperialistic agenda and the war, with some even asking, "Why did it take so long?" These people act voluntarily, not because they are coerced—they genuinely believe in what they are doing.

Not resisting is one thing—we all know what happened to Nemtsov—but actively supporting the imperialistic agenda, supporting the full-scale invasion, and going the extra mile for the regime is something else entirely. Ukrainians experience this mindset daily when ordinary Russians tell them they don't exist, that they should be subjugated, or that they should all be killed. These are not troll farm accounts but real people with account histories going back 15 years. Many Ukrainian families have relatives in Russia, and what those relatives told them on the phone was also "the extra mile" of regime support: "We came to liberate you," "No, we did not attack," "There is no war," "You are Nazis," and so on. Their imperialistic, propaganda-brainwashed mindset was more important to them than their own children. How could anyone forget that? When parents don't believe their own kids, even when they are under shelling.

Ukrainians expected a lot more from ordinary Russians in February 2024 but were hugely disappointed by what they saw and heard, even from people they had known for many years.

I remember what real Russians in real life told me in 2014 and 2022 about Ukraine, about Ukrainians—how they spoke, how much hate there was, how much imperialistic mindset and conspiracy theories... what happened on Russian social networks...

Not to mention all the supporters of the regime, not just Putin’s inner circle, but the "Z civil society," calling the FSB when a neighbor is "suspicious."

I’m sorry, liberal Russian opposition, I respect every real oppositionist who resists the regime, helps stop the war, and exposes Russian imperialism, but no, no, no, it is not only "Putin's war." Saying that is nothing short of a provocation. Get rid of the imperialistic mindset, and respect that Ukraine has a right to its internationally recognized borders. Good luck getting rid of Putin, but Ukrainians will not subjugate to another Russia—whoever is president. The time of subjugation and "brotherly nations" is over.

Realize that Putin has huge support among his people. No, Russia is not like Venezuela, Belarus, or Iran, where the regime faces widespread resistance from people who think completely differently. Russian elections are manipulated, unfair, and non-democratic, but we have all the evidence that Putin has significant support. As one speaker from the Russian research center Levada once told me: "I am sorry and ashamed to say it, but our numbers are not wrong; it is what it is."

—Dietmar Pichler, disinformation analyst

[strawberrycables]

additional context on the Olympics boxing situation:

[ID: screenshots of a comment made on Reddit by user RampantNRoaring, under a post that links to an article titled 'Logan Paul Admits To Being "Guilty Of Spreading Misinformation” About Imane Khelif, The Algerian Olympic Boxer'

"In the interest of spreading… actual information, I’m copying my comment from another thread, because this is infuriating.

The short(ish) version is that she's a cis woman who been competing for years against other women, and there was no issue, including at the 2020 Olympics. Never any question of her gender or testosterone levels, no articles, no headlines, no commentary from her opponents, nothing. She doesn't even have a particularly stellar record, though she's been improving in recent years.

She was even tested at the 2022 World Championships and they didn't find any problems. She took the silver medal without incident.

Up until the 2023 World Championships - **when she beat a Russian boxer.**

Quick backstory on the IBA, the boxing organization that tested her and oversees the Boxing World Championships: it's been in contention with the IOC for years for issues of corruption and concerns over refereeing and judging, but things have gotten worse over the past few years. The IOC was concerned about the IBA's complete financial dependence on their sponsor: Russian-owned Gazprom. The IBA also elected a corrupt Russian president in 2020, and in 2022 they (wrongly) declared his re-election opponent ineligible, so he won an uncontested re-election. Multiple countries including the US and UK boycotted the 2023 World Championships because the IBA suspended Ukraine and un-suspended Russia and Belarus in 2022, against IOC guidelines. All of this ultimately resulted in the IOC severing ties with the IBA, which hasn't happened with any sport in decades. They fucked up so bad that the IOC may drop boxing altogether; another organization has risen up and is attempting to replace the IBA in order to save boxing at the Olympics.

Anyway. Imane Khelif competes in the World Championships in 2022, undergoes testing, no eligibility issues, takes the silver medal. She competes in 2023, no eligibility issues. Gets to the Round of 16, beats a Russian boxer...suddenly, she gets tested again and based on the results of that test AND her test from 2022, they declared her ineligible.

The IBA never said what kind of test it was, just that it wasn't a testosterone test, nor did they explain the results, citing privacy. In an interview with Russian state-owned media, the Russian president of the IBA said that they did a DNA test and found that Khelif had XY chromosomes, but again...look at the source, the audience, the track record of corruption, the timing...

Plus, they did this test in 2022 and didn't have any issue with the results? They used the 2022 test as part of their basis for disqualifying her - even though they allowed her to compete in 2023, up until she beat a Russian athlete.

So there's no evidence that she has higher testosterone. She competed in the 2020 Olympics without incident, even when other female athletes with high testosterone were withdrawn. And the IBA didn't administer a testosterone test.

There's also no other information, testing, questions, or anything that she has talked about that would allude to any sort of chromosomal or hormonal difference. She identifies as a woman and always has.

People are diagnosing her with all kinds of conditions but there’s actually no evidence for any of it aside from one vague test that an extremely corrupt organization associated with Russia subjected her to when she beat a Russian athlete, the results of which were only discussed by the Russian president of the corrupt organization when he talked to Russian media." /End ID]

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