This week's news - The Fediverse Schema Observatory is a new tool to help interoperability - the botsin.space server will shut down - Add monetisation to federated WordPress blogs with sub.club - You can now set custom handles on fediverse accounts that are bridged to Bluesky
This week's news - The Fediverse Schema Observatory is a new tool to help interoperability - the botsin.space server will shut down - Add monetisation to federated WordPress blogs with sub.club - You can now set custom handles on fediverse accounts that are bridged to Bluesky
The Fediverse Schema Observatory helps to improve interoperability, the botsin.space server will shut down, and more.
The News
The Fediverse Schema Observatory is a new project by Darius Kazemi, who runs the Hometown fork of Mastodon as well as co-wrote to Fediverse Governance paper this year with Erin Kissane. The Observatory collects data structures from the fediverse; it looks how different fediverse softwares use and implement ActivityPub. It explicitly does not gather any personal data or posts; instead it looks at how the data is formatted in ActivityPub. ActivityPub and the fediverse has a long-standing problem in that the selling point is interoperability between different software, but every software has their own, slightly different implementation of ActivityPub, making good interoperability difficult to pull off. Kazemi has posted about the Observatory as a Request for Comments. The Observatory is explicitly not a scraper, but considering how sensitive the subject can be in the fediverse community, Kazemi has taken a careful approach of informing the community in detail beforehand about the proposed project, and how it deals with data. The easiest way to see and understand how the Observatory is works is with this demo video.
The botsin.space Mastodon server for bots will shut down in December. The botsin.space server is a server dedicated to running bots, with a few thousand active bots running. The server is a valued part of the community, with the wild variety of bots running on the server contributing to the Mastodon in both useful and silly ways. The admin states that over time running the servers has become too expensive over time, and that is was not feasible to keep the project going. The shutdown of botsin.space showcases an ongoing struggle in the fediverse, running a server is expensive and time-consuming, and every time a server shuts down the fediverse loses a block of its history.
Sub.club is a way to add monetization options to fediverse posts. Sub.club started with being able to add paywalls to Mastodon posts, recently expanded to long-form writing with support for Write.as, and now has added support for WordPress blogs as well. Sub.club has posted a tutorial on how to add the plugin to WordPress, making it an easy system to set up.
Bridgy Fed, the bridge between ActivityPub and ATproto has gotten some updates, with the main new feature is that you can now set custom domain handles on Bluesky for fediverse accounts that get bridged into Bluesky. This brings the interoperability between the networks closer to native accounts, and makes having a bridged account more attractive.
Upcoming fediverse platform for short-form video, Loops, got some press by The Verge and TechCrunch. Creator Daniel Supernault said that there are now 5k people on the waiting list, and that a TestFlight link will go out soon for the first 100 people. An Android APK will be made available at some point as well.
GoToSocial is working on the ability to for servers to subscribe to allowlists and denylists. This makes it easier to create clusters of servers with a shared allowlist, such as the Website League. As I recently wrote about Website League, it is a cluster of federating servers that uses ActivityPub but exists separately from the rest of the fediverse, and it is started by people who build a new shared space after Cohost shut down. Website League servers predominantly use GoToSocial or Akkoma, and have been actively working on tuning the software to meet their needs.
The Links
Flipboard is now federating accounts of publishers in Brazil, Canada, Germany and the UK.
A long read on Content Warnings, that extensively touches on the culture on using Content Warnings in Mastodon and the Website League as well.
Ghost’s weekly update on their project to implement ActivityPub, mentioning that they have bridged their ActivityPub-based Ghost account to Bluesky as well.
The botsin.space Mastodon server shutting down is sad news, it's a pretty important server and if you didn't like bots it was handy that you could just block one server and block loads of them at once.
Ogenomtänkta nya vänsterpartier. Personer som uteslutits ur Vänsterpartiet helt i onödan och helt utan att det funnits anledning till det bildar nya vänstergrupper på löpande band. Fast de kallar dem partier och de ska alltid samverka med andra vänstergrupper folkrörelser och aktivister på en massa olika sätt.
On October 30, the UN General Assembly once again convened to debate and vote on a non-binding resolution to end the US blockade against Cuba. This year, 187 countries voted in favor of the resolution. The United States and Israel were the only countries to vote against it, and only one country, Moldova, abstained.
Cuba has presented the resolution “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba” every year since 1992 (except 2020), to the UNGA. Every year it passes in an almost unanimous vote, showcasing the international consensus against the US policy.
This year’s resolution comes as Cuba experiences a historic energy crisis and is recovering from the devastating Tropical Storm Oscar. Despite these challenges, Biden refuses to lift the blockade, take Cuba off the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, or lift Trump’s additional 243 sanctions against Cuba. US-based Cuba solidarity activists have organized a fundraiser to deliver essential humanitarian aid to Cuba as it fa
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On October 30, the UN General Assembly once again convened to debate and vote on a non-binding resolution to end the US blockade against Cuba. This year, 187 countries voted in favor of the resolution. The United States and Israel were the only countries to vote against it, and only one country, Moldova, abstained.
