russia's goal is to conquer Ukraine. The people living there are irrelevant. Forced deportations and mass replacement with russians have been used by the kremlin for centuries.

They'll then claim the regions are "ethnically russian" or "russian speaking" to repeat the cycle.

Any "peace deal" allowing russian control over any Ukrainian territory will see an increase in torture, deportation, forced passportisation & child indoctrination, training & militarising children to hate & fight their homeland.

This is who russia is. Stop pretending otherwise.

Read 4 tweets

Akash Maniam

@ManiamAkash

Dec 9, 2024

The "US-backed Maidan coup" propaganda is particularly ridiculous to me. From George H.W Bush to Obama, US policy has consistently been russian appeasement, especially with Ukraine. 1/4

They gave russia Ukraine's nukes, kept Ukraine far from NATO, sent Ukraine no lethal aid after Crimea was annexed. They were perfectly content with Ukraine losing Crimea to appease russia. They've regularly condemned Ukraine to "russia's sphere of influence". 2/4

The US was completely fine with Ukraine being in russia's orbit or control, like Belarus. Frankly, the last thing they'd have wanted was Ukraine challenging russia's hegemony, standing up to russia, pushing for NATO accession & daring to stand as equal partners 3/4

Read 4 tweets

Akash Maniam

@ManiamAkash

Sep 26, 2024

Weird how Johnson didn't call for Markarova to be fired when Zelenskyy visited Utah & met its Republican Governor a couple of months ago. 1/4

Fact is, Zelenskyy has openly & consistently met with, visited and praised US politicians across the spectrum, including Speaker Johnson.

Playing cheap politics with the leader of an allied country fighting for survival is just pathetic. 2/4

So he called Vance radical? He is radical. He publicly stated his disregard for their survival 3 days before the full-scale invasion. Frankly, Zelenskyy was once again extraordinarily polite in his criticism. 3/4

Read 4 tweets

Akash Maniam

@ManiamAkash

Apr 19, 2024

Yep. Both my wife's grandfathers had to serve in the Red Army (Ukrainians were targeted for conscription) and fought in WWII and they saw this extensively

Stalin used three layers -

1. The "disposables" - front line. March forward no matter what.
2. The trained military - shoot anyone in the front line who turns around or dares to desert
3. The officers - same for groups 1&2 and ensure everyone keeps driving forward.

Stalin believed "quantity has its own quality" and that's a big factor behind the insanely high casualty numbers for the Red Army - millions caught between guaranteed death from oncoming Nazi fire and those behind them.

Same tactics by the russian armed forces & paramilitary groups like Wagner.

Lives are utterly disposable.

Oh and yeah, quite often, they'd prevent recovering their own soldiers' bodies to hide the death numbers at home.

Indeed, a common "unofficial" slogan for the russian army for centuries is - Вперёд! (forward!)

A backwards step is treated as treason and execution was and is the punishment. .

Despite this, we must learn. An enemy that relentlessly marches forward no matter the losses is still dangerous. Takes a lot to overpower that. They won't surrender. They won't retreat, not in mass, unless absolutely forced to.

Artillery & air superiority can force their hand.

If you think these tactics are barbaric & primitive - they are. They absolutely are. It creates this primal kill or be killed mentality and stimulates such brutality. The levels of alcoholism, absenteeism & domestic violence from men in the USSR after WWII were extraordinarily high.

Read 4 tweets

Akash Maniam

@ManiamAkash

Apr 10, 2024

🧵Debunking russian disinformation - putin's reasons for invading Ukraine.

A common propaganda narrative is that "NATO expansion" caused putin to invade to "protect russia's security". - see such an example in the photo

This is easily disproven folly, so let's examine why 1/

This is not the case. putin openly stated that Finland and Sweden's desire to join NATO would not threaten russia and of course, did not invade either state when their membership was being discussed. 2/

In fact, putin has heavily demilitarised russia's vast borders with NATO. Why would he do that if "NATO expansion" threatened russia's very survival? 3/

atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainea…

Read 13 tweets

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