Comments by "LancesArmorStriking" (@LancesArmorStriking) on "Bashkortostan. A Republic That Wants To Break Away From Russia." video.
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Ukraine: "In public schools, you will speak ONLY UKRAINIAN!"
vAtNiKs: "In Russian regions you will learn BOTH languages. In Sakha, ethnic Russian children have mandatory schooling in Sakha".
See the difference? Russia actually respects regional cultural identity.
If you wanna call me a propagandist, then maybe you'll listen to the Polish, Hungarian, and Romanian governments, who've all voiced similar complaints about THEIR ethnic minorities' language rights in Ukraine, following the 2019 language law which bans its use in public schooling as a primary subject, and which demotes official status in any area where less than 10% of the population uses it.
That's an ethno-nationalist approach to unity, artificially imposing that which you could not do diplomatically and democratically.
Doing it forcefully is "fine", but I expect all countries claiming their support is based on "fighting authoritarianism" to stop sending a single cent to Ukraine.
Poland was a good start.
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@leme5639
France's oppression of Brittany, Catalonia and especially Basque's close call to independence, Northern Ireland breaking away from the UK, (technically not in Europe but still) Kurdistan's independence movement
In North America, Hawaii's suppressed independence movement, California's flirtation with independence, Texas' brief calls to secede, and some minor rumblings about Yucatan.
The channel's selective nature when discussing which countries to support splitting up should really give some insight into what their bias is.
The channel creator is Polish, so it makes sense that he'd want to politically hurt Russia.
Most Poles I've spoken to are personally very bitter over having lost their empire to the larger Russian one. Some even talk about retaking Lwów, as it was Polish right up until WWII.
They're a nefarious force that, through their diaapora, have an outsize influence on US policy.
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@obligatoryusername7239
That's simply untrue. You have a surface-level understanding of Russia colored by whichever cases Western media chooses to show you. Most investment projects aren't politically exciting, so they aren't mentioned.
If it doesn't involve the potential breakup of Russia (wishful thinking by the West), it doesn't get reported on.
Putin, for one, pulled Russia from the brink of collapse in the 1990s, when there were actual calls for independence across the RF. He invested massively in pretty much every region to bring it to some semblance of normalcy after a decade of Yeltsin's incompetence.
In more recent times, he invested tens of billions of dollars (I forget the ruble conversion) into the Krasnodar region, turning it into an agricultural hub. Tatarstan has also received huge amounts of investment throughout the 2010s.
Finally, more recently (and I think out of necessity, I do not think he would have done this otherwise) he has earmarked a lot of money in the 2024 budget for development of the Far East, specifically in reindustrialization and microchip tech.
It remains to be seen whether this will actually happen, it has been promised before and failed multiple times. Of course Russia is still corrupt.
But you take it for granted that Russia is a functioning state, and immediately look for problems within it.
You never appreciate any achievements done by Russian statesmen, unless it's absolutely unavoidable (like launching Sputnik, or winning WWII, even then you try to diminish the scope of our contribution to those things).
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@ArtisZ
No, it isn't. When comparing us to any alternative European or North American power, there is no question at all.
During colonial expansion, Yermak (the Cossack who led the expansion) was more honest to the Natives about the terms of Russian expansion, than the Americans were.
When he approached a new region, the deal was. "Ally with us or we'll fight and destroy your Khanate", versus "We'll both sign this treaty and we definitely won't violate it or have different terms in the English-language copy".
That's even assuming the Natives the US settlers encountered could even speak English.
I suppose that's not the fault of the settlers, as they were expanding into areas so quickly that no one had time to learn both language and serve as interpreter. Still, in the cases where they could translate, the Americans were famous for simply lying.
We didn't have a Manifest Destiny, so no "spare the Indian to save the man" ideology. Of course Russification did occur, but it wasn't as intense (I'll get to that) and it was for more practical, "we need to secure this land against a future Mongol attack" reasons.
We didn't cut off people's hands for rebelling like the Belgians. We didn't put the Natives through boarding schools, or prevent them (if deported— which both the Americans and Russians did do) from returning.
We didn't put them in auctions, or whip them, or sell their children off like cattle, like the Americans did.
We didn't mass rape them and erase their former culture entirely, like the Spanish did.
The fact that you're still around and identifying as Baltic is evidence of that.
We don't force our former colonies to use a version of the ruble, and threaten to coup their governments if they don't, like France still currently does.
We didn't forcibly sterilize Native women well into the 1970s in an attempt to genocide them, like Canada did.
We took over their land, forced them to pay yasik, or fur tax, and put them into indentured servitude if they couldn't. Not by any means good treatment, but CERTAINLY nothing compared to European colonialism. Not even close.
Currently, our Native people have mandatory schooling for everyone in the Native language, and while it isn't up to par with Russian language education, it's— my whole point— better than anything the West has done. Their cultures are largely intact, they have living cultures with internet memes and tv shows and normal things that aren't propped up as show pieces. Just a regular part of everyday life.
How bad was Russification if the West is currently able to exploit Native feelings in Russia to try and fracture it? Want to know why that's not possible in the US?
Because they're all dead.
Don't delude yourself just because your emotions run high. I'm sure your childhood was filled with stories from your grandpa about how bad we are, about how we're barbarians who aren't capable of being a European civilized country. I've heard it all from Polish friends' relatives. From Lithuanians who drank their parents' koolaid.
You're all stuck in the past, and it's not even a correct account of events.
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@ggoddkkiller1342
Religion isn't the only issue that divides cultures— their similarity has nothing to do with it. It's always about power and resources. Case in point: Fergana Valley. All 3 Central Asian nations which border it (Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan) have fought over rights to the land and water in that area.
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, two TURKIC countries, clashed over treatment of Kyrgyz in Uzbekistan in 2010, fighting in the southern region Osh. 400+ people were killed.
"Pathetic claim" huh??
You can look it up yourself, Pan-Turkism won't work just like Pan-Slavism won't work. There are too many differences between you now to unite as one people. It has been 1,000+ years since the Gokturks, too late now. You all live different lives.
Imagine a single country, but 80M are Turkish and you are the small minority. Would you be okay with your culture being assimilated into Turkish culture?
Your traditions won't be respected and will instead he swallowed by Turkey, because they have more people, they create more media (Turkish soap operas, dramas, music). You will just become an extension of Turkey, there will be no more Kyrgyz or Uzbek. You will speak Turkish only. Maybe Kazakh will survive, but very little.
Be careful what you wish for.
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