Cuba has presented the resolution “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba” every year since 1992 (except 2020), to the UNGA. Every year it passes in an almost unanimous vote, showcasing the international consensus against the US policy.
This year’s resolution comes as Cuba experiences a historic energy crisis and is recovering from the devastating Tropical Storm Oscar. Despite these challenges, Biden refuses to lift the blockade, take Cuba off the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, or lift Trump’s additional 243 sanctions against Cuba. US-based Cuba solidarity activists have organized a fundraiser to deliver essential humanitarian aid to Cuba as it faces these crises.
“US imperialism continues violence & genocide, but the peoples of the world have had enough and call for an end to the blockade,” writes the International Peoples’ Assembly.
Many were pleasantly surprised to see that the far-right government of Argentina supported Cuba’s resolution, abandoning its proclaimed allies Israel and the US. However, hours after the vote, Argentine President Javier Milei announced that he was firing Foreign Minister Diana Mondino because of the vote. Her replacement is Gerardo Werthein, Argentina’s current ambassador to the US who is a businessman and an ideologically committed Zionist.
to be honest if I was the representative of moldova WHICH I'M NOT and it was the 32nd consecutive year in a row that the same shit had happened and nothing had changed then I might also take a day off
It's still worth voting to show the basically unanimous agreement. 187–2–1 (with one of the 'Against' being the US itself) is a clear expression of overwhelming disapproval – to an extent that even I, a US citizen who supports lifting the restrictions, didn't know how pervasive and long-lasting it's been until seeing this. It forecloses on any sort of bullshit argument that "that was then, this is now" or that it wasn't like that for some period of time or whatever. And it showcases the complete abdsurdity that no country on Earth except the US itself and what's effectively a US protectorate actually thinks there's any merit to this policy.
For what it's worth, it's actively strengthened my already strong resolve that this policy is insane.
Tl;dw is that the embargo makes it so no company/ships trading with Cuba are allowed to trade with the US. And given the US's control over the global financial systems and geographic proximity to Cuba, that essentially means almost any company sacrificing trade with the US to trade with Cuba would be committing financial suicide.
The US ruling class's motives are that a thriving socialist country so close to the US might force them to make concessions to the working class (free healthcare, transport, etc.) to match Cuba, similar to what the Scandinavian countries had to do because of their proximity to the USSR.
Cuba's biggest current shortages right now are energy and building materials like cement. Both of which are directly caused by the embargo, and worsened by the recent storm.
There was once a issue with Cuba a long time ago, but that got resolved and the US just decided to keep punishing Cuba as, in my opinion, a warning to other neighbors who would dare oppose it. "help out our opponents and get smothered"
The only reason it's continuing is because of weak administrations thinking that admitting people who ran the country in the past were wrong somehow makes them or the country look weak.
Honestly the only thing that seems weak to me is continuing to kick someone who's been down for decades but still manages to find areas to flourish and be better than the "superpower" that's kicking it.
Old habits die hard, especially for glowies who's job depend on it The gov is still infected with russia obsessed cold warriors who milk the military-industrial cash cow with anti-us-hegemony boogeyman, the same kind of monster you will find in the FSB and stasi or whatever statist stupidity apparatus of your choice, they are servants of Moloch and their continues existence is the force summoning continuous wars without them even realizing
You fail to realize that this is the most meaningful action that the UN General Assembly can take against the US on this matter. The UNGA can be very effective in facilitating international cooperation and settling minor disputes but really has no tools in its arsenal to meaningfully effect action to stop something like this.
I can hopefully demonstrate this by asking you what lever(s) the UN can pull to actually directly address this. Before you say "send aid!", they are. And before you point to something like its past military intervention in Korea, be fully aware that that's not at all applicable here: the US has a permanent seat on the Security Council and therefore absolute veto power; the only reason the UN was able to intervene in Korea was because the USSR didn't use their Security Council veto; and the US is not capable of being directly matched militarily by any nation on Earth, let alone in their home waters. And before you say "sanctions", well I'll give you one guess what organ of the UN controls sanctions.
Yeah like with how the US sanctions on Zimbabwe were forced to be removed (for the most part, anyway), this will only end by direct action and protests in the US itself.
That is, if the civil unrest in the US due to the sanctions harms profits for the capitalists more than lifting the sanctions on Cuba does, they will choose the latter.
For the 32nd consecutive year the UN shows itself to be useless by not doing anything in the material world to prevent American economic warfare and terrorism against Cuba.
People seem to think that the UN is a military force that is supposed to go in and secure democracy around the planet...
It's basically a chat room for all the countries to talk for everyone to hear. That's 99% of its job. And it does it quite well.
