How did you carry all your stuff on the bike? We need more details!
Bike rack for tent and sleeping bag and big packs for stuff. One of the best things I've done in my life. I commuted to Cal from SF for all five years and needed to do something when I graduated before heading straight to work. Riding across the USA was the hardest and best thing I've done. Have takend a couple of two week trips from Eugene to Yellowstone (the first two weeks of that cross country trip). Those were good too. Now I ride 10 miles a day. :-(
So, this means that you're the fittest person on this board and will kick anyone's ass you threatens you, as some occasionally do (to much amusement).
To be clear, it is not illegal to distribute Russian language media in Ukraine. The law requires it to be translated into Ukrainian but does not prevent the use of Russian or make it illegal.
I look forward to your next bad faith disingenuous response. It's always great to hear what the Kremlin wants you to tell us.
It's actually disturbing to read his "expertise" on Ukraine. The country is flawed. Not perfect. But it is an emerging democracy that has suffered more than almost any other country on earth and is working to establish a pro-west government and a new national identity after recent and hard-fought independence. He cites things out of context and with the most pro-russian slant I have seen short of direct Putin propaganda. He seems to have no true understanding or empathy for the plight of Ukrainians and what they have suffered at the hands of Russia for CENTURIES.
Ukraine is a country to support. Russia is completely in the wrong in this conflict and has been working to distort/infiltrate Ukrainian (install puppet officials) government and perception for decades but you'd never know it by Cal88's posts. In his universe Ukraine is Nazi Germany and Russia is a liberating force. It is total BS.
And as I have stated, I did not just backpack in Europe one summer. I am half Ukrainian and have been there as recently as three years ago and have a lot of well-educated relatives there in the government and who hold masters degrees from schools like Stanfurd. They are not militant. They are intellectuals an really decent people and would be appalled that an American (who they see as an ally) would be making the arguments he makes here. It makes me sad.
Do you believe that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was a justified and righteous incursion?
Yes or no?
No deflection or whataboutism.
Here it is in a nutshell.
It's a civil war that has been fuelled by a nationalist ideology that is incompatible with the ethno-linguistically diverse nature of Ukraine.
The Minsk Agreements largely addressed this problem, providing some cultural autonomy for the Donbas.
Ukraine violated this agreement, largely because of the influence of ultranationalists within the Zelensky govt that forced a hardline policy and created the Donbas rebellion. This was a civil war with a strong element of ethnic cleansing.
This, along the fact that Ukraine was arming (potentially with nuclear weapons, having both the fuel and know how), precipitated the Russian invasion.
I can't call it "righteous" because it is going to result in tens, hundreds of thousands of dead, majority of them conscript hacks, but it was inevitable at that point.
The real tragedy is that it could have been easily averted with the proper handling by NATO. Instead its various governments pushed for this war, using Ukraine as a pawn to weaken Russia. Pure geoplolitics play.
Those nasty Ukranians committing crimes against humanity when properly and lawfully invaded by Russia. Thanks for posting out the real story of the region.
But now that you have served Putin well, can you just stop?
I'm sure your '93 senior year Eurail pass Summer romp in Europe provided you with a very solid understanding of European history and "the real story of the region".
Here's a question for you - can you name one country in Europe where people aren't legally allowed to work, study or hear news in their native language?
During a press conference on June 6, Lavrov said Ukraine adopted "laws banning the Russian language," claiming the Russian language was prohibited in "education, the media, everyday contacts, etc." Lavrov mentioned that if English had been banned in Ireland or French in Belgium, Europe would have responded differently.
But Lavrov is mischaracterizing a Ukrainian language law. It does not ban Russian from the country.
In January 2022, a new provision of the law was introduced, under which print media outlets registered in Ukraine were required to publish in Ukrainian. This did not ban publications in other languages. Instead, the law required that all content also be published in Ukrainian.
Ukraine's language law, which has been implemented in phases, establishes Ukrainian as the country's sole state language. The law requires Ukrainian to be primarily used in business, school and media settings. However, it does not ban the use of Russian or other languages.
Shocked that you would dissemble Putin's propaganda without examination. Quelle surprise.
Politifact, lulz!
Did you even try to do some basic research on this subject?
Here's some info from Wikipedia, a known Kremlin propaganda outlet:
"In April 2019, the Ukrainian parliament voted a new law, the Law of Ukraine "to ensure the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the State language". On 16 June 2019, the law entered into force. The law made the use of Ukrainian compulsory (totally or within certain quotas) in the work of some public authorities, in the electoral procedures and political campaigning, in pre-school, school and university education, in scientific, cultural and sporting activities, in book publishing and book distribution, in printed mass media, television and radio broadcasting, in economic and social life (commercial advertising, public events), in hospitals and nursing homes, and in the activities of political parties and other legal entities (e.g. non-governmental organizations) registered in Ukraine.
In Zelensky's Ukraine, you can publish a book in English, Norvegian or Swahili, but you're not allowed to publish in Russian, the native language of a third of the country (ironically also Zelensky's mother tongue).
Any people will rise if their basic right to live in their own language and cultural norms is denied by a central government authority that intends to suppress their culture and language. Quebec would rise and immediately secede from Canada if French were outlawed by the federal Canadian government, no ifs, ands or buts.
There is no other country in the so-called free world that throttles the rights of an established, large minority to the same extent that Ukraine does.
This is a very basic facet of the Ukraine conflict that is totally left out of the official narrative.
