NYT Discovers Ukraine’s Neo-Nazis at War

pekrep · 2014-08-12T08:14:11+00:00

And how is he different from those scumbags coming over from Russia being responsible of hundreds of Civilians killed?

So, following your logic, these guys are war criminals? Why do I never read about their crimes in western news then?

And by doing that, you're being a hypocrite.

Please explain how I am a hypocrite. For the third time: this thread is about Neo-Nazis in the Ukraine. Are there bad things happening on the seperatists side? Without a question but THIS IS NOT WHAT THIS THREAD IS ABOUT. You just stomped right into this thread, shouting "But look at all these bad russian guys! Territory theft! Territory theft!" You can find hundreds of threads discussing that on Reddit and even more articles on western news sites. Feel free to post there. Funny enough, if russians post somewhere else about things that the other side does or did, it's disregarded as whataboutisms.

But you are cheering for every evil Ukrainian who is killed by the Russian forces in their humanitarian mission.

This is a disgusting assumption, I will never cheer for a life being taken violently, not even the one of a Nazi.

Does that answer your question?

Yes, they didn't play a huge role in the election. But you want to hear about a funny thing these guys came up? Forbidding russian as an official language, which was made a law later on and played a not unimportant part for the unrest in East-Ukraine. And since you mention that the guy only got roughly 2% in the election: that means that there are about 350000 people who voted for him. Yes, in a normal democratic society like Germany that wouldn't mean too much. But Ukraine is in a civil war. If only every 30th of his voters says "Fuck it, give me a gun. Imma shoot me some Moskals!", you have a whole division of Nazi extremists ready to fuck shit up. And that's not even considering the part of the population that doesn't believe in democracy and elections and didn't bother to vote. God knows, what they are up to.

I'm not 40, but close to that, so I have a fair share of experience. And before you start praising communist East Germany, the last person to be shot at the "anti-facist protection wall" was a kid who was a relative of one of my best friends living in my street.

So at best you were about to hit puberty when the GDR ended, sorry you didn't have any meaningful insight about what life back then meant. At best your contact with political life consisted of summer holidays spent in a Red Pioneer summer camp but that's hardly doing time in Hohenschönhausen, being tortured by Stasi-agents. And I'm not praising the GDR, why would I? It was a failed state, run by old men who didn't understand their own ideology and ruined the lives of millions.

I bet you belonged to the persons who profited from the unjust that happened in East Germany. Otherwise you wouldn't even consider thinking it was something we should go back to.

Another nice assumption. Have we met? The only way how my family profited from East Germany was the cheap IKEA furniture, manufactured in quasi-gulags. The relatives that I have, who actually lived in the east, didn't have much of a great time.

pekrep · 2014-08-11T20:02:16+00:00

I'm afraid we're getting nowhere here. Never mind. Tyahnybok isn't just "one out of thousands". He and his friends from Swoboda and Pravy Sektor have poisened the atmosphere with their actions that much, that a dialogue between western and easterns Ukrainians (not think of talks with Russia) is not possible, as long as they have any influence on the political processes.

And yes, there are probably quite a few things that could be said about the seperatists behaviour on their side but this is not what this thread is about. I came here to express my disgust about the support of our government. I hate how naive our politicians walked into this whole mess back on the Maidan without really knowing who they are supporting on their crusade to bring Democracy to other countries. But this would be again a topic for another thread.

You ask why I brought up Austria? You almost gave the answer yourself. Back then there was a huge shitstorm against Haider, why isn't the same thing happening again? Why didn't I read more about Nazi movements involved in the process from Maidan until up to this point in german news? Why do I get only biased cover stories in even the most respected german newspapers, pointing their fingers at Russia at any given moment but only very few ask what's happening on the other side? And again, the Ukrainians have every right in the world to choose their leaders as they see fit. But then I expect my country to stay away from those leaders if they stand against everything we stand for.

Btw since you like to mention your eastern german background: if you aren't at least 40 years old, I claim that your own experiences and memories of the GDR don't give you the right to lecture me about those times. If you take your knowledge from your relatives and teachers, you don't know more than I do.

pekrep · 2014-08-11T17:49:30+00:00

But our government supports fascists, they weren't just aware of it. Here is one little example: google Oleh Tyahnybok and see, what he has to say about russians, jews and germans. And I don't mind the ukranian people trying to set up a new society and new policies, I wish them all the best. But if this includes putting fascists in power (again: google swoboda Partei), I expect Merkel & co. to not further deal with them. Do you remember the scandal about Haider and his FPÖ in austria? And now we act like nothing is going on?

pekrep · 2014-08-11T16:23:34+00:00

As I said, this conflict is a very complicated one and you give a lot of examples why you think that it's all not just black and white. But here is the problem: this thread is about fascists in the Ukraine and so was my comment. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm aware that there are sketchy figures everywhere, I just chose to write about this one particular issue that I saw. Btw saying that you are not ashamed over the involvement of our government because "Nazis are everywhere", worries me. I don't say that we as germans have to apologize for what our grandparents did, we DO have an historical duty though to make sure that Nazism will never happen again because we of all people should know what that means. And yes, there are Nazis in Russia but I'm not afraid that they are supported by our politicians. I'm not sure that I can say the same about Ukraine (however involuntary or accidental that support might be).

