Comments by "MarcosElMalo2" (@MarcosElMalo2) on "Ukraine Cultural Brief for Volunteers of the International Legion" video.

@DenysLukoshkin But how do you toast the crew of the Moskva? “Bottoms up!”
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Fwiw, parts of Ukraine were part of Lithuania long long ago. Polish culture (and Roman Catholicism) also had a big influence on the eastern oblasts. That’s one of the fascinating things about Ukraine: it has always been a place where different cultures have met and rubbed off on each other. The ancient Greeks and the early Vikings met in Crimea and the southern Ukrainian coast, setting up trading posts and farming the fertile soil. It’s this historical multiculturalism that makes Ukraine different from the “princes of Muscovy”, both past and present. Moscow’s greatest outside influence was the Golden Horde, which beat the shit out of the princes and burned Moscow down twice. At that point the Muscovite warlords, I mean princes, became tax collectors and tributaries for their Mongol overlords. I don’t think it’s an exaggerating to say they were pimps, and the culture extolled by Putin in his ahistorical ravings, is basically a pimp culture.
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Say-Palyanytsya I don’t think it’s comparable. At best it’s a pale comparison. My father grew up during the depression. When we were little, he would finish anything left over on our plate. Even dining out at someone else’s house or at a restaurant, which embarrassed my mom to no end. He couldn’t help it. He would sheepishly joke about starving children in China. 😅 Speaking of dining out, he frequently would under order for himself, knowing he’d be raiding our plates at the end of the meal. He is in his 90s now and he still won’t order fries with a burger, expecting someone else to share their fries. 😂 Yes, I learned long ago to order the large fries. But anyway, he and his family sometimes went hungry. He was probably underfed at times. But all of this pales in comparison to the genocidal famine that Joe Stalin and the Kremlin inflicted on the people of Ukraine, a famine that the Soviet Union hid from the world during and after. I can’t even imagine the level of trauma the survivors experienced.
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That’s really interesting. If the soldiers are being paid more to buy their own equipment, you could say there was a bottom up procurement process that let the soldiers themselves determine what gear to prioritize. No, it’s not perfect. I’m sure we’d rather see every Ukrainian soldier get every bit of kit he or she needs. But given the limitations, it’s not a terrible situation.
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@Theire1 My mom was born in 1940. When she used to bemoan high prices, she talked about the movie ticket costing 10¢, the popcorn and candy was 10¢, and the soft drink was 5¢. Your dad’s story is sad and funny at the same time.
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@jpoeng Yes, Bloodlands by Tim Snyder. Another good historian of the Soviet Union is Steven Kotkin. Both of these distinguished scholars have a number of their speaking engagement on YouTube. For anyone that wants to get in depth on Ukrainian history going back to ancient times to the present, Yale University has put Snyder’s History of Ukraine course lectures here on YouTube. I think it’s about 10-12 hours and includes a couple of guest lecturers speaking in their areas of expertise. After watching the lectures, anyone will be prepared to counter Russian propaganda and disinformation about the History of Ukraine and Russia and other countries in the region.
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In most contexts, putting the year first buries the more important information. Day or month is usually the first thing you want to know (as well as day of the week).
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In that case, I’d last about ten minutes in Ukraine.
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