Thanks for once again proving you are unwilling or unable to separate Kremlin Pravda from reality.
Here is what you originally said:
Quote:
Here's a question for you - can you name one country in Europe where people aren't legally allowed to work, study or hear news in their native language?
The Politifact article clearly stated you were wrong so you quoted Wikipedia which in no way contradicts what I said or supports your position.
So do you really just think we are all stupid or do you have a reading comprehension problem? Or do you just not care?
To be clear, it is not illegal to distribute Russian language media in Ukraine. The law requires it to be translated into Ukrainian but does not prevent the use of Russian or make it illegal.
I look forward to your next bad faith disingenuous response. It's always great to hear what the Kremlin wants you to tell us.
What part of the use of Ukrainian is compulsory (totally or within certain quotas) in the work of some public authorities, in the electoral procedures and political campaigning, in pre-school, school and university education, in scientific, cultural and sporting activities, in book publishing and book distribution, in printed mass media, television and radio broadcasting, in economic and social life (commercial advertising, public events), in hospitals and nursing homes, and in the activities of political parties and other legal entities (e.g. non-governmental organizations) registered in Ukraine don't you understand?
If you'd like, I can explain, slowly, what the above means.
Do you believe that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was a justified and righteous incursion?
Yes or no?
No deflection or whataboutism.
Here it is in a nutshell.
It's a civil war that has been fuelled by a nationalist ideology that is incompatible with the ethno-linguistically diverse nature of Ukraine.
The Minsk Agreements largely addressed this problem, providing some cultural autonomy for the Donbas.
Ukraine violated this agreement, largely because of the influence of ultranationalists within the Zelensky govt that forced a hardline policy and created the Donbas rebellion. This was a civil war with a strong element of ethnic cleansing.
This, along the fact that Ukraine was arming (potentially with nuclear weapons, having both the fuel and know how), precipitated the Russian invasion.
I can't call it "righteous" because it is going to result in tens, hundreds of thousands of dead, majority of them conscript hacks, but it was inevitable at that point.
The real tragedy is that it could have been easily averted with the proper handling by NATO. Instead its various governments pushed for this war, using Ukraine as a pawn to weaken Russia. Pure geoplolitics play.
Those nasty Ukranians committing crimes against humanity when properly and lawfully invaded by Russia. Thanks for posting out the real story of the region.
But now that you have served Putin well, can you just stop?
I'm sure your '93 senior year Eurail pass Summer romp in Europe provided you with a very solid understanding of European history and "the real story of the region".
Here's a question for you - can you name one country in Europe where people aren't legally allowed to work, study or hear news in their native language?
During a press conference on June 6, Lavrov said Ukraine adopted "laws banning the Russian language," claiming the Russian language was prohibited in "education, the media, everyday contacts, etc." Lavrov mentioned that if English had been banned in Ireland or French in Belgium, Europe would have responded differently.
But Lavrov is mischaracterizing a Ukrainian language law. It does not ban Russian from the country.
In January 2022, a new provision of the law was introduced, under which print media outlets registered in Ukraine were required to publish in Ukrainian. This did not ban publications in other languages. Instead, the law required that all content also be published in Ukrainian.
Ukraine's language law, which has been implemented in phases, establishes Ukrainian as the country's sole state language. The law requires Ukrainian to be primarily used in business, school and media settings. However, it does not ban the use of Russian or other languages.
Shocked that you would dissemble Putin's propaganda without examination. Quelle surprise.
Politifact, lulz!
Did you even try to do some basic research on this subject?
Here's some info from Wikipedia, a known Kremlin propaganda outlet:
"In April 2019, the Ukrainian parliament voted a new law, the Law of Ukraine "to ensure the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the State language". On 16 June 2019, the law entered into force. The law made the use of Ukrainian compulsory (totally or within certain quotas) in the work of some public authorities, in the electoral procedures and political campaigning, in pre-school, school and university education, in scientific, cultural and sporting activities, in book publishing and book distribution, in printed mass media, television and radio broadcasting, in economic and social life (commercial advertising, public events), in hospitals and nursing homes, and in the activities of political parties and other legal entities (e.g. non-governmental organizations) registered in Ukraine.
In Zelensky's Ukraine, you can publish a book in English, Norvegian or Swahili, but you're not allowed to publish in Russian, the native language of a third of the country (ironically also Zelensky's mother tongue).
Any people will rise if their basic right to live in their own language and cultural norms is denied by a central government authority that intends to suppress their culture and language. Quebec would rise and immediately secede from Canada if French were outlawed by the federal Canadian government, no ifs, ands or buts.
There is no other country in the so-called free world that throttles the rights of an established, large minority to the same extent that Ukraine does.
This is a very basic facet of the Ukraine conflict that is totally left out of the official narrative.
Thanks for once again proving you are unwilling or unable to separate Kremlin Pravda from reality.
Here is what you originally said:
Quote:
Here's a question for you - can you name one country in Europe where people aren't legally allowed to work, study or hear news in their native language?
The Politifact article clearly stated you were wrong so you quoted Wikipedia which in no way contradicts what I said or supports your position.
So do you really just think we are all stupid or do you have a reading comprehension problem? Or do you just not care?
To be clear, it is not illegal to distribute Russian language media in Ukraine. The law requires it to be translated into Ukrainian but does not prevent the use of Russian or make it illegal.
