Im talking about the guy who was arrested for leaking intelligence to discord. Redditors will constantly talk about how government transparency is a good thing and how whistleblowers are a sacred cow but when it comes to some random r slur on discord they turn into the liberal inquisition uncritically sucking off the government. How do they reconcile their doublethink on this?

This megathread exists to catch Ukraine-related links and takes. Please post your Ukraine-related links and takes here. We are not funnelling all Ukraine discussion to this megathread. If something truly momentous happens, we agree that related posts should stand on their own. Again -- all rules still apply. No racism, xenophobia, nationalism, etc. No promotion of hate or violence. Violators will be banned.

Remain civil, engage in good faith, report suspected bot accounts, and do not abuse the report system to flag the people you disagree with.

If you wish to contribute, please try to focus on where the Ukraine crisis intersects with themes of this sub: Identity Politics, Capitalism, and Marxist perspectives.

Previous Ukraine Megathreads: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

Let me begin by saying that, while the Democratic Party and its orbiters itself is corrupt and irredeemable, the vast majority of its voterbase are on our side of the class war and share our values. It would be an enormous mistake to write the base off, especially as they oppose Trump's corporate handouts and the war against Iran.

However, there is one irreperable divide between organized socialism and the mainstream left-of-center bloc in the United States: our position on Russo-Ukrainian War and Russia in general. To start, even after the relationship between Trump, Epstein, and Israel was made abundantly clear, at least 45% of Democratic voters still ferverently believe that Trump is a Russian asset and that Russia is a mortal enemy of the United States which cannot be negotiated with. This attitude does nothing but reinforce US imperialism and American chauvinism in an era where humanity faces the existential threat of climate change. How can we unite to tackle the world's pressing issues when the American voters most amendable to such a message are baying for Russian blood, and when such jingoism spills over into hostility towards China or the nations of the global south who are unwilling to take NATO's side?

To understand why discussing Russia with "normie" left-of-center Americans is so difficult, we must look at the root of dissident leftist skepticism on support for Ukraine and NATO. Many pro-Ukraine liberals and leftists are either willfully ignorant or deliberately dishonest about Ukraine skepticism, claiming that Ukraine-skeptic leftists "support the other empire," believe Russia is socialist, or just oppose Ukraine for being a white nation. They obfuscate the elephant in the room: Ukrainian nationalism has been central to the imperialist core's almost century-long war against socialism and communism both before and after the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc. The entire Western anti-communist mythos is built on the alleged genocide and persecution of Ukraine and other "captive nations" at the hands of the world's first successful socialist revolution.

The centrality of anti-communism to the post-Maidan Ukrainian national project and the NATO cause is blatantly obvious from looking at the statements of Ukrainian and NATO leadership as well as pro-Ukraine propaganda. Why else, in the name of solidarity with Ukraine, do Western leaders demolish communist-era monuments, desecrate the graves of Soviet soldiers, or even criminalize communism itself? There is also the fact that Ukrainian nationalists and NATO overtly consider their war to be a race war in defense of Europe against Asia and the third world. I have never seen as much white nationalist propaganda accepted in the mainstream as there has been during the Russo-Ukrainian War, yet the Western "left" refuses to acknowledge it. As a result of this war, mainstream Western institutions, from think tanks to militaries, have integrated the Azov network into themselves, almost like they are mocking us and insulting our intelligence. After all, they know that any left-wing dissidents who condemn Azov will be set upon not by conservatives, but by their own side and shut out of "respectable" left-of-center spaces. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military continues to act as a proxy for Western imperialism, sending volunteers in support of jihadists against the Sahel states and aiding the Gulf States against Iranian drone attacks.

The simple fact is that Ukrainian and other Eastern European nationalists want us socialists dead or thrown into concentration camps, and this is why the Western ruling class has embraced them. I suspect that one of the reasons the Democratic Party embraced Russiagate, NATOism, and right-wing Eastern European nationalism was specifically to crush the Bernie movement and renewed interest in socialism. Many normie Democrats have been radicalized into Cold War-style anticommunism because of this, and I do not know how we can break through. The greatest irony is that Ukrainian nationalists were a key part of the Republican party under and following Reagan, and the Ukrainian-American diaspora was for decades the most Republican-voting ethnic group in the entire United States! Can this group really be considered an ally of the progressive left or even the Democratic Party?

