Thread copied from here
https://ukrainian.network/@bjeelka/112758039990852102 and combined into one toot.
Trying to explain what the fuck russia is doing and why.
Interestingly enough, russians actually have TWO contradicting narratives about Ukraine:
1. Ukrainians are inferior indigenous savages that need to be "lifted up" to great russian culture. They are funny hospitable small tribe with their tasty borshch and varenyky, wearing colorful clown pants and ridiculous haircuts, look at these stupid Ukrainians, how cute!
That's pretty much the same as they treat other conquered nations. Your typical imperial "little people that can be exploited and made fun of in the process".
If "little people" refuse to be "lifted up" - they instantly become "radical nationalists", and after WW2 - evil nazis.
But only those who dare to refuse the great gift of russian culture. Those who continue to kiss the boot of russian master - they stay cute little people we love and poke with a stick from time to time to laugh, just a friendly laughter to celebrate our eternal friendhip and unity by the great russian culture we all share.
But there is another narrative, special for Ukraine (and partly Belarus).
"Also russians but confused". They are really russians, like us, but they don't know it, and that's tragic, so we need to conquer them first, murder and rape all who's trying to resist, because they are evil nazis, and teach all who remains the actual truth about who they really are. So the great russian people divided by the evil nazi satanist Jews from outer space, finally be TOGETHER!!!111
In this view Ukrainians are not inferior, but surprisingly equal to russians. But they are not allowed to identify as anything other than russians. Or else, you've guessed it, they're evil nazis and must be immediately raped and murdered. Not necessarily in that order.
I would say that the second narrative is worse, because it is inherently strictly genocidal. It's basically a definition of genocide.
But what's interesting is that BOTH these narratives exist simultaneously in one russian head as a weird impossible mixture, ready to be used separatly in appropriate occasions, as russians are masterfully switch between them in a second.
"Little brothers". Brothers but little.
Disown your national identity, ascend and become russian, totally equal to me, BUT! Whenever I want I can suddenly remember that you are just a dirty khokhol pig breathing my air because I allowed you to be my "brother" and I can take it back.
This is the great trick russians do to all colonized people to some extent, beautifully summarized as a Jewish joke:
- When I was in school I was Jewish little shit.
- When I studied in the university I was fucking Jewish pig.
- When I won a nobel prize i became great RUSSIAN scientist.
I can take everything I like about you and call it russian. And everything else I leave to be Ukrainian. Because I can switch between those two optics at will.
That's the whole mechanism how empires work in general. But Ukraine gets this special genocidal bonus status for being "mother of russian cities".
Each time russian empire is collapsing (their favorite activity) and forced to weaken its grasp - it sometimes can let enslaved nations free. Usually, temporarily. Georgians, Estonians, someday, hopefully, even Buryats and Chechens. But not Ukrainians. Ukraine is special in their worldview.
As empires do, they've appropriated a big chunk of history to legitimize themselves as a great power. They've chosen an ancient relatively successful state of Rus, named their empire after it "Russia" and based their national myth on it. The problem is that Rus's capital was Kyiv, and now these funny peasants with their clown pants and ridiculous haircuts live there.
Russia can't just leave Ukraine alone because their own identity doesn't make any sense without Kyiv. They know it. They feel it. They will never leave us alone willingly. They absolutely need to draw this equality sign between Rus and russia, or the whole idea of russia will lose all meaning, and that's why they won't spare any resource, including millions of lives to make it so. That's the ultimate reason why they're so desperate.
Thanks for coming to my brief TED talk.
@rada @bjeelka#ukraine #russiaisaterroriststate #russia_is_a_terrorist_state #russia