Thread by @ducaena

Ukraine is run by a fascist gangster state of the most vile sort. Gun running. Human trafficking. Drug cartels. Child prostitution. Nazis. But our leaders want us to believe they are a bastion of democracy, just because they picked a fight with Russia.

You forgot to address the fascist gangster state part.

https://twitter.com/mmt_lvt/status/1633387884626542595

Ukraine's longstanding reputation for being "the world's most active suppliers of illegal small arms". archive.ph/jQyeU

Ukraine's longstanding human trafficking problem (for the purposes of forced labor and begging and sexual and other forms of exploitation), that has only gotten worse under the cover of war. usaid.gov/ukraine/fact-s…

... which includes trafficking children for pornography and sex slavery. archive.ph/Cnor3

Ukraine's longstanding reputation for drug smuggling... especially of heroin. archive.ph/7aTXj

Ukraine's longstanding record of "widespread and systemic corruption". google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j…

Ukraine's "accelerated slide into authoritarianism". cato.org/commentary/ukr…

"Democratic Ukraine" is a misnomer. Their Nazism is *systemic*.

https://twitter.com/ducaena/status/1629978888968323072

And they sure as hell *did* pick a fight with Russia. newsfromnowhere.substack.com/p/troubled-wat…

#WhatAbout Russia's corruption? Whatever people think of Russia's own supposed Kleptocracy, it's no excuse for *pretending* that Ukraine is a bastion of democracy who defends the "democratic free world". That this is a fight between democracy and autocracy is a bullshit line.

#Whatabout 2014? So, naysayers are conceding that Ukraine picked a fight to break the peace in 2022, but wanna rehash 2014? They're only proving my point - they're willing to overlook the fact that Ukraine is not a "bastion of democracy" because they're in a fight with Russia...

If they really wanna rehash 2014, we can... but it's not gonna turn out the way they want.

There might be a valid reason to support the Ukrainian state in their war against Russia. I don't know what that might be, but "defending democracy" ain't it. By pretending that it is, our leaders are turning "democratic values" into a meaningless shibboleth.