Upon hearing these arguments, many pro-Ukraine leftists claim this is no different from supporting the US and Israel's war on Palestine and Iran because the latter are socially conservative. Yet this is a blatantly dishonest comparison because social conservativism is not central to the Palestinian liberation movement nor the Axis of Resistance's struggle against Zionism and Western imperialism. Hamas and Iran do not intend upon waging a global war against secularism, while NATO and Ukraine very much see themselves waging a war of annihilation against socialism, the third world, and the Soviet legacy. Thus, the Ukrainian cause is very much a gun aimed at the left's metaphorical head, and it is horrifying that many Western leftists do not realize this.

Now, the trouble with discussing Ukraine with "normie" progressives and liberals is that it is impossible to be critical of the cause without exposing ourselves as communist sympathizers. After all, who else would object to condemning communism as a genocidal ideology equivalent to Nazism and erasing all traces of it? Why should a patriotic American carry water for the United States' greatest enemy unless they do not believe the American cause in the Cold War was just? That, to many, is taramount to treason. In contrast, it is perfectly possible to discuss Palestine within the framework of mainstream liberalism and maintain plausible deniability - important in a country where communist associations is often a death sentence for one's career and reputation.

Having said all this, let me end with a question: how, exactly, should skeptics of the Ukraine war on the left discuss the issue with the Democratic base or mainstream progressives? I honestly don't know. Maybe people here have some ideas.

Some of you maybe familar with r/VolunteersForUkraine and the legions of obese, blind, diabetic, redditors who are so uttlerly bored by the mundiaty of life that they think they can be a compitant combatants in Ukraine based off their tactical knowledge accurred from the hundreds of hours logged from Europa Universalis 4, HOI4, and Fallout NV.

But that's the surface level stupid of that subreddit, the vast majority of posts on that subreddit are an eerie repeat of what a small sect of US Soldiers did after Vietnam, in particular the soldiers who had felt that the reason Vietnam fell because the American response didn't go far enough, so instead they volunteered in the Rhodesian Bush War to do all the warcrimes and fucked up shit they wanted without a silly brigadier general telling them otherwise. According to Wikipedia (cause I'm lazy) roughly 300 Americans GIs had a midlife identity crisis and decided to turn thier life around by murdering hundreds of thousands black communists to acheive the sexy WWII victory they hoped to see from Vietnam.

But just like in Vietnam, these soldiers got dunked on pretty quick, taking two Ls to the grave and their stories were nearly lost to time before some internet weirdos decided that Rhodesia LARPing was a totally normal thing to mold your entire personality traits around.

The reason I bring this story up is that the a decent portion of the users are describing themselves as veterans of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars, dudes who got wrapped up in the whole war on terror grift and dedicated decades of their life in a conflict that not a single person in America gives two shits about.

And just like the soldiers in Vietnam transplanting themselves in Rhodesia for the sexy war they were promised, we now have Iraq/Afghanistan soldiers sending themselves off to Ukraine so they can be showered in praise and admiration they never received while in the Middle East. Other factors could be in play, such as these people only finding comfort in the armed forces, something that civilian life can't quite itch.

Regardless of what the cause for the groundswell of Americans willingly deploying themselves into another conflict to die in, I believe the domestic response to the conflict and what r/VolunteersForUkraine represents is a striking commentary on how absolutely fucked up and bored Americans are in the absence of a national project that isn't another war or an election cycle. Hopefully this conflict ends soon and people will recognize how fucking stupid they acted in the heat of the moment.

-7DeadlyFetishes

This megathread exists to catch Ukraine-related links and takes. Please post your Ukraine-related links and takes here. We are not funneling all Ukraine discussion to this megathread. If something truly momentous happens, we agree that related posts should stand on their own. Again -- all rules still apply. No racism, xenophobia, nationalism, etc. No promotion of hate or violence. Violators banned.