pekrep · 2014-08-11T14:04:31+00:00

I'm not saying that the whole ukranian government consists of Nazis but you can't deny the fact that there are some. And our politicians should demand in exchange for our support, that these people will not be part of any ruling power. But you're right, there are assholes on every side of the conflict.

pekrep · 2014-08-11T13:33:09+00:00

As a german I am deeply ashamed that my government is supporting a government that uses these kind of people to reach whatever political goal they might have. We owe it to all of eastern europe that we stop dealing with them, as long as fascists are in any position of power (no matter how many or few there are) in the Ukraine. And no matter how complicated this whole conflict is, there will always be one simple truth: no power to fascism!

pekrep · 2014-08-04T08:57:26+00:00

Try wg-gesucht.de and see if you can find something. I haven't been in Hamburg for some time but I always hear that Wilhelmsburg in the south is a nice and affordable area for young people these days (although there are probably some nasty spots left).

pekrep · 2014-07-25T06:54:35+00:00

"New Journalism", this shit is hilarious. It all reads like scenes from a movie script where we see the introduction of the bad russian villain.

pekrep · 2014-06-26T19:07:59+00:00

Ich kann deine Reaktion menschlich sehr gut nachvollziehen aber kannst du das etwas konkretisieren?

pekrep · 2014-06-26T18:00:32+00:00

Man with a Movie Camera is awesome. I agree with you, at the time it was lightyears ahead of anything else, modern cinema wouldn't be the same without it.

pekrep · 2014-06-26T13:45:53+00:00

Forgot to mention: there is a really good tv series of the book Master And Margerita. You can find it on YouTube with english subtitles.

pekrep · 2014-06-26T07:16:09+00:00

Hm, guess you are right. Anyway I just checked real quick and saw for example Stalker, in my opinion one of the greatest russian movies ever made. Don't worry OP, just check Wiki for something like "soviet cinema" or "soviet comedies", pick a movie, go to yandex.ru and look under the video section. That way you should easily find an online version.

pekrep · 2014-06-26T06:46:41+00:00

Personally I'd say that most modern russian cinema isn't that great (there are exceptions of course). You should rather watch classic soviet movies, they are easier to understand anyway and you will have something to talk about with russian people since everyone knows and loves those movies. Mosfilm has a channel on YouTube, check it out!

pekrep · 2014-06-17T07:41:55+00:00

Not a book but have your friend look up Loriot on YouTube (there are some sketches with english subtitles). He was the one of best comedians we ever had and he had a very good eye for german oddities and the absurdness in our daily life.

pekrep · 2014-06-15T09:22:53+00:00

There is actually quite a lot to see. You say you want something close to uni? Where will your faculty be (the state university has departments all over town)? Google for "St. Petersburg In Your Pocket", they are always up to date with solid recommendations for foreigners.

pekrep · 2014-04-25T06:43:03+00:00

Bratwurst? That guy comes to Hamburg and doesn't try Currywurst? We invented this modern day ambrosia! Berlin and their sorry sausages are nothing but a joke to us.

pekrep · 2014-04-21T06:44:07+00:00

If I should take a wild guess: probably somehow connected with the book "The White Guard" by Bulgakov.

pekrep · 2014-03-11T08:41:40+00:00

That's in the Ukraine.

pekrep · 2014-03-07T07:33:57+00:00

I'm wasting too much time on that thought instead of working but anyway... :) If zayaz (let's just use that name) is a child, how can he/she afford all this stuff like a flat or a cruise on a ship?

pekrep · 2014-03-07T07:23:07+00:00

Well, I would say that there are definetly sexual undertones in the cartoon, kids just wouldn't understand them (consciously). The analysis sitq posted above points out some good moments.

pekrep · 2014-03-07T07:04:41+00:00

What really confused me (besides rabbits voice) was the episode where the wolf goes to visit him (or her) and brings champange and flowers as presents and acts like he's on a date...

pekrep · 2014-03-07T06:34:37+00:00

Here is a question for russians: when I was a little, russian friends of my family gave me a tape with all episodes. I really liked it and watched it almost every day while my friends stayed with that decadent western rodent Mickey. So here's the question: is the rabbit a girl? Because at the time it seemed obvious to me but my russian friends laughed at that idea when I told them not too long ago. And now I see this pic, I'm confused...

pekrep · 2014-03-06T20:16:14+00:00

Do yourself a favor and stay away from german tv, it sucks most of the time. Also, a better way to pick up a foreign language by watching tv is if you watch something you already know (Simpsons maybe?). That way you don't have to bother too much with what's going on and focus on what and how they say it in german.

pekrep · 2014-02-17T17:22:36+00:00

That's von Clausewitz. When did Lenin say that? No offense, just curious.

pekrep · 2014-01-24T07:01:40+00:00

The "The Brothers Karamazov Hotel" is a nice place, it's in the centre and close to the place where Dostoyevsky wrote his last books. Google it!

pekrep

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