I look forward to your next bad faith disingenuous response. It's always great to hear what the Kremlin wants you to tell us.
What part of the use of Ukrainian is compulsory (totally or within certain quotas) in the work of some public authorities, in the electoral procedures and political campaigning, in pre-school, school and university education, in scientific, cultural and sporting activities, in book publishing and book distribution, in printed mass media, television and radio broadcasting, in economic and social life (commercial advertising, public events), in hospitals and nursing homes, and in the activities of political parties and other legal entities (e.g. non-governmental organizations) registered in Ukraine don't you understand?
If you'd like, I can explain, slowly, what the above means.
I don't know if we can slow it down enough for you to understand why your original statements are wrong. This isn't complicated but appears to be beyond your ability to comprehend. Nevertheless, I persist.
Look at what you originally wrote. Like, actually read it. Drink it in. Try to understand what your words say and mean. Now look at what I have said. Carefully. Like a person who really understands English. Now look at your bolded statements above. This is a form of motte and bailey. The bolded language above doesn't say that people who speak Russian can't speak Russian at work, at school or in the news.
You made a stupid blanket statement, in lock step with Russian propaganda. It was obviously incorrect. Enough for Politifact to evaluate it. You've lost this argument and you are either too brainwashed by the Kremlin or too disingenuous to admit you were wrong.
Just to make it blindingly obvious - you originally rhetorically implied that Russian speaking people in Ukraine weren't allowed to work, study or get their news in Russian. You've provided no support for that because it isn't true. Rather than referring to a non-existent law that prevents those things (which would be consistent with your historical MO, like fake magazine covers), you chose to refer to a law that promotes the use of Ukrainian language.
Use of the Russian language is still permitted in Ukraine, so long as Ukrainian is supported. You can still buy Russian language newspapers. Odessa's most widely circulated newspaper (Vechernyaya Odessa) is Russian language and there are others throughout Ukraine. If Russian language news were prohibited in Ukraine, as you originally claimed, that would not be the case. There are some industries that similarly require the use of Ukrainian language, but it's not even remotely true to say that Russian speakers can't speak Russian at work, either.
All you've done is amplify laughably false Kremlin Pravda and proven yourself once again to be untrustworthy. We all know how this story ends - you will never acknowledge you were duped and you will just hope this conversation gets squirrelled. So goodbye until the next time you show up to spread vile misinformation.
To be clear, it is not illegal to distribute Russian language media in Ukraine. The law requires it to be translated into Ukrainian but does not prevent the use of Russian or make it illegal.
I look forward to your next bad faith disingenuous response. It's always great to hear what the Kremlin wants you to tell us.
It's actually disturbing to read his "expertise" on Ukraine. The country is flawed. Not perfect. But it is an emerging democracy that has suffered more than almost any other country on earth and is working to establish a pro-west government and a new national identity after recent and hard-fought independence. He cites things out of context and with the most pro-russian slant I have seen short of direct Putin propaganda. He seems to have no true understanding or empathy for the plight of Ukrainians and what they have suffered at the hands of Russia for CENTURIES.
Ukraine is a country to support. Russia is completely in the wrong in this conflict and has been working to distort/infiltrate Ukrainian (install puppet officials) government and perception for decades but you'd never know it by Cal88's posts. In his universe Ukraine is Nazi Germany and Russia is a liberating force. It is total BS.
And as I have stated, I did not just backpack in Europe one summer. I am half Ukrainian and have been there as recently as three years ago and have a lot of well-educated relatives there in the government and who hold masters degrees from schools like Stanfurd. They are not militant. They are intellectuals an really decent people and would be appalled that an American (who they see as an ally) would be making the arguments he makes here. It makes me sad.
How do your enlightened Furd relatives explain the fact that there are dozens upon dozens of monuments erected and streets named after the likes of Stepan Bandera across western Ukraine, including major arteries in main cities Kiev or Lviv?
Ukrainians and what they have suffered at the hands of Russia for CENTURIES.
Many western Ukrainians and other eastern Europeans conflate Russia with the Bolsheviks, which you are also doing here, when in fact Russians themselves were a primary target of the Bolsheviks, just like Ukrainian kulaks during the Holodomor. Tens of millions of Russians were slaughtered and gulaged in the first few decades of the Russian revolution, along with somewhere between 7 and 11 million Ukrainians starved to death in the 1930s.
As well, western Ukrainians embraced nazi Germany in WW2, forming the largest non-German nazi army during WW2. You need to acknowledge that there are some troubling aspects in the way modern Ukrainian nationalism has identified with these elements, and that this ideology is very much alive along the Ukrainian nationalist militias like Azov, Right Sector, Svoboda, Aidar, C14 etc. These militias aren't marginal, they are a large military force and are fully integrated within the Ukrainian military structure.
Completely normal: Ukrainians đŸ‡ºđŸ‡¦ in SS uniforms commemorate the soldiers who died in 1944.
This is a not an isolated group of soccer hooligans, it's a whole Ukrainian congregation celebrating its nazi heritage.
Ukrainian nationalism has been fused with the cult of Bandera, as reported by an official Ukrainian media:
WW2 memorials to the Soviets have been closed off, and celebration of Victory Day have been banned in Ukraine. This is holiday which commemorates their victory over Nazi Germany. and their fallen ancestors (nearly every family west and south of the Dniepr has ancestors who died fighting Hitler). What you have instead in western cities like Lviv and other parts of Galicia are large processions honoring Bandera and his ilk.