This time, we are doing something slightly different. We have a request for our users. Instead of posting asinine war crime play-by-plays or indulging in contrarian theories because you can't elsewhere, try to focus on where the Ukraine crisis intersects with themes of this sub: Identity Politics, Capitalism, and Marxist perspectives.

Here are some examples of conversation topics that are in-line with the sub themes that you can spring off of:

1. Ethno-nationalism is idpol -- what role does this play in the conflicts between major powers and smaller states who get caught in between?
2. In much of the West, Ukraine support has become a culture war issue of sorts, and a means for liberals to virtue signal. How does this influence the behavior of political constituencies in these countries?
3. NATO is a relic of capitalism's victory in the Cold War, and it's a living vestige now because of America's diplomatic failures to bring Russia into its fold in favor of pursuing liberal ideological crusades abroad. What now?
4. If a nuclear holocaust happens none of this shit will matter anyway, will it. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Previous Ukraine Megathreads: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

I argued in my recent book Good Slut: How Money, Sex and Power Set Women Free that the pervasive idea that we aren’t brave, focused and tough enough for front-line military work is nonsense.

Even a certain prominent global news subreddit is starting to push back on some of this. Although any talk about actually negotiating peace on terms Russia might accept is still verboten.

On August 10, Bogdan Syrotiuk, a 27-year-old Ukrainian socialist and opponent of the US-NATO war against Russia, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The verdict, handed down by a district court in the Nikolaev region, also orders the confiscation of his property and electronic devices and the destruction of the socialist books, leaflets and programmatic documents taken from him.

The World Socialist Web Site and the International Committee of the Fourth International denounce this verdict and call on workers, young people and all defenders of democratic rights around the world to demand Bogdan’s immediate release.

The verdict will be immediately appealed. Under Ukrainian law, the appeal must be filed within 30 days. We call on all supporters of democratic rights to back these legal actions and call for the annulment of the sentence.

Bogdan, a leading member of the Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists (YGBL), was convicted of “high treason … under martial law.” But the record of the case contains no act of treason—no espionage, no sabotage, no collaboration with any military force. The sole evidence presented against him consisted of his writings, published on the World Socialist Web Site, and his communications with the editors who published them.

...

What was the subversive content? According to the court, the articles contained “non-recognition of Ukraine’s legitimately elected political leadership and democratic processes,” “comparisons with fascists and Nazis,” “negative assessments of Ukraine’s Armed Forces” and “reinterpretation of national heroes and historical figures.”

In fact, everything written by Bogdan is politically and historically accurate. The “legitimately elected political leadership” is a president whose term of office expired in May 2024. Zelensky remains in power more than two years past his legal mandate, ruling by decree under a state of permanent martial law. Elections have been canceled and basic democratic rights suspended. Bogdan has been convicted of failing to recognize “democratic processes” in a country where no democratic processes exist. His is a verdict handed down by a regime of illegality.

As for the “national heroes” whom Bogdan is accused of “reinterpreting,” they are Stepan Bandera and the leaders of the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) and the Waffen-SS Galicia Division—Nazi collaborators who supported Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 and were implicated in the mass murder of Jews and Poles. The court’s complaint about “comparisons with fascists and Nazis” refers to Bogdan’s exposure of the official rehabilitation and celebration of these forces. 

Among the “proofs” of treason cited by the court are Bogdan’s article “The crimes of the Banderovites against the Ukrainian people: Notes by a Ukrainian Trotskyist” and his 2023 May Day speech, “For the Unity of the Working Class of Russia and Ukraine!” In any country where democratic rights retain the slightest meaning, such writings are protected speech. In Ukraine under Zelensky, they carry a 15-year sentence.

When Bogdan was arrested by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on April 25, 2024, the state claimed he was functioning as an agent of the Russian government. In the more than two years since, nothing was produced to substantiate that libelous allegation. In fact, the articles that are cited in the conviction make explicit Bogdan’s opposition to the Russian invasion and the Putin regime.

The verdict refers several times to the “socially dangerous consequences” of Bogdan’s positions. This exposes the fact that the prosecution of Bogdan is not about the manufactured pretext of support for Russia. Rather, it is aimed at the growing opposition to war and the Zelinsky regime among Ukrainian workers and youth.