The problems occur when individual members decide "nah we don't give a shit about the UN right now" and usually it's the big ones that ignore it. Russia, US, UK, etc
edit: formmatting. also i should clarify that reddit isn't a particularly reliable source, but i included it because the top comments on that post agree with the other sources linked, and give provide simple answers to the question
It's a non-binding resolution. And even if it wasn't, the UN can't exactly do anything militarily nor by sanctions against the US that controls both those fronts right now.
The US is constantly repeating propaganda domestically and abroad all day every day. The least the UN can do is remain consistent in countering the narrative.
The sheer power of forklifts is unbelievable. Consider what we're looking at for a moment. That was likely an ~8000lb lift going ~ 5mph that did this. A blunt metal fork straight through a steel beam. The absolute danger of a careless driver on a forklift is rarely understood.
I loved being a forklift trainer but the stupid shit the other trainers got away with when teaching people was unreal. No appreciation for the magnitude of the responsibility of driving those machines. The trainees suffered for it. Fucking human wrecking balls driving around the warehouse.
The U.S. two-party electoral system functions as an ideological trap of white supremacy by presenting a false binary choice that constrains political imagination while masking the material reality: both parties advance imperial interests through military spending, global interventions, and economic policies that prioritize corporate power over human needs. And the elevation of Black figures like Barack Obama and Kamala Harris to command the imperial machine demonstrates the continued success of this ideological and political trap, where the incorporation of non-white actors into the U.S. imperial machinery serves to legitimize rather than challenge fundamental power structures. This strategy extends from the neocolonial projects in Africa and the Caribbean back to the Americas, operating with greater sophistication, efficacy, and reach.
As a Black and South Asian woman in power, Harris co-pilots the administration’s agenda, actively undermining Black sovereignty in
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The U.S. two-party electoral system functions as an ideological trap of white supremacy by presenting a false binary choice that constrains political imagination while masking the material reality: both parties advance imperial interests through military spending, global interventions, and economic policies that prioritize corporate power over human needs. And the elevation of Black figures like Barack Obama and Kamala Harris to command the imperial machine demonstrates the continued success of this ideological and political trap, where the incorporation of non-white actors into the U.S. imperial machinery serves to legitimize rather than challenge fundamental power structures. This strategy extends from the neocolonial projects in Africa and the Caribbean back to the Americas, operating with greater sophistication, efficacy, and reach.
As a Black and South Asian woman in power, Harris co-pilots the administration’s agenda, actively undermining Black sovereignty in Haiti, supporting the zionist entity’s genocide of Palestinian people, and guaranteeing the war machine’s bases, contracts, and weapons programs dominate public spending. Her role demonstrates, once again, the reality that white supremacy works not exclusively through explicit racism but through the assimilation of non-white faces into imperial power structures. This makes the people’s oppression more perfect: by diffusing responsibility across seemingly “progressive” representatives while leaving the material conditions of exploitation intact.
Imperial power deliberately splits “domestic” and “foreign” policy to hide how U.S. imperialism dictates conditions at home. When Congress funnels $175 billion to Ukraine and $20 billion to Israel, it makes explicit economic choices that enrich weapons manufacturers while starving healthcare, housing, and education. Military bases and defense contracts deliberately trap communities in economic dependence, building a loyal base that champions endless war. The military-industrial complex colonizes public universities, turning them into research centers for war and destruction while bridges collapse and flooding decimates cities. Democrats deploy civil rights rhetoric, Republicans preach spreading democracy, while both fund apartheid regimes and death squads. What we get, then, are not not policies but an imperial system executing its core mission: sacrificing the people at home to maintain dominance abroad.
Imperial power exposes its true nature when it selectively grants and denies fundamental rights. While Harris claims to defend reproductive rights domestically, she actively supports policies that bomb Palestinian hospitals to smithereens and make childbirth impossible for Palestinian women. This is not just hypocrisy. It is the coherent application of western white-supremacist imperialist logic operating precisely as intended, measuring human worth by their usefulness to U.S. and western interests. The U.S. military, of which domestic police is but a branch, first perfects its surveillance technologies by testing them on occupied populations abroad. These weapons are then deployed against U.S. residents.. Military commanders develop and refine counter-insurgency strategies in foreign wars, then teach police forces to use these same tactics against the domestic population. The war always comes home.
It’s more grisly, even. The military-industrial machine weaponizes poverty itself, by running it through the gristmill converting economic deprivation into a mechanism of imperial control. Military service becomes one of few viable economic options in poor and minority communities, creating a pipeline where economic desperation drives imperial recruitment. Defense industry jobs create constituencies for continued military spending, while technical education, increasingly orients toward military applications. This is not mere economic policy – it is the systematic creation of material dependencies that make challenging imperial power feel impossible.
Breaking free from white supremacy’s ideological traps requires more than electoral theater. It demands organized, militant resistance by the masses of oppressed peoples who understand their struggles cannot be separated: the fight against Cop City is directly tied to the military occupations of Haiti and the genocide in Palestine.