The fascist militias also wield a lot of political power in Ukraine today, being part of the 30,000 strong Ukrainian KGB, the SBU, who execute pro-Russian journalists like Dugina, activists or even moderate Ukrainians who want a peaceful settlement with the eastern regions and Russia, like Denis Kireev, who was part of the Ukrainian delegation sent to negotiate with Russia. Kireev was summarily executed by the SBU most likely because he had a more pragmatic or moderate position wrt the conflict with Russia:
Ukrainian leaders need to condemn such marches, where Ukrainian extremists celebrate Ukrainian Nazi SS divisions (1st Galician), giving Nazi salutes in uniform in the middle of a major Ukrainian city.
WW2 memorials to the Soviets have been closed off, and celebrations of Victory Day have been banned across Ukraine. Dozens of protestors who stood up for their rights as Russophones and their Russian heritage were burned alive in Odessa on May 2014. Victory Day, held in early May, is a holiday which commemorates their victory over Nazi Germany. and their fallen ancestors (nearly every family west and south of the Dniepr has ancestors who died fighting Hitler). What you have instead in western cities like Lviv and other parts of Galicia are large processions honoring Bandera and his ilk, processions which are fully condoned by the Kiev government.
To put it more succinctly, modern Ukrainian nationalism deeply antagonizes their large Russian minority, and is incompatible with the diverse nature of modern-day Ukraine. NATO has used this division for its geopolitical aims, putting Ukraine on a war path with Russia. That path has been cemented by the fostering of the most radical elements within Ukraine, which sadly all but guarantees the continuation of this war and the further slaughtering of tens of thousands of Ukrainians.
Do you believe that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was a justified and righteous incursion?
Yes or no?
No deflection or whataboutism.
Here it is in a nutshell.
It's a civil war that has been fuelled by a nationalist ideology that is incompatible with the ethno-linguistically diverse nature of Ukraine.
The Minsk Agreements largely addressed this problem, providing some cultural autonomy for the Donbas.
Ukraine violated this agreement, largely because of the influence of ultranationalists within the Zelensky govt that forced a hardline policy and created the Donbas rebellion. This was a civil war with a strong element of ethnic cleansing.
This, along the fact that Ukraine was arming (potentially with nuclear weapons, having both the fuel and know how), precipitated the Russian invasion.
I can't call it "righteous" because it is going to result in tens, hundreds of thousands of dead, majority of them conscript hacks, but it was inevitable at that point.
The real tragedy is that it could have been easily averted with the proper handling by NATO. Instead its various governments pushed for this war, using Ukraine as a pawn to weaken Russia. Pure geoplolitics play.
Those nasty Ukranians committing crimes against humanity when properly and lawfully invaded by Russia. Thanks for posting out the real story of the region.
But now that you have served Putin well, can you just stop?
I'm sure your '93 senior year Eurail pass Summer romp in Europe provided you with a very solid understanding of European history and "the real story of the region".
Here's a question for you - can you name one country in Europe where people aren't legally allowed to work, study or hear news in their native language?
During a press conference on June 6, Lavrov said Ukraine adopted "laws banning the Russian language," claiming the Russian language was prohibited in "education, the media, everyday contacts, etc." Lavrov mentioned that if English had been banned in Ireland or French in Belgium, Europe would have responded differently.
But Lavrov is mischaracterizing a Ukrainian language law. It does not ban Russian from the country.
In January 2022, a new provision of the law was introduced, under which print media outlets registered in Ukraine were required to publish in Ukrainian. This did not ban publications in other languages. Instead, the law required that all content also be published in Ukrainian.
Ukraine's language law, which has been implemented in phases, establishes Ukrainian as the country's sole state language. The law requires Ukrainian to be primarily used in business, school and media settings. However, it does not ban the use of Russian or other languages.
Shocked that you would dissemble Putin's propaganda without examination. Quelle surprise.
Politifact, lulz!
Did you even try to do some basic research on this subject?
Here's some info from Wikipedia, a known Kremlin propaganda outlet:
"In April 2019, the Ukrainian parliament voted a new law, the Law of Ukraine "to ensure the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the State language". On 16 June 2019, the law entered into force. The law made the use of Ukrainian compulsory (totally or within certain quotas) in the work of some public authorities, in the electoral procedures and political campaigning, in pre-school, school and university education, in scientific, cultural and sporting activities, in book publishing and book distribution, in printed mass media, television and radio broadcasting, in economic and social life (commercial advertising, public events), in hospitals and nursing homes, and in the activities of political parties and other legal entities (e.g. non-governmental organizations) registered in Ukraine.
In Zelensky's Ukraine, you can publish a book in English, Norvegian or Swahili, but you're not allowed to publish in Russian, the native language of a third of the country (ironically also Zelensky's mother tongue).
Any people will rise if their basic right to live in their own language and cultural norms is denied by a central government authority that intends to suppress their culture and language. Quebec would rise and immediately secede from Canada if French were outlawed by the federal Canadian government, no ifs, ands or buts.
There is no other country in the so-called free world that throttles the rights of an established, large minority to the same extent that Ukraine does.
This is a very basic facet of the Ukraine conflict that is totally left out of the official narrative.
Thanks for once again proving you are unwilling or unable to separate Kremlin Pravda from reality.
Here is what you originally said:
Quote:
Here's a question for you - can you name one country in Europe where people aren't legally allowed to work, study or hear news in their native language?