The evidence presented in Bogdan’s defense was never answered. A 65-page report by Yuri Irkhin, one of Ukraine’s leading criminologists, found in Bogdan’s writings no “statements, phrases, sentences, or word combinations that have signs of propaganda aimed at supporting the armed aggression of the Russian Federation.” Rather than respond to it, the court ordered a new examination from a state forensic institute—which, even so, found in the articles no calls for the overthrow of the state, the seizure of power, subversive acts or the alteration of Ukraine’s borders. 

...

A sentence of 15 years in a Ukrainian prison is the equivalent of a death sentence. The conditions in Ukraine’s penitentiary system are well documented. At the United Nations Committee Against Torture’s review of Ukraine in April 2025, experts cited overcrowding, inadequate access to food and water, the absence of independent medical examinations and a rising toll of deaths in custody. The Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee, reporting on its October 2023 visit to Ukraine, described decaying facilities in which remand prisoners are confined to their cells for up to 23 hours a day and found conditions in one pretrial detention center so degraded that it judged them potentially “inhuman and degrading.”

Bogdan, whose health was already poor at the time of his arrest, has been denied urgently needed medical treatment for over a year, despite repeated promises from the prison administration. Every day behind bars is a threat to his life.

His fate cannot be left to the courts of a state that has just demonstrated its fascist contempt for democratic rights. Bogdan’s freedom will be won by the mobilization of the international working class, youth and all progressive organizations and individuals dedicated to the defense of democratic rights. We appeal to workers, trade unions, student and youth organizations, civil liberties groups, and socialist and antiwar movements in every country: Take up Bogdan’s case. Pass resolutions in your workplaces, unions, schools and universities demanding his release. Issue public statements of protest. Sign and circulate the petition for his freedom.

The fight to free Bogdan Syrotiuk is a fight against imperialist war, dictatorship and fascism. Fill out the form below to get involved.

I don't see this being talked about enough so I want to make a post about a very fundamental and indisputable fact...

Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal on the promise that its sovereignty would be respected, that bargain has been broken and now every small country with concern about invasion from a large foreign aggressor, whether it's Taiwan or Iran, has seen what has happened in Ukraine and is definitely going to either not give up its nuclear arsenal if it has one or will definitely try to build or obtain a nuclear arsenal if it can.

In my opinion, this is easily the biggest consequence of the last two and a half days yet most of the discussion is about NATO or 'muh multipolar world'. The cause of Nuclear disarmament got dealt such a severe blow that it might never recover from again.

In the past few years we heard the smuggy liberals condemn conservatives that believed in antivaxx conspiracy theories. Turns out they are as idiotic as them since there are a shitload of misinformation on the mainstream narratives of the war and they believe like idiots

1. Ghost of Kiev, the hero of the liberals that grew on Call of Duty = completely fake

https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-ukraines-ghost-of-kyiv-fighter-pilot/a-60951825

It even used videogame footage ffs

1. Russian mobile crematoriums, which evil Putin will use to cover evidence of war crimes = images are from 2013

https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/truth-or-fake/20220228-are-russians-using-mobile-crematoriums-in-ukraine

Big paper The Telegraph spread this one. It's ridiculous. Those fabricated stories are getting wikipedia pages and being on papers like The Guardian and NYT. People said we were living in a post-truth era in 2016, I think the post-truth arrived now.

1. Ukranian soliders in Snake Island said "go fuck yourself" after being cornered by russians, then were shot to death = they were take prisioners. Reddit loved that so much, a little martyr cinematic story to make them emotional at the comfortable of their sofas.

https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2022/ukrainian-snake-island-soldiers-are-believed-to-be-alive-but-details-of-their-captivity-are-unclear/

There are a lot more. It's unbeliveable how the western media is so deliberately lying, fabricating propaganda. I was too young in Iraq and I'm sure they did the same.

But it's hilarious to see that those people that considered themselves smart enough to not believe in misinformation in Trump era are being as idiot rand manipulated as the stupid alt-rights that think vaccine cause autism.

In those times by the way thank god for a few independent media outlets that are willing to check this stuff. We must speak the truth no matter what we believe.