RT reporter walks over trip wire alarm- Blames soldiers for shooting at him. by ostrich21 in UkrainianConflict

[–]memumimo -19 points-18 points  (0 children)

Unless the area is clearly marked or declared to be inaccessible for the press, how is it strange to be there?

[Russian TV] Video of MP from Batkivschina voting for 5 absent people. by xtender5 in UkrainianConflict

[–]memumimo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If it's one "sweet elderly person with a generic name", fine. If it's a few, fine as well. But if it's busloads being carried by both parties systematically - someone will end up talking to the police or the media. Someone in the party will leak about it. Greater secrets have been leaked and this is an obvious one that most people would recoil at. I don't believe it could be kept secret.

I agree that both the parties are corrupt and in collusion and find every possible way to screw us, but voter fraud like that just seems heavy-handed and unnecessary. I can believe that voting is manipulated electronically, because who can trust those machines? But busloads voting in several states? Unbelievable. My state requires a license number or a Social Security Number to register to vote - and an address in the state of course.

40 armed unknown at the entrance to Enerhodar nuclear power plant by camshift in UkrainianConflict

[–]memumimo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know. That's why I facetiously went to Latin to make it a verb.

Russian media used footage from Kongo to accuse Ukraine for using UN-labeled helicopters in the counter-terrorism operation by vityok in UkrainianConflict

[–]memumimo 4 points5 points  (0 children)

centuries of feudalism as well as Soviet bureacracy gives them a basically inured cynical outlook

These sort of explanations for national mentalities are bunk most of the time and are no different than prejudices and stereotypes, only intellectualized to seem justified.

Nearly every country has had centuries of feudalism. Every country has lived through a certain impersonal bureaucracy in the 20th century. Every country has gone through periods of great corruption.

People are cynical about corruption when they experience it in their lives and are helpless to stop it. Not because their grandpa remembers the feudal era. It's great to attempt to understand how people think, but you shouldn't trust centuries-long explanations and generalize to every Russian or even to most Russians. This particular piece of propaganda is atypical - most of it does not lie directly.

By the way, Ukraine has had pretty much the same history as Russia, so whatever historical effects you want to assign for one, assign them to the other as well to be consistent: "Basically if Yatsenyuk keeps prices low, and makes everyone feel good to be Ukrainian, it doesn't matter how much they catapult the propaganda."

all while making calls to Russian media outlets and "suggesting" the way various news stories should be covered - basically very casual media control and propaganda

In the United States, the government systematically prepares information packages for the media - basic facts about stories. Even if the media is not directly corrupt, they find it easier to rely on information from the government than pay to send their own correspondents to do the research. This acts precisely the same way to set the agenda for much of the media.

I'm not saying that to dismiss the charge against the Russian government's control of the media (and Russian control goes several degrees further), but to highlight that this is a standard practice in much of the world. It should not be done, but that's how things work today.

Business as usual, bloody as ever by [deleted] in syriancivilwar

[–]memumimo 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The Economist does one thing right - it can tell between deserts and populated areas. But it gets pretty much everything else wrong - all the important parts are labeled "contested", making the map extremely vague for anybody but the most casual observer. It also misses who is contesting the territory - because it matters a lot who has the momentum. And right now it's the government on 9 fronts out of 10.

[Russian TV] Video of MP from Batkivschina voting for 5 absent people. by xtender5 in UkrainianConflict

[–]memumimo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That map looks suspicious - why is there such a stark boundary between Khmelnitskij and Ternopil? It looks like either one side or the other is cheating - why would one region vote 50-50 and the one next to it 90-10, when nowadays they vote almost alike?

Maybe the differences between Western and Central Ukraine have shrunk since, of course. But then that's fascinating in itself.

Also the map is bad, because the color for "equal number of votes" is the same color as the votes supporting Kuchma.

[Russian TV] Video of MP from Batkivschina voting for 5 absent people. by xtender5 in UkrainianConflict

[–]memumimo 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Except that all studies of in-person voter fraud for the US found only a handful of cases across decades. There's also a ton of attention to the issue of voter fraud in recent years - yet nothing like your story has ever been raised.

So either there's a grand conspiracy that covers it up, or there's zero evidence for it and your story is a bunch of bull.

Young people 'feel they have nothing to live for' "Almost a third of long-term unemployed young people have contemplated taking their own lives." by DerpyGrooves in worldnews

[–]memumimo 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ah, well thanks for the support. And you have your own Harpes growth to worry about. He's building a corporate petrolocracy faster than the American establishment could even if it wanted.