The Politifact article clearly stated you were wrong so you quoted Wikipedia which in no way contradicts what I said or supports your position.
So do you really just think we are all stupid or do you have a reading comprehension problem? Or do you just not care?
To be clear, it is not illegal to distribute Russian language media in Ukraine. The law requires it to be translated into Ukrainian but does not prevent the use of Russian or make it illegal.
I look forward to your next bad faith disingenuous response. It's always great to hear what the Kremlin wants you to tell us.
What part of the use of Ukrainian is compulsory (totally or within certain quotas) in the work of some public authorities, in the electoral procedures and political campaigning, in pre-school, school and university education, in scientific, cultural and sporting activities, in book publishing and book distribution, in printed mass media, television and radio broadcasting, in economic and social life (commercial advertising, public events), in hospitals and nursing homes, and in the activities of political parties and other legal entities (e.g. non-governmental organizations) registered in Ukraine don't you understand?
If you'd like, I can explain, slowly, what the above means.
The bolded language above doesn't say that people who speak Russian can't speak Russian at work, at school or in the news.
You made a stupid blanket statement, in lock step with Russian propaganda. It was obviously incorrect. Enough for Politifact to evaluate it. You've lost this argument and you are either too brainwashed by the Kremlin or too disingenuous to admit you were wrong.
Just to make it blindingly obvious - you originally rhetorically implied that Russian speaking people in Ukraine weren't allowed to work, study or get their news in Russian. You've provided no support for that because it isn't true. Rather than referring to a non-existent law that prevents those things (which would be consistent with your historical MO, like fake magazine covers), you chose to refer to a law that promotes the use of Ukrainian language.
Use of the Russian language is still permitted in Ukraine, so long as Ukrainian is supported. You can still buy Russian language newspapers. Odessa's most widely circulated newspaper (Vechernyaya Odessa) is Russian language and there are others throughout Ukraine. If Russian language news were prohibited in Ukraine, as you originally claimed, that would not be the case. There are some industries that similarly require the use of Ukrainian language, but it's not even remotely true to say that Russian speakers can't speak Russian at work, either.
All you've done is amplify laughably false Kremlin Pravda and proven yourself once again to be untrustworthy. We all know how this story ends - you will never acknowledge you were duped and you will just hope this conversation gets squirrelled. So goodbye until the next time you show up to spread vile misinformation.
The text of the law above is quite clear. Instruction in the Russian language is being banned in universities across Ukraine, the use of Russian is being phased out in official documents and in public administration. Public servants can be fined for speaking Russian.
In Ukraine, it is illegal to play Russian music in public. How do you think the Russophone third of the country feels about this? Is there any other country in the "free world" that bans a linguistic/ethnic community from playing its songs in public?!?
Quote:
In Ukraine, it is now illegal to play Russian music in public or import large numbers of books from Russia and Belarus. The new ban passed by Kyiv's parliament covers "products from artists or authors who are or were citizens of the aggressor nation." Artists who fit that bill are also prohibited from performing in Ukraine.
Russian newspapers like the one you've mentioned in Odessa, a historically Russian city with a very large Russophone majority, must now publish over half of their content in Ukrainian, a language that their readers don't fully understand.
Ukraine is purging Russian literature from school curriculums. Russian literature, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Dostoyevsky etc is being purged from school curriculums in Ukraine for ideological reasons. The import and distribution of Russian books has been effectively banned. [url=https://www.hrw.org/node/314241/printable/print][/url] Human Rights Watch: Ukraine's Misguided Curbs on Freedom of Expression - Banning History Book Latest Example
Quote:
The real goal is to ban books published in Russia, and it's embarrassing that authorities are willing to go as far as accuse a well-established historian of bias to justify it. The edition appeared on the ban list on January 10 along with 25 other books, all published in Russia, including a famous Russian author's history of Russia and a book about Emperor Nicholas II's affair with a ballerina.
Beevor has called the ban utterly outrageous, and he's right. It is also, sadly, consistent with other steps the government has taken to restrict free expression, justifying them by the need to counter Russia's military aggression in eastern Ukraine and anti-Ukraine propaganda.
A May 2017 presidential decree banned major Russian companies and their websites from operating in Ukraine, targeting Russian social media used by millions of Ukrainians daily, language and accounting software, and other online businesses.
In July and August, Ukraine's security services expelled or denied entry to several foreign journalists three from Russia and two from Spain for allegedly engaging in anti-Ukrainian "propaganda."
Do you believe that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was a justified and righteous incursion?
Yes or no?
No deflection or whataboutism.
Here it is in a nutshell.
It's a civil war that has been fuelled by a nationalist ideology that is incompatible with the ethno-linguistically diverse nature of Ukraine.
The Minsk Agreements largely addressed this problem, providing some cultural autonomy for the Donbas.
Ukraine violated this agreement, largely because of the influence of ultranationalists within the Zelensky govt that forced a hardline policy and created the Donbas rebellion. This was a civil war with a strong element of ethnic cleansing.
This, along the fact that Ukraine was arming (potentially with nuclear weapons, having both the fuel and know how), precipitated the Russian invasion.
I can't call it "righteous" because it is going to result in tens, hundreds of thousands of dead, majority of them conscript hacks, but it was inevitable at that point.
The real tragedy is that it could have been easily averted with the proper handling by NATO. Instead its various governments pushed for this war, using Ukraine as a pawn to weaken Russia. Pure geoplolitics play.