Blackface imperialism is now the order of the day. Fully colonized Negroes functioning as empire’s overseers, shipping weapons for Palestinian genocide, forcing Haiti’s occupation, and militarizing police terror at home. Our liberation demands masses of exploited and colonized peoples advancing militant political education, forging grounded alliances between struggles, and uncompromising, strategic action that gives the empire no peace. The choice lies not between imperial U.S. political parties, but between submission to empire and militant mass struggle for liberation.
The following article, first published in Struggle for Socialism / La Lucha por el Socialismo, compares the state of the US and Chinese railroad systems.
The pro-opposition President, Salome Zourabichvili, stated that Georgians were "victims of what can only be described as a Russian special operation -- a new form of hybrid warfare waged against our people and our country." However, when asked by Western journalists to substantiate this, she could only that the government had used "Russian methodology."
The Biden administration and other Western governments and institutions have not even waited for detailed reports from their own observers to call the election results into question. Moreover, it must be stated with regret that many of these observers can hardly be called objective.
President Biden, absurdly, "cited international and local observers' assessments that elections in Georgia were not free, nor fair;" absurdly, because the local observers are overwhelmingly from NGOs closely linked to the Georgian opposition. As to monitors from the West, in many cases their parent institutions have spent months denouncing the Georgian government as undemocratic and under Moscow's sway.
While I doubt that the opposition nor the powers that want them in charge are above reproach here, the arguments as to why what they’re saying is false and based on a western agenda don’t stand up to the most basic logic seive either.
It is fully possible for the incumbent to have run a fully corrupt campaign complete with ballot stuffing and intimidation/misinformation AND for the observers to not be objective either. One doesn’t cancel out the other.
The big question is: were the elections provably legitimate and above reproach, and will the majority of Georgians respect the results?
While it's possible for both to be true, it's both A) completely unnecessary if the primary opposition is from astroturfed Western regime change operations and B) completely irrelevant because the first responsibility of the government should be to get those foreign agents out of the country so that they don't end up with a vocal and violent ultra minority trying to overthrow the government and install a Western puppet.
Italian prosecutors said the creation of private dossiers using hacked material has “high-level support, in various environments, including that of the mafia and the secret services.
Over the last few years, there has been a surge in interest and adoption of generative artificial intelligence systems, and a corresponding interest in clarifying and delineating what open source should mean for AI and how to ensure AI serves the public interest. The DPGA Secretariat has been an active part of these conversations. Recognizing the transformative potential of AI, we have explored ways to democratise its benefits, advocating for public spending on AI that prioritises public interest and equitable access. Additionally, we have been examining how the DPG Standard may need to adapt in order to better determine what constitutes AI systems as a type of digital public good, via a community of practice (CoP), co-hosted by UNICEF.
This work has been unfolding against a backdrop of other initiatives and organisations similarly addressing complex questions surrounding the future development and use of artificial intelligence in the public interest domain. One such particularly important initiative has been the work to define open source AI stewarded by the Open Source In
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Over the last few years, there has been a surge in interest and adoption of generative artificial intelligence systems, and a corresponding interest in clarifying and delineating what open source should mean for AI and how to ensure AI serves the public interest. The DPGA Secretariat has been an active part of these conversations. Recognizing the transformative potential of AI, we have explored ways to democratise its benefits, advocating for public spending on AI that prioritises public interest and equitable access. Additionally, we have been examining how the DPG Standard may need to adapt in order to better determine what constitutes AI systems as a type of digital public good, via a community of practice (CoP), co-hosted by UNICEF.
This work has been unfolding against a backdrop of other initiatives and organisations similarly addressing complex questions surrounding the future development and use of artificial intelligence in the public interest domain. One such particularly important initiative has been the work to define open source AI stewarded by the Open Source Initiative (OSI) with the involvement of a large number of stakeholders and experts. After a two year long process the Open Source AI Definition (OSAID) Version 1.0 was released on October 28.
Author: Liv Marte Nordhaug, Secretariat CEO, Digital Public Goods Alliance Over the last few years, there has been a surge in interest and adoption of generative artificial intelligence systems, and a corresponding interest in clarifying and delineat…
"Fair use" are exceptions from copyright licenses. I won't pretend I know how this all works in detail, I just know this is the loophole they are using.
Even if the spine-tingling horrors of the long dark night of Walpurgis are mostly imaginary, the sinister threats of predatory proprietary software providers remain all too real.
Fear not! We, the KDE community, will help you, your friends, family, company, and community banish all the creepy and insidious proprietary software that haunts your computers, phones, and household appliances.
But we can't do it alone! We need you to help us fight the good fight against the tech-ghouls from beyond. Use the form to donate any amount to our fundraiser (or become a regular donor to our community) and help us keep the dark forces of proprietary software at bay.
We're kicking off our 2024 end-of-year fundraiser just in time for Halloween!
