Thread by @FreedomFriesInc

Thread: Ukraine, Jan 26, 2022

Just felt like sharing my thoughts on this buffer zone country that we (NATO and friends) need to keep on our side, against Putinism.

EIGHT years after losing a chunk of itself to Putin's Russia, and untold lives.

In the early stages of this (so far) 8 years long conflict, I was pissed af about Putin's aggression in Ukraine, and the apparent inability to stop it and restore lawful boundaries.

Like probably most of us in NATO-world, I then drifted on to following other global issues.

In 2016 I wondered what all the fuss over Putin was about. I had, unwittingly, allowed a brainwashing campaign to affect me. At some time in 2017 I awoke from that nightmare and realized he's not some teddy bear figure we can ignore. Then in 2018 the Skripals were poisoned.

Last I heard, the Skripals had been secretly welcomed into my own little homeland of New Zealand.

One word: Honoured.

I even spelled that in NZ English (not American English, which has been my practice for several years.)

Throughout their fight for life in England, and subsequent miracle recovery, the Skripals were on my mind. 2018 seems so long ago.

I hope they did stay in NZ, one of the safest places they could be from Putin's operatives. I just hope they are somewhere safe at all, tbh.

So many people who dared to oppose Putin in some way have been murdered, or survived the attempt(s).

His ideology and methods do not belong in the 21st century world we've tried to build and keep.

And he has spawned so many far right "strongmen" around the world. Toxic. Evil.

Growing up in the 70s and 80s I was raised to fear the people of the USSR and Soviet Bloc.

(BTW, they were the "Second World" in case you wonder why only the First and Third Worlds are talked about. Different terms are better, now.)

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, we...

(well, most of us) were moved by such major historic events happening in our lifetime. But if 1989 was given a peek at 2022 I think it would turn tail and hide.

We had hope for our new brothers and sisters in the aspirationally democratic world. Then Putin came to power.

Constitutionally limited to two consecutive terms as President? No problem. Just become Prime Minister for a while, then circle back to President.

This is a dictatorship. A one-party state. Russians and their threatened neighbors are worse off than they were in 1988.

Much of the media commentary in the English speaking world is in fact Russian propaganda.

I've seen some of it in headlines on the BBC website tonight.

Putin uses the left or right regardless. His ideology is Putinism. Or, oligarchy, gangsterism. With a far right flavor.

"What is Nato (sic) and why doesn't Russia trust it?"

Jesus H. Christ.

What kind of disingenuous, shitty propaganda question is that, on the British Broadcasting Corporation website????

The term "sic" in brackets after a word is a Latin term that an error has been copied verbatim. (I feel sorry for those who weren't taught this in school.)

NATO means the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's not a word, it's an acronym so should be written in all caps.

In my day (which I say every day now), the BBC employed staff competent enough to know it's NATO not Nato.

But what if it was deliberate, to demean this great peacekeeping organization established in the 1940s to protect us from the USSR?

OF COURSE RUSSIA DOESN'T TRUST NATO.

Russia is not supposed to trust or like NATO.

At least not as long as it's an aggressive, terroristic dictatorship of 23 years standing.

Their side lost the Cold War. They had allied with us for just long enough to win WWII and not one minute longer. We had to ally with them.

In the Putin era, lies and distortions about our shared history over the past 110+ years have permeated our countries via the internet. The damage is getting pretty severe now, among NATO countries.

But like before, we are now rallying. History is repeating itself, as it does.

British PM Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler is usually represented by pics of his triumphant paper waving return to the UK with "peace in our time."

There's a color photo of Hitler entertaining him at the "peace" summit, that reminds me of Putin's attitude toward us.

The aggressor is always smug before they make their big reveal. The only way to achieve lasting peace is through strength/deterrence. It works in the nuclear age.

Putin is exploiting Covid to steal the rest of Ukraine. Utterly evil. Godspeed, NATO.🕯️

https://twitter.com/FreedomFriesInc/status/1486218435470454788