Those nasty Ukranians committing crimes against humanity when properly and lawfully invaded by Russia. Thanks for posting out the real story of the region.
But now that you have served Putin well, can you just stop?
I'm sure your '93 senior year Eurail pass Summer romp in Europe provided you with a very solid understanding of European history and "the real story of the region".
Here's a question for you - can you name one country in Europe where people aren't legally allowed to work, study or hear news in their native language?
During a press conference on June 6, Lavrov said Ukraine adopted "laws banning the Russian language," claiming the Russian language was prohibited in "education, the media, everyday contacts, etc." Lavrov mentioned that if English had been banned in Ireland or French in Belgium, Europe would have responded differently.
But Lavrov is mischaracterizing a Ukrainian language law. It does not ban Russian from the country.
In January 2022, a new provision of the law was introduced, under which print media outlets registered in Ukraine were required to publish in Ukrainian. This did not ban publications in other languages. Instead, the law required that all content also be published in Ukrainian.
Ukraine's language law, which has been implemented in phases, establishes Ukrainian as the country's sole state language. The law requires Ukrainian to be primarily used in business, school and media settings. However, it does not ban the use of Russian or other languages.
Shocked that you would dissemble Putin's propaganda without examination. Quelle surprise.
Politifact, lulz!
Did you even try to do some basic research on this subject?
Here's some info from Wikipedia, a known Kremlin propaganda outlet:
"In April 2019, the Ukrainian parliament voted a new law, the Law of Ukraine "to ensure the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the State language". On 16 June 2019, the law entered into force. The law made the use of Ukrainian compulsory (totally or within certain quotas) in the work of some public authorities, in the electoral procedures and political campaigning, in pre-school, school and university education, in scientific, cultural and sporting activities, in book publishing and book distribution, in printed mass media, television and radio broadcasting, in economic and social life (commercial advertising, public events), in hospitals and nursing homes, and in the activities of political parties and other legal entities (e.g. non-governmental organizations) registered in Ukraine.
In Zelensky's Ukraine, you can publish a book in English, Norvegian or Swahili, but you're not allowed to publish in Russian, the native language of a third of the country (ironically also Zelensky's mother tongue).
Any people will rise if their basic right to live in their own language and cultural norms is denied by a central government authority that intends to suppress their culture and language. Quebec would rise and immediately secede from Canada if French were outlawed by the federal Canadian government, no ifs, ands or buts.
There is no other country in the so-called free world that throttles the rights of an established, large minority to the same extent that Ukraine does.
This is a very basic facet of the Ukraine conflict that is totally left out of the official narrative.
Thanks for once again proving you are unwilling or unable to separate Kremlin Pravda from reality.
Here is what you originally said:
Quote:
Here's a question for you - can you name one country in Europe where people aren't legally allowed to work, study or hear news in their native language?
The Politifact article clearly stated you were wrong so you quoted Wikipedia which in no way contradicts what I said or supports your position.
So do you really just think we are all stupid or do you have a reading comprehension problem? Or do you just not care?
To be clear, it is not illegal to distribute Russian language media in Ukraine. The law requires it to be translated into Ukrainian but does not prevent the use of Russian or make it illegal.
I look forward to your next bad faith disingenuous response. It's always great to hear what the Kremlin wants you to tell us.
What part of the use of Ukrainian is compulsory (totally or within certain quotas) in the work of some public authorities, in the electoral procedures and political campaigning, in pre-school, school and university education, in scientific, cultural and sporting activities, in book publishing and book distribution, in printed mass media, television and radio broadcasting, in economic and social life (commercial advertising, public events), in hospitals and nursing homes, and in the activities of political parties and other legal entities (e.g. non-governmental organizations) registered in Ukraine don't you understand?
If you'd like, I can explain, slowly, what the above means.
The bolded language above doesn't say that people who speak Russian can't speak Russian at work, at school or in the news.
You made a stupid blanket statement, in lock step with Russian propaganda. It was obviously incorrect. Enough for Politifact to evaluate it. You've lost this argument and you are either too brainwashed by the Kremlin or too disingenuous to admit you were wrong.
Just to make it blindingly obvious - you originally rhetorically implied that Russian speaking people in Ukraine weren't allowed to work, study or get their news in Russian. You've provided no support for that because it isn't true. Rather than referring to a non-existent law that prevents those things (which would be consistent with your historical MO, like fake magazine covers), you chose to refer to a law that promotes the use of Ukrainian language.
Use of the Russian language is still permitted in Ukraine, so long as Ukrainian is supported. You can still buy Russian language newspapers. Odessa's most widely circulated newspaper (Vechernyaya Odessa) is Russian language and there are others throughout Ukraine. If Russian language news were prohibited in Ukraine, as you originally claimed, that would not be the case. There are some industries that similarly require the use of Ukrainian language, but it's not even remotely true to say that Russian speakers can't speak Russian at work, either.
All you've done is amplify laughably false Kremlin Pravda and proven yourself once again to be untrustworthy. We all know how this story ends - you will never acknowledge you were duped and you will just hope this conversation gets squirrelled. So goodbye until the next time you show up to spread vile misinformation.
The text of the law above is quite clear. Instruction in the Russian language is being banned in universities across Ukraine, the use of Russian is being phased out in official documents and in public administration. Public servants can be fined for speaking Russian.