Even if the spine-tingling horrors of the long dark night of Walpurgis are mostly imaginary, the sinister threats of predatory proprietary software providers remain all too…
This specific video has helped me buckle down and get shit done so many times. I've even made loops of songs I have copies of on my computer for this kind of thing. The repetition OH MY GOD it tickles my brain in just the right way so as to boost productivity. It's great how that can cancel out the ADHD when I have deadlines looming.
Video game music does the same thing. Death by Glamour gets me in the ZONE.
I practically only have one playlist. Some of the music on it was added in the last millennia.
The repetition really is key. Some of the music on my list have several versions, same song but different recordings, but it has to be the right version. Usually the first one I heard. Having insert streaming service replace "my" version with another is a jarring experience.
I hate that! Especially when it was the correct version and then magically one day it is some other one. One time it played that awful pop version of Professional Widow by Tori Amos and that was very upsetting until I found the normal version that sounds awesome.
The people who make YT Music and Spotify must have autism, because they too assume it's normal to listen to the same handful of songs every day.
When I vent about this IRL people agree that it's ridiculous, but then I go online and I see the opposite, complaints that the service recommended a new song or a song they didn't like. They even took out the discovery button from YT Music.
My music is a compost pile. All the new stuff I listen to is on top and it gets listened to on repeat and the music is less engaging the further down the stack it goes, even though it was on repeat when it was fresh. Stuff at the bottom of the list may only get played once in a year or even less.
My brain has changed a bit over time. I used to need that constant noise, it helped things flow. Now I prefer quiet. Noise breaks the flow.
The Dash Berlin ASOT 600 set (specifically Sofia) got me through my dissertation writing. Even now, if I sit down with a coffee and turn on the set, within the couple minutes I am completely in the zone for working. It’s like a brain hack for me.
I also like the Music for programming site (specifically RITES) which is also good for some focus music.
I’ve tried to get some folks to post their dissertation writing music and form a massive playlist, as it seems really common to have some certain song or album. I’m sure it’s similar for other intense work flows too.
I could gladly listen to a song 5000 times, but when Spotify stops shuffling my playlist and plays the same 15 songs on repeat every day for a month I start to notice and get a little bothered! Don't get me started on enhanced shuffle, either
My problem is that I want to choose when to listen to the same song a million times. When spotify gets in the loop of playing the same songs over and over, it becomes very difficult to force it to break out of it when i get tired of it. If I tell spotify to shuffle my playlist, I want spotify to shuffle my goddamn playlist
I like to do that with great albums. I'll listen to the whole thing, just, over and over and over again. Until I've got pretty much the whole thing memorized. Then I go on to another one. I'll only do it that way if the whole album is banging, though.
I listen to Sega Mega Drive playlists. Usually the relaxing ones. I've played them so much that the song progression is normal to me. I know which one will play next in the list. Sometimes a song gets stuck in my head and it impedes my thought process, so I put it on and don't have to think about it anymore. Usually the Sega songs, they are designed to be repeated.
Kiev will conscript 160,000 more troops over the next three months, according to statements from lawmakers and media outlets. More than a million soldiers have already been drafted, yet high losses have left the Ukrainian Armed Forces plagued by manpower shortages.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces had around 250,000 active-duty personnel at the beginning of 2022, a number that rapidly swelled once Vladimir Zelensky called up reservists and forbade draft-age men from leaving the country.
This spring, faced with mounting losses, Kiev lowered the draft age from 27 to 25 and significantly tightened mobilization rules, requiring potential recruits to report to conscription offices for "data validation." These checks often result in people being immediately taken into the army and sent to the front line.
That's so easy to write isn't it? I'm no coward, but I'm not sure some arbitrary border on a map is enough to motivate me to give up on seeing my daughter grow up. I understand that Russia is a fascist state led by a mad man who should be fought. Giving your life for that is no easy decision tho.
They are forced. They fight against the Ukrainian Army for their survival, because being drafted means they will probably die at this point. If they could keep avoiding the army, they would probably survive until this madness ends.
You can have your side on this and think Ukraine is fighting for survival, but that's a point of view, an idea. Some facts are:
Ukraine is currently loosing this war. It's even territorial.
Ukraine is loosing support from their allies. And if Trump wins, which is somehow plausible, they'd be practically alone.
Recently drafted citizens are just that, they are not soldiers. With their morale, they probably aren't even fighters.
A good chunk of the remaining Ukrainian people don't want to fight no more.
Drafting more inexperienced citizens will at best slow down the course of the current events.
He is implying Ukrainians are not drafted Israel style. There is no 30 day prison vacation for refusing to obey. These people are thrown in the back of a van and transported to the battlefield to slightly extend what is already a lost war.
The west is not serious about supporting Ukraine to victory. That much should be obvious by now. Even the mainstream newspapers are saying Ukraine is not fighting to win now.
I’m not Israeli though. What is Israeli style. Israel is not being invaded.
