[spectre] Dispatches from Ukraine: Tactical Media Reflflections and Responses

Sun Jul 17 14:35:35 CEST 2022

rasa

i think its worth drawing a distinction between the soviet union and the 
russian federation both politically and historically

i understand that living next to russia after years of occupation by the 
soviet union is very different to living in the uk

i don't believe russia has any intention to invade latvia unless latvian 
ethnic russians are systematically killed by latvian nazis and nato 
constructs a network of offences bio-war labs along the lv/ru border

its important to not allow our past traumas to be exploited by foreign 
agents

lithuanian seems likely to be the first baltic country to be attacked 
given its very provocative blockade of kalingrad

hope all is well

heath

On Sun, 17 Jul 2022, Rasa Smite wrote:

>
> heath
>
> I am sorry, but your messages don't make any sense, they are full of "jumbled 
> thoughts", or may be my English is not sophisticated enough but I don't get 
> your point,
>
> may I make it bit more clear here - that since the Feb 24, 2022 (war in 
> Ukraine started) there are basically only two sides - either you support 
> Ukraine's fight to get free from Russia's occupants, or you accept that 
> Putin's Russia can go on and take the dominance, continuing to use their 
> worst and most cynical war methods against civilians in Ukraine - now, and 
> later in other countries.. (they will never stop, as they never have enough - 
> not only many experts say so, but also my personal experience - of living my 
> first 20 years in my life in Russia's occupied Latvia).
>
> there is no other third way, as this is not a democratic country we deal 
> with, it's based on lies, it always was, and these lies are very different 
> ones than those in your 'bad' capitalist countries, because they are really 
> dangerous, 'imperialistic' (as you say) and chauvinistic, they make other 
> nations they occupy lesser than them, and make other world to believe their 
> 'cultures' are bigger and better, while our (other Eastern European, and 
> former occupied countries) voices then have always been shut up, you were 
> used to call us "rusophobs", which is totally not the case and never was, 
> many of my best friends are Russians.
>
>> can we not leave nation states to fight it out between themselves ?
>
> of course not! the 'nice' Western people already for too long have accepted 
> Russia's Kremlin propaganda and their hybrid media wars as in Baltics, never 
> taking too seriously, and again calling us Rusophobes, Western countries were 
> always shutting us up when our governments gave the serious warnings in 
> various (especially recent ones) European meetings.
>
> so either you listen bit more carefully what the other nations who have been 
> under long occupation think of the war in Ukraine and Russia as country,
>
> or you can try yourself to visit Russia and try to figure out what the 140 
> million people there really think..
>
> or, move to Latvia, if you really want to understand and personally 
> experience how does it feel to live just 200 km from the border of the big 
> threatening country, who already occupied us once. it is here very different 
> feeling to be here - as Latvia (which is rather poor country) is hosting 40 
> 000 refugees from Ukraine, where my friends are delivering jeep cars 
> privately to the Ukraine to help them (while other pacifistic Western 
> European countries deny or delay their military support), and we do this 
> because at least 30% by official statistics believe that we will be next... 
> (sooner or later).
>
> so any, even the most tiniest expression or sign of a help or support such as 
> an art residency or writing activist project, supporting Ukrainian position 
> is worth it, because it is a simply a humanistic act, so much needed, as 
> their hearts and lives are broken no matter if they have escaped, but they 
> are aware of that in their country Russian militarists continue to kill and 
> rape...
>
> so while pacifism has long way to be achieved, there are humans and their 
> lives that need any support or a sign of any solidarity now...
>
> any critical skepticism towards those who do something is the least needed.
>
> Jaanis sent you great sources, you better read them first before questioning, 
> if they are trustful enough for you.
>
> and last but not least, I also can share my own 'jumbled thoughts' by 
> referring to Manovich's post in FB, when he said that please consider that 
> many people (especially young ones) in Russia would prefer to live in your 
> "rotten" capitalist system. So am I, as I have experienced both - communist 
> and capitalist governments. And here I am largely suspicious about your 
> pacifistic ideas, as well as other UK's May 1st Day activist ambivalent 
> intents (how I call them - marxists with Porsche): may be you simply don't 
> want countries like Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, etc. to share with your 
> capitalist "goods" and people achieving just to live their normal lives?
>
> best
>
> Rasa
>
>
>
> On 16/07/2022 14:49, heath bunting wrote:
>> jaanis
>> 
>> thanks for links - will take a look - not hopeful for making
>> good decision on these though, as it takes years of careful scrutiny
>> to determine whether sources are reliable and not mouthpieces for in-tell 
>> agencies
>> 
>> why does russian state propaganda matter to grass roots activists ?
>> 
>> i would have thought super-state propaganda vs sub-state propaganda is more 
>> relevant
>> 
>> can we not leave nation states to fight it out between themselves ?
>> 
>> overwhelming evidence suggestions that unlawful trans-national entities 
>> such as empires (united state of america empire: USAE) are a greater threat 
>> to individuals/ humanity than lawfully constituted nation states
>> 
>> what's more of a threat to peace ? 1000 foreign USAE military bases or
>> 2 russian foreign military bases ?
>> 
>> hope all is well
>> 
>> heath
>> 
>> 
>> On Sat, 16 Jul 2022, jg at 21.x-i.net wrote:
>> 
>>> Most of your questions about importance of fighting russian state 
>>> propaganda can be answered by these expert resources:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/03/08/meduza-is-granting-open-access-to-all-content-about-the-war-in-ukraine-under-a-creative-commons-license 
>>> 
>>> https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/07/12/meduza-is-hiring-a-social-media-editor-for-its-english-language-edition 
>>> 
>>> https://theconversation.com/russias-disappearing-independent-media-why-they-closed-178590 
>>> 
>>> https://netzpolitik.org/2020/russian-disinformation-the-network-of-fake-foreign-media/ 
>>> 
>>> https://euvsdisinfo.eu/report/the-war-in-ukraine-is-about-the-reunification-of-the-russian-people2 
>>> 
>>> The Russian neo-Nazis fighting Vladimir Putin’s war to ‘denazify’ Ukraine
>>> https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/07/15/dying-to-kill
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> List of few independent  resources in Russian..
>>> 
>>> https://www.youtube.com/c/Popularpolitics
>>> https://www.youtube.com/c/NevzorovTV
>>> https://www.youtube.com/c/FeyginLive
>>> https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzaqqlriSjVyc795m86GVyg
>>> https://www.youtube.com/c/Gordonua
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 16/07/2022 11:03, heath bunting wrote:
>>>> geert
>>>> 
>>>>> supporting Ukrainian media and confronting Russian state propaganda.
>>>> 
>>>> these aims appear to be very aligned to imperial interests
>>>> 
>>>> what do you mean by ukrainian media ? state/ corporate or grass roots ?
>>>> 
>>>> why is it important to confront russian state propaganda ?
>>>> 
>>>> who is at risk of this messaging ?
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