In Ukraine, it is illegal to play Russian music in public. How do you think the Russophone third of the country feels about this? Is there any other country in the "free world" that bans a linguistic/ethnic community from playing its songs in public?!?
Quote:
In Ukraine, it is now illegal to play Russian music in public or import large numbers of books from Russia and Belarus. The new ban passed by Kyiv's parliament covers "products from artists or authors who are or were citizens of the aggressor nation." Artists who fit that bill are also prohibited from performing in Ukraine.
Russian newspapers like the one you've mentioned in Odessa, a historically Russian city with a very large Russophone majority, must now publish over half of their content in Ukrainian, a language that their readers don't fully understand.
Ukraine is purging Russian literature from school curriculums. Russian literature, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Dostoyevsky etc is being purged from school curriculums in Ukraine for ideological reasons. The import and distribution of Russian books has been effectively banned. [url=https://www.hrw.org/node/314241/printable/print][/url] Human Rights Watch: Ukraine's Misguided Curbs on Freedom of Expression - Banning History Book Latest Example
Quote:
The real goal is to ban books published in Russia, and it's embarrassing that authorities are willing to go as far as accuse a well-established historian of bias to justify it. The edition appeared on the ban list on January 10 along with 25 other books, all published in Russia, including a famous Russian author's history of Russia and a book about Emperor Nicholas II's affair with a ballerina.
Beevor has called the ban utterly outrageous, and he's right. It is also, sadly, consistent with other steps the government has taken to restrict free expression, justifying them by the need to counter Russia's military aggression in eastern Ukraine and anti-Ukraine propaganda.
A May 2017 presidential decree banned major Russian companies and their websites from operating in Ukraine, targeting Russian social media used by millions of Ukrainians daily, language and accounting software, and other online businesses.
In July and August, Ukraine's security services expelled or denied entry to several foreign journalists three from Russia and two from Spain for allegedly engaging in anti-Ukrainian "propaganda."
Cool, sounds like we both agree that your original statement was clearly false and that everything I've said has been correct. This is where you just capitulate.
You have acknowledged that Russian language media is not forbidden, although there are barriers. You agree that people can speak Russian at work and in schools, although it is no longer as broadly taught or supported. You have spilled a lot of ink dancing around the issue but now that you've capitulated, why don't you just apologize for lying? Or will you pretend that it was just hyperbole like your buddy Trump used to do?
Your criticism of Ukraine's limitation on freedom of expression would similarly apply to a lot of conservative states, particularly Texas and Florida right now. Banning books with subject matter they don't like? Check. Bilingual education? Only 4 states require it (Texas being one - for now) and public education aims to teach all students proficiency in English. Banning foreign social media? Check out what Trump tried to do with TikTok, with zero pushback from conservatives like you.
I have heard many people complain about Quebec which has similar annoyances in trying to preserve the French language.
Would I want to live in a country that limits freedom of expression? Absolutely not. I have the first amendment, at least until the conservative SCOTUS decides it has outlived its usefulness.
But the promotion of the Ukrainian language in Ukraine has had f;ck all to do with why your buddy invaded a sovereign nation. In fact, it's largely a reaction to Putin's creeping attacks on their sovereignty before, during and following the annexation of Crimea. I understand why Kremlin propaganda intentionally attempts to mislead people to believe that Russian language media is forbidden but I don't understand why you intentionally amplify that falsehood, when you obviously know the truth.
In fact, Ukraine is doing everything it can to best back Kremlin propaganda. As I posted previously, the Kremlin has been instigating for years through its official and unofficial media wings and other more unsavory methods. Much of the misinformation you peddle originated or is sponsored and amplified by the Kremlin.
But that's what it always comes back to right? Why are you carrying Putin's water? Why is that almost every single time we've caught you with your hand in the cookie jar, it aligns perfectly with the Kremlin? I'm not even sure you know the answer to that at this point.
In April 2019, Ukraine's parliament approved a language law making Ukrainian the mandatory language for public sector workers. The adoption of this law required citizens to know Ukrainian and obliged civil servants, soldiers, doctors and teachers to communicate in Ukrainian.
Some exceptions were made under the law for some minority languages like English and other European Union languages. The Russian language does not fall under this category
In January 2022, a new provision of the law was introduced, under which print media outlets registered in Ukraine were required to publish in Ukrainian. This did not ban publications in other languages. Instead, the law required that all content also be published in Ukrainian.
Again, exceptions under the provision were made for certain languages like English and other official European Union languages, but not Russian.
about 50% of Ukrainians speak Ukrainian at home, and around 30% speak Russian primarily.
Ukraine's language law, which has been implemented in phases, establishes Ukrainian as the country's sole state language. The law requires Ukrainian to be primarily used in business, school and media settings. However, it does not ban the use of Russian or other languages
You know, there is probably a nuanced conversation to be had about the Ukrainian language law and whether or not it was appropriate for a free society, but Cal88 led off with such an obvious falsehood that the discussion can now only be about that.
And of course, even the most uncharitable interpretation of the law is still not a good reason for war.
Trump demands reinstatement as 'rightful' president or 'a new Election, immediately!'
We're about 10 weeks before the 2022 midterms and Donald Trump is still -- openly -- talking about undoing/rejecting the 2020 presidential election results.
Which still can't happen, legally or logistically.