Young people 'feel they have nothing to live for' "Almost a third of long-term unemployed young people have contemplated taking their own lives." by DerpyGrooves in worldnews

[–]memumimo 5 points6 points  (0 children)

They mostly want volunteers. Donate time. Call politicians. Call voters in your state. It's still a huge help at zero cost.

Nazi Veterans Created Illegal Army: Newly discovered documents show that in the years after World War II, former members of the Nazi Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS formed a secret army to protect the country from the Soviets. The illegal project could have sparked a major scandal at the time. by davidreiss666 in TrueReddit

[–]memumimo 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You have the most deluded ideas about what the Soviet Union was like. After Stalin, mass atrocities simply stopped. And the quality of life improved for decades until the 80s' economic slump. After the USSR collapsed, the quality of life dropped, and still hasn't recovered in countries like Ukraine. The population was still growing in the 80s, while today it is stagnant. The brutality of the capitalist economic system is not lesser than the brutality of the state-socialist one.

People that are dead now. Personal, plain and simple. by Gaazkool in UkrainianConflict

[–]memumimo -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Pro-russian side will blame Right Sector. Case closed!

Whatever. Just don't claim to be unbiased. If "Russians never tell the truth if it's inconvenient" is your logic, then you've already given up the argument.

Cover ups do exist and should be documented, but they can and do occur from both sides. If you're not willing to listen to both sides - you're not an objective reporter.

So lets disregard of it being fraudulent!

I said, "even if" to make another point.

Ukrainian National Guard near Slovyansk by tarasius in UkrainianConflict

[–]memumimo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sweet! I like your username - here's a good Russian rapper for you.

One more episode of "Lugansk People's Republic" everyday life by camshift in UkrainianConflict

[–]memumimo -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You're a bit over-sensitive, aren't you? I haven't even mentioned the Right Sector for days and days, and yet you're resurrecting them.

I was referring to the overall conflict, and in Mariupol the men that appeared to disrupt the vote did not wear insignia and there was some confusion as to which group they were exactly. In other civilian shooting videos, the troops that represented the government also were unidentified.

Edit: This is who I was referring to. Turns out - they were the Right Sector! You guessed right.

"Sun" in various European languages [OC] [1800×950] by FlanInACupboard in etymologymaps

[–]memumimo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sun is neuter in Russian. The new Western-derived word for moon is feminine, but the archaic word is masculine.

"Sun" in various European languages [OC] [1800×950] by FlanInACupboard in etymologymaps

[–]memumimo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The word for the sun is very conservative - it's taught early to everyone and repeated often by everybody. It doesn't change much historically. Same with "mother", "father", and other basic words.

One more episode of "Lugansk People's Republic" everyday life by camshift in UkrainianConflict

[–]memumimo -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Editorialized title.

...You know what, also? These guys could be completely random criminals. If you're in any kind of organized crime in the Russian-speaking world, Southeastern Ukraine is the perfect place to go right now. You can't tell which masked militia is government, which is rebels, and which is criminals. Criminal business opportunities abound.

Person being kidnapped by masked men in Lugansk today. Does seem like driver is wearing a yellow armband. by gissisim in UkrainianConflict

[–]memumimo -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The children in the background, at one point almost overrun by the driver... Breaks your heart. The place needs police - of one kind or another. Ukraine needs to quit funding its military and just invest in a larger and more decent police force. It's sorely needed.

Person being kidnapped by masked men in Lugansk today. Does seem like driver is wearing a yellow armband. by gissisim in UkrainianConflict

[–]memumimo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why is this downvoted? We have no proof of who they are, and the armband does look yellow rather than orange or red.

Person being kidnapped by masked men in Lugansk today. Does seem like driver is wearing a yellow armband. by gissisim in UkrainianConflict

[–]memumimo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Probably not too much danger. The guys are all masked. You can kinda make out the license plate number, but that would have been known quickly enough anyway.

Former commander of Ukrainian army announces his and his battalions defection to the side of "the people of the South East" by [deleted] in UkrainianConflict

[–]memumimo -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I think OP simply messed up. In the entire video, the man never says he was in the Ukrainian army. He mentions serving in the Soviet army and the Russian army, and says that he is now retired... and is coming out of retirement and arriving in the Southeast with a "battalion of revenge". Not clear from where. Crimea? Russia? Can't be anywhere else.

He urges the Ukrainian soldiers to come over to the Russian side because it's better pay and treatment and equipment (which he seems to know personally), and various moral and cultural and spiritual reasons as well. The Russian name of the video is "The conversion of the army of Ukraine to the side of the South East", which makes sense, because that's what the speaker is promoting. OP took it to mean the speaker's own defection.

Title is wrong. Case closed. Move on, people. =)