Without sending troops, there isn’t much else the west can do beyond allowing deep strikes with their missiles which I agree should never have been an issue.
Again though, conscription via a draft while forced yes, is not the inference of the wording of the article. It’s trying to paint Ukraine in a bad light for having to do it vs Russia who have done worse for their manpower goals.
The argument is not "Russia good". Russia bad too.
The point is: any Ukrainian who is not ideologically driven to fight against Russia should not be forced to do so. Their deaths will not achieve anything meaningful.
This is a war of attrition. Ukraine has not received the military support required to win.
Ukraine can receive men. There are multiple volunteers from other countries fighting for Ukraine.
You too are allowed to go and fight for Ukraine. Are you willing to risk your own life, or admit that Ukrainian men are treated as disposable toys instead of humans?
Because you know, the thousand day invasion threatening their existence.
Whose existence? Seriously, what kind of mental gymnastics one needs to do to consider this a valid argument.. Show me, how is the existence of people on liberated territories (like Crimea, Melitopol and so on) are threatened? Or maybe those people are actually okay (well, at least relatively to those of us who are still stuck on Zelensky controlled territories...) and it's the lives of those whom Zelensky can still reach are threatened, because his regime can kidnap them at any moment and send to the meatgrinder?
Is it better to be drafted now, or wait until Putin has another territory to "liberate"
Are you absolutely seriously asking whether it is better to almost cetrainly die now, or have a chance of dying in some hypothetical situation later? I'll choose the latter every single time, thank you..
Is it suddenly ok when it's Russia drafting "free" Ukrainians from those "liberated" territories?
No, it's also not OK. It doesn't happen on even remotely similar scale to what Zelensky is doing.
Are the kidnapped children free now? Happy? Doubtful.
Probably not. At least they are alive in contrast to all the men Zelensky's regime kidnapped and sent to die.
Living there, it seems like you live your normal life. But you can’t express your thoughts, there are topics you can’t discuss, you can’t go where you want. You live like a spider in a jar. You are kept inside, and you run in circles like horses in a circus ring. Those who expect Ukraine to save u
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Is it better to be drafted now, or wait until Putin has another territory to "liberate"
Are you absolutely seriously asking whether it is better to almost cetrainly die now, or have a chance of dying in some hypothetical situation later? I'll choose the latter every single time, thank you..
Is it suddenly ok when it's Russia drafting "free" Ukrainians from those "liberated" territories?
No, it's also not OK. It doesn't happen on even remotely similar scale to what Zelensky is doing.
Are the kidnapped children free now? Happy? Doubtful.
Probably not. At least they are alive in contrast to all the men Zelensky's regime kidnapped and sent to die.
Living there, it seems like you live your normal life. But you can’t express your thoughts, there are topics you can’t discuss, you can’t go where you want. You live like a spider in a jar. You are kept inside, and you run in circles like horses in a circus ring. Those who expect Ukraine to save us are having a hard time. It’s hard on morale. You’re not allowed to speak about Ukraine; Ukrainian symbols are banned. If you hear something, or say something they think is wrong, they grab you and put you in a basement.
So, the same as in Ukraine, but without the kidnappings and with an ability to leave at any time.
Lol, people usually report me because "spreading misinformation/propaganda" or something along those lines, but @SomeGuy69@lemmy.world is more creative and reported this comment for "talking like a true rapist" :D
Maybe if blood thirsty dictator putin didn't start a war of aggression, there could have been 0 deaths. I'd rather die fighting russia than dying by their firing squad, being raped, tortured, electrocuted or malnourished in their prisons.
Maybe if blood thirsty dictator putin didn't start a war of aggression, there could have been 0 deaths.
That's probably correct. I'm not Putin though, could you please not hold me accountable for his actions?
I'd rather die fighting russia than dying by their firing squad, being raped, tortured, electrocuted or malnourished in their prisons.
Ok, that's your choice, you are free to do whatever you want, including dying for your beliefs, it is not a problem. A problem begins when you want/support other people dying for your beliefs.
I'm not Putin though, coulf you please not hold me accountable for his actions?
But "Ukraine bad", "Russia good" right? Why criticizing only Ukraine and Zelensky since they're defending their land and not even a word against Russia or Putin?
You make it seem like that surrendering to an invasion is the right thing to do. So if Russia decided to invade the whole of Europe we should sit waiting for russian soldiers to rape our sisters and moms and execute us with our hands tied behind our back?
Moreover, in occupied Ukraine people get drafted anyways by Russia to fight Ukrainian soldiers. So what? Should they surrender waiting to go to the opposite side?
But "Ukraine bad", "Russia good" right? Why criticizing only Ukraine and Zelensky since they're defending their land and not even a word against Russia or Putin?
I never said "Russia good". Here, just for you: Russia and Putin are bad.
You make it seem like that surrendering to an invasion is the right thing to do.
No, I don't.
So if Russia decided to invade the whole of Europe we should sit waiting for russian soldiers to rape our sisters and moms and execute us with our hands tied behind our back?