Students from YULA Boys High School, on the Westside, surprised math teacher Julio Castro with car so he can spend more time with his family in Santa Clarita.https://t.co/1qkCmqLVIE
You don't watch RHOBH? This has been a core plotline of the past two seasons as Erika Girardi, stage name Erika Jayne, is a key cast member.
No, I don't watch it. But I do know most of what is going on with this story. I'm sort of following it, particularly how it exposes the corruption of private judges.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) Democrat Mary Peltola won the special election for Alaska's only U.S. House seat on Wednesday, besting a field that included Republican Sarah Palin, who was seeking a political comeback in the state where she was once governor.
Peltola, who is Yup'ik and turned 49 on Wednesday, will become the first Alaska Native to serve in the House and the first woman to hold the seat. She will serve the remaining months of the late Republican U.S. Rep. Don Young's term. Young held the seat for 49 years before his death in March.
"I don't think there will be another birthday like today," Peltola said.
In the final round of the count, Peltola, a former state lawmaker, edged Sarah Palin, a former Alaska governor and the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, by 3 percentage points, 51.5% to 48.5%.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) Democrat Mary Peltola won the special election for Alaska's only U.S. House seat on Wednesday, besting a field that included Republican Sarah Palin, who was seeking a political comeback in the state where she was once governor.
Peltola, who is Yup'ik and turned 49 on Wednesday, will become the first Alaska Native to serve in the House and the first woman to hold the seat. She will serve the remaining months of the late Republican U.S. Rep. Don Young's term. Young held the seat for 49 years before his death in March.
"I don't think there will be another birthday like today," Peltola said.
In the final round of the count, Peltola, a former state lawmaker, edged Sarah Palin, a former Alaska governor and the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, by 3 percentage points, 51.5% to 48.5%.
It's about time that an Alaskan Native serves the House of Reps for Alaska!
Alaska's U.S. senators, Republicans Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, congratulated Peltola.
Murkowski said Peltola "has a long track record of public service to our great state." Murkowski and Peltola were in the state Legislature together.
Former President Donald Trump took aim Monday at one of his favorite shows, Fox News Channel's top-rated morning show, Fox & Friends, where he was a longtime regular contributor. "That show has been terrible," Trump said in a post published on his Truth Social platform. "Gone to the 'dark side.'"
But the yesterday he went on Fox and friends and they had a 47 min call, at the end of which trump said "we're going to do this weekly, every Monday, or Tuesday like this week if it can't be Monday."
Then kilmeade said, well, you may want to do that but Fox is not committing to it."
Pretty funny. He's desperate.
You may have also picked up on Steve Doocy asking why trump had classified docs in his desk!
Mark Joseph Stern covers the Supreme Court for the liberal outlet Slate.
Earlier this week, he posted about a case.
And a right-wing journalist asked how he was alerted about the case less than an hour before it was posted publicly.
Stern DM'd her, explaining that the Supreme Court's Public Information Office has a mailing list for journalists that gives them a head's up whenever there's a new development in a case.
But several right-wing trolls decided that Stern (and everyone on that mailing list) getting information about cases early meant that he's the leaker in the Dobbs case.
And Josh Hawley decided to retweet that accusation, sending all these conspiracy theorists accusing Stern of being the Dobbs leaker.
Here's what I DMed Nicole. I'm sure she and I disagree on many important issues, but I am always eager to help journalists navigate the Supreme Court's strange press rules. Now @mattdizwhitlock is fomenting a conspiracy theory that I leaked Dobbs. This is just pathetic. pic.twitter.com/UUm0s7m9J0
I’m really at a loss. It’s not funny at this stage. A senator is telling every crazy person on the internet that I’m a SCOTUS leaker. What am I supposed to do? The accusation is objectively false! pic.twitter.com/nscqCznGVx
Josh Hawley's press secretary accuses *me* of lying.
I want to remind everyone that this saga began with me showing a conservative journalist how to add herself to a Supreme Court call-out list that any reporter can access. And it's ending with Hawley's flak calling me a liar. https://t.co/MpC1N1D6kO
You gotta love Newt. He is made up of the same ingredients as tRump: serial philanderer (even cheated on his wives when they were ill), married 3 times and constant stiffer of the working man. What kind of person would allow themselves to be lectured and influenced by such morally bankrupt men as these two?
MADISON, Wis. - In the days following former President Donald Trump's loss in 2020, at least two Wisconsin lawmakers received an email from longtime conservative activist and wife to a U.S. Supreme Court justice Ginni Thomas urging the legislators to change the outcome of Wisconsin's presidential election, according to a new report.
Thomas, using an email program that allowed her to communicate with lawmakers on a mass scale, sent messages to Senate Elections Committee chairwoman Kathy Bernier and state Rep. Gary Tauchen, R-Bonduel, on Nov. 9, 2020, asking both to "take action to ensure that a clean slate of Electors is chosen for our state," according to The Washington Post and emails obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel under the state's public records law.
You gotta love Newt. He is made up of the same ingredients as tRump: serial philanderer (even cheated on his wives when they were ill), married 3 times and constant stiffer of the working man. What kind of person would allow themselves to be lectured and influenced by such morally bankrupt men as these two?
You know its going badly when they're calling in Newt Gingrich lol.
…still not in the same league as the perpetual rolling out of these two Greatest Hits, the playing of which is tantamount to shouting, "We are so f@ucked!"
1. Hunter's laptop; and
2. Hillary's emails.
Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection
Send my credentials to the House of Detention
I got some friends inside