Comments by "Emir" (@irongron) on "Силиконовый занавес"
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WIth the "Oligarch" situation between Russia & Ukraine, you are spot on, Oligarchy by the text book definition, implies roughly equal power between the oligarchs, this is what we have here in Ukraine and as Anton pointed out, Russia does not, Russia is not an Oligarchy, becasue the top dog is the only one with power, that is what is called a Kleptocracy, Putin and his ilk are all Kleptocrats not Oligarchs. Anyway, great stuff John, your work is top shelf!
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Right on Jonathon, what Hanna states at the start of the show re: the real problem was not Communism, it was just an iteration or evolution of the real problem - Russian Imperialism. In 1991 everyone thought, "great, we got rid of Communism problem solved" - WRONG & very naive. From the article - Deceit, Dread, and Disbelief: The Story of How Ukraine Lost Its Nuclear Arsenal - First President of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk talking to last Soviet Foreign Minister and first President of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze.....take note of the prophetic last sentence, "They are still sick with imperial infection"....
“I would understand Russia’s nastiness,” Kravchuk lamented, “But Americans are even worse—they do not listen to our arguments.” Shevardnadze remarked to his fellow post-Soviet leader: The Americans do not know about our terrible, rough relations with the Russian empire and the USSR. Without that knowledge, building predictable and trustworthy relations with ‘democratic Yeltsin and Russia’ would be very difficult, whom the Americans currently call ‘Russian democrats’...I know many of them, talked to them a lot. They are still sick with imperial infection."
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I used to live in Australia before moving to Ukraine a decade ago and to put it in the vernacular that only Lesa will understand "she's a fair dinkum good lady!". For sure Ukrainian is more softer and melodic than Russian which is harsher. Compare the harsh Russian greeting "Zdrastvuitye" (pronounced "ZDARST-VOOOT-YEAH") to the way softer Ukrainian "Vitayu" (pron. VEE-TAH-YOU). When I first moved to Ukraine from Aus, I settled in Donbas and everyone spoke russian there, so that's what I had to learn over my preference to speak Ukrainian. Anyway I agree with Lesa, Russian harsh (like German), Ukrainian softer. One thing with "Da" (yes), I am IDP in West Ukraine and everyone here speaks Ukrainian only, never hear russian, but the one russian word I do hear everyone use here sometimes is "Da" (mixed in with Tak), it's just so ingrained every now then everyone says "Da", kinda sub-consciously I suppose. I exclusively use "Tak"! Currently as I am crossing over, I speak a language called "Surzhyk", which is russian and Ukrainian mixed up. My first language was what used to be called Serbo-Croatian i.e. "Jugoslavian" (Father Bosnian, Mother Serbian) before English, so when I am lost for a russian or Ukrainian word I unconsciously use a Jugoslav word and kinda speak a weird "Jugo-Surzhyk"!
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At the 6:40 min mark Lesia mentions the "...division between West and East Ukraine that has to be acknowledged...". Indeed, but there is more nuance, especially to the Eastern part. A common myth is that the eastern part is all Russian speaking. There's maps that generalise the demographics of language so much it is misleading. When I loved to Ukraine a decade ago, I lived in Donetska Oblast (am IDP in West Ukraine now). Yes all the big towns, like my home town of Pokrovsk, or even Donetsk City or the sister city next to it Makiivka, where my Ukrainian wife had a flat that we lost to the so-called DNR - they spoke Russian, BUT, here's the but...lots of the small villages in between these places, even the ones around Pokrovsk, people there spoke Ukrainian mostly, NOT Russian! But the vatniks will pull out those maps and say "All of Eastern Ukraine is Russian speaking" - this is just complete and utter nonsense. But hardly anyone, who doesn't live here would know that. Also recently on a trip to Zakarpatia to a town only 5km from the Romanian border, as far West as you can get in Ukraine, the maid that changed our sheets in our room, I thanked her in Ukrainian "Duzhe djakuyu" and she replied "Pazhalsta" (i.e. the Russian word for "budlaska", she spoke a kinda of mixture of both languages called "Surzhyk"). As Lesia pointed out Ukraine could have been better with the facts and messaging, it just got lost in all the noise peddled by the Kremlin and their vatnik stooges in the west.
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You're pretty much well guaranteed a top half insightful conversation with the Chatham House experts, (or even just any Silicon Curtain guest, tbh) probably one of the best think tanks in the world in terms of staffing, especially the Russia & Eurasia programme. Contrast that with some of the popular alt-media outfits, which are almost all highly contrarian anti-NATO/US pro-Russia Kremlin mouthpieces (e.g. The Grayzone, Convo-Couch, Sunday Wire, TNT Radio,Not The BCFM Politics show from Bristol, MOATS with GG, The Richie Allen show etc )) that get biased ultra-Russophiles and present tham as an expert on "Ukraine" (Ince when is a Russophile an. expert on Ukraine ? really!)
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