No, you are free to do what you want, including fighting Russia. But if you try to to kill me, my family, my friends - don't be surprised that I'd rather support Russia than you..
Moreover, in occupied Ukraine people get drafted anyways by Russia to fight Ukrainian soldiers. So what? Should they surrender waiting to go to the opposite side?
People who accept Russian citizenship (which is generally not forced onto anyone) may get drafted (there
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But "Ukraine bad", "Russia good" right? Why criticizing only Ukraine and Zelensky since they're defending their land and not even a word against Russia or Putin?
I never said "Russia good". Here, just for you: Russia and Putin are bad.
You make it seem like that surrendering to an invasion is the right thing to do.
No, I don't.
So if Russia decided to invade the whole of Europe we should sit waiting for russian soldiers to rape our sisters and moms and execute us with our hands tied behind our back?
No, you are free to do what you want, including fighting Russia. But if you try to to kill me, my family, my friends - don't be surprised that I'd rather support Russia than you..
Moreover, in occupied Ukraine people get drafted anyways by Russia to fight Ukrainian soldiers. So what? Should they surrender waiting to go to the opposite side?
People who accept Russian citizenship (which is generally not forced onto anyone) may get drafted (there was some exemption though for people on liberated territories till 2024, not sure if it's still in effect though). People are frre to leave at any moment though. This is also wrong, but in no way comparable to Zelensky's regime kidnapping people on the streets every single day and trapping them in the country. (There were some cases of that happening in LPR & DPR previously, which is also terrible, but again not nearly on a similar scale to what Zelensky is doing)
They don't have a choice. It is this or being Russian slaves.
Hey, thank you for your insightful comment!
Could you please expand on that and tell me more about people in Crimea and other liberated cities being Russian slaves?
Also while you are at it - could you please also explain to me how being unable to leave your country where you can be kidnapped on a street at any day and sent to die is not considered slavery / is better than "being Russian slave"? How did that happen that "Russian slaves" can move to Ukraine controlled territories at any time and supposedly stop being slaves, but those who are on Ukraine controlled territories cannot do the opposite (and yet for some reason you wouldn't consider them slaves)?
Да, хорошую историю с нашими "героями" которые якобы предпочли умереть чем сдаться русским форсили тогда в новостях.. Потом правда оказалось что
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Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй
Да, хорошую историю с нашими "героями" которые якобы предпочли умереть чем сдаться русским форсили тогда в новостях.. Потом правда оказалось что они таки все сдались, и даже в википедии на понятном для тебя языке это описано, но история то какая ;)
Anyway, calling me Ivan (a Slavic, not a Russian name) and writing to me in Russian to allege that I'm Russian is incredibly stupid... You do know that Ukraine (except the western part of it) speaks (or rather speaked, until the war and introduction of "language-police" in some cities...) Russian a lot, and especially so in cities? I've heard very little Ukrainian on the streets back when I lived in Ukraine :)
Anyway, you do not seem to be interested in having a discussion or changing your mind :(
Statists are monsters, it does not matter which is the colour of their ideas.
To all statists, the penalty for the crime of conscription is that I will exterminate all of your officers and officials. I will expunge the myth of your nation like the disease that it is.
I do think there is a point to make here. Ukrainians should be free to leave their country if they want.
But you still support Zelensky's regime that makes it impossible, don't you? :/ You might not believe me, but if Zelensky didn't turn Ukraine into his ~~small~~ huge North Korea where trapped people are kidnapped from the streets and sent to the meatgrinder - I'd be donating money to my country every month. But Zelensky made sure to make this impossible - supporting his regime is supporting trapping innocent people in a war-torn country with missiles/drones/shells flying over them. People afraid of leaving their homes because "recruitment officers" can kidnap them them and send to die. People try to escape this hell, and die trying to "illegally" cross the border through rivers/mountains. Zelensky made sure to become our enemy #1.
But anyway, I strongly disagree with your view that Russia's imperialist invasion of Ukraine is "liberating" anything or anyone.
But
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I do think there is a point to make here. Ukrainians should be free to leave their country if they want.
But you still support Zelensky's regime that makes it impossible, don't you? :/ You might not believe me, but if Zelensky didn't turn Ukraine into his ~~small~~ huge North Korea where trapped people are kidnapped from the streets and sent to the meatgrinder - I'd be donating money to my country every month. But Zelensky made sure to make this impossible - supporting his regime is supporting trapping innocent people in a war-torn country with missiles/drones/shells flying over them. People afraid of leaving their homes because "recruitment officers" can kidnap them them and send to die. People try to escape this hell, and die trying to "illegally" cross the border through rivers/mountains. Zelensky made sure to become our enemy #1.
But anyway, I strongly disagree with your view that Russia's imperialist invasion of Ukraine is "liberating" anything or anyone.
But how is this not a liberation? Quote from a dictionary:
To set free, as from oppression, confinement, or foreign control.
People on the liberated territories are not confined and can leave at any time. People on Zelensky controlled territories quite literally cannot leave. You can argue that it wasn't started as liberation. But it is now, unless my dictionary is wrong about the definition of word "liberate". It didn't have to be, but thanks to Zelensky it is.
Are people in Russian-occupied territories free to protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine? No. They would get put in prison, or worse. So they aren't free.
The only free people in this reality are billionaires. It's not about who is free, it is about who is more free. Are you trying to say that people on liberated territories are less free than people on Zelensky controlled territories because.. they can protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine? So the ability to protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine is more important than freedom of movement and not being kidnapped from the streets?
I do think Ukrainians should be allowed to leave Ukraine.
Well thank you at least for that (that's not even sarcasm btw, that's already more helpful than most of the world), but again - you support Zelensky's regime which is the one making it impossible.
But you seem to be blaming Zelenskyy for the Russian shells, being fired by Russian forces.
I blame him for turning Ukraine into his North Korea.
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Are people in Russian-occupied territories free to protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine? No. They would get put in prison, or worse. So they aren't free.
The only free people in this reality are billionaires. It's not about who is free, it is about who is more free. Are you trying to say that people on liberated territories are less free than people on Zelensky controlled territories because.. they can protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine? So the ability to protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine is more important than freedom of movement and not being kidnapped from the streets?
I do think Ukrainians should be allowed to leave Ukraine.
Well thank you at least for that (that's not even sarcasm btw, that's already more helpful than most of the world), but again - you support Zelensky's regime which is the one making it impossible.
But you seem to be blaming Zelenskyy for the Russian shells, being fired by Russian forces.
I blame him for turning Ukraine into his North Korea. I blame him for trapping people, who die trying to cross the border by mountains/rivers, or hide at homes afraid to leave. I blame him for kidnapping people from the streets and sending them to the meatgrinder (so, killing them).
For some reason you don't want to put any blame at all on the Kremlin - why is that?
Here it is: I condemn Kremlin, Russia, Putin and everybody else responsible for this war.
Are people in Ukrainian controlled territories free to protest against forced conscription and withdrawal of passports? No, they will get put into prison, and given a choice to join the military or serve a long sentence.
I have looked only at the name of the links and not the actual content (there are too many of them) - but I didn't notice anything about North Koreans being able to leave the country by means other than "illegally" crossing the border (this is the criterian I used to compare the countries)? If one of the links covers this topic I'd be interested in reading it.
I mean they have a grand total of 3 borders of which one is shoot to kill zone, and while they have to get passport and probably visa too they can go to China and Russia, though the numbers aren't that high afaik. This is the norm for cold war time in which they de facto still are thanks to the USA, and this is very far from what is currently happening in Ukraine, first and foremost there is no open war and they aren't send up into the meat grinder.
I mean they have a grand total of 3 borders of which one is shoot to kill zone, and while they have to get passport and probably visa too they can go to China and Russia, though the numbers aren't that high afaik.
So it's not a problem for North Koreans to obtain a passport and cross the border into China/Russia (and from there to any other country, of course provided that that country will let them in)? From what I've heard it's next to impossible, but if that's just western/American propaganda I'd like to read some articles and learn something new.
I guess it's probably as hard as let's say getting a permit to travel to western country for a citizen of socialist Ukrainian SSR, but even if they were literally welded to place it would still be nowhere near as bad as in Ukraine where the main problem is not being unable to leave but getting kidnapped and thrown into artillery fire. Again not in the slightest similar thing.
Well, I wasn't saying that NK kidnaps and massacres its citizens like Zelensky's regime does, I was referring to not being able to leave the country, and in that regard the regimes seems similar to me.
I blame him for turning Ukraine into his North Korea. I blame him for trapping people, who die trying to cross the border by mountains/rivers, or hide at homes afraid to leave. I blame him for kidnapping people from the streets and sending them to the meatgrinder (so, killing them).
In my mind North Korea associates with people being unable to leave it (which you don't deny), Zelensky did the same to Ukraine, therefore the analogy.
You are comparing a western nazi puppet who has to be forcibly stopped from comitting genocide with a communist country desperately defending themselves from west for 80 years and being a victim of genocide. Those are polar opposites even if they have some things in common, like i bet people in both countries also drink water.
Socialist countries in Europe also did restricted the freedom of travel and turned out for a good reason, to not be destroyed. Ukraine does this for a reason to murder its own people. You can't even get a difference so basic, you should really stop.
Well, it seems that we won't come to an agreement here.
As I said, for me mass forbidding people to leave the country is unjustifiable. If some regime does it, whatever the reason, it deserves to be destroyed, and I wholeheartedly support the destruction of that regime. I wouldn't like to live under such a regime and wouldn't wish it for other people.
And yeah, I'm not going to stop caring about mine and other people's freedom :)
Deebster
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