terrific

They should just remove the numbering. It’s less maintenance, and it’s not that important anyway, is it?

Using phrasing such as “necessarily implies” is exactly what makes me call your conversation style “lecturing”.

Is it normal to talk like this in your circles? In my culture it’s a certain way to antagonize anyone who doesn’t already agree with you.

It’s a fair point. Your assessment is missing one crucial piece of context: my last conversation with CowBee. It was really quite painful and I’m just not in the mood for another treatment.

I’m sorry if I’m dismissive but I gotta tell you, last time we talked felt an awful lot like being lectured. You didn’t really engage with anything I said but rather regurgitated endless theories and facts.

And you are a self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninist, is that not true? Subscribing to a particular narrative is IMO exactly what “dogmatic” means. I’m not saying it’s wrong, it’s truer than most dogmas. But still a dogma.

Oh it’s you again. Last time we talked you lectured me about imperialism. I’m not really interested in a lecture today, or any day. We can have a conversation if you want, but I’m not going to subscribe to your dogma.

Americans think that the US is the centre of the universe 🙄

So Palantir sells a data management tool and deployment support. That shouldn’t really surprise anyone who knows the first thing about data science.

The interesting thing about Palantir isn’t what they sell but how they sell it and who buys it. They clearly market their unremarkable software as an autocrat’s wet dream.

And police and military departments across Europe and the US buy their shit, which says more about those police and military departments than about the software.

Anti-communism is a fancy name for fascism.

I might post every once in a while just to piss you off.

Literally what MAGA say

Whatever.

Erasing all context like this until being mean to someone who (well nevermind what they did or said) is the only offense that happened.

I’m having a hard time understanding what you are trying to say here.

You libs are constantly accusing people with actual politics of being the same as MAGA. But it’s always projection.

This is a complete straw man argument. If anyone is protecting, it’s you.

I’m feeling sorry for you, mate. It must be tough living in the US when you have socialist ideas. I hope you’ll be happy some day.

The request created a backlash online with many disagreeing with the practice.

Let me guess, Americans?

try to reconsider your own positions.

Try to go out into the real world and talk to some real people some time. Honestly, I mean it, not as a mean comment, but sincere concern. You are clearly very well read and informed. But there is a world beyond discussing theory with random strangers on the internet.

Who is benefiting from NATO equipment being destroyed? Arms manufacturers. It’s not a null-sum game. They just make more arms. The Russo-Ukrainian war is just what the conservative establishment in Europe has been waiting for. The defense budgets are currently being boosted significantly. Who is befitting? Arms manufacturers. The establishment. This is not weakening imperialism, even in the narrow, Marxist-Leninist, sense. It’s strengthening it.

I agree with the entire second paragraph you write. I just think Russia, and in particular the Russian elite (which runs the country) absolutely benefits from imperialism (again, in the narrow sense). They are deeply integrated in the Western capitalist banking hegemony. They own half of London. Until the war started, they supplied all of Western Europe with gas, and was paid in imperialist money. Hence benefiting from the global imperialist exploitation.

On a side note, I can’t believe what a toxic place this sub is. People keep downvoting my replies simply because they don’t agree with me. This is the first and last time I have contributed to this community. Enjoy your echo chamber.

That’s fair enough. I am familiar with Marxist-Leninist analysis. I even once called myself a Marxist-Leninist. But I personally don’t think today’s capitalism can be described in those terms anymore. I don’t really want to subscribe to a certain way of thinking but if it helps you understand where I’m coming from, I like Kropotkin and more recently Negri & Hardt.

I suppose, from that perspective, it’s possible to define Russia as anti-imperialist. That’s fine, but I think that particular fault line is irrelevant to the global revolution. I don’t see how sacrificing millions of young Russians on the front lines is a net benefit to the global proletariat. That war is a distraction, and a way to maintain the status quo. And, therefore, counter revolutionary.

It’s certainly true that all media is biased but I don’t see how explicitly pointing out their bias can be a bad thing. If you really care about the analysis, as you have said earlier, you should also care about having that kind of context.

I don’t follow, if Russia is fundamentally opposed to western imperialism for its own selfish, pragmatic, even existential reasons, then it’s working against imperialism. Russia is not allowed to be a cog in the imperial machine, it asked to be allowed in 2 and a half decades ago but was denied. Russia is a bourgeois nationalist country, sure, it isn’t a beacon of socialism, but it’s backed into a corner and forced into working with socialist countries like the PRC and working against global imperialism just to continue existing. Russia can’t be an empire, it has neither the colonies to extract from nor the financial capital to do so.

I don’t know if we can converge on this topic. I think our analyses are just based on very different premises. To me, the system that even allows the West/Russia dichotomy to exist is the Empire, i.e. the current world order which centers around the idea of private property. Anti-empirialism is about fighting the right to property itself.

As for being propaganda or not, do you list, say, the NYT as western propaganda in the comments too? I think most people are capable of recognizing pro-Russian and anti-Russian sources at this point, so I’m not quite sure what point you’re serving other than to draw additonal emphasis.

I do, in fact, make a point of pointing out when the media is biased. The Russo-Ukrainian war is not something I debate a lot, and might be a little naive when it comes to the reporting on the issue. I’m sorry if I upset someone by stating something obvious.

You make a good point, but in my eyes Russia is just another cog in the machine. Both sides are the same and the Ukrainian war keeps the engine going. Powerful men sacrifice their country’s youth on the altar of greed. Nothing new under the sun. There are competing empires within the Empire but it all just solidifies the same selfish attitudes. Anti-imperialism (okay let’s get semantic) is something far more subversive in my view.

I didn’t say they were paid propaganda, I said they have a different agenda than just leveling the playing field. Which you now also confirm. I also haven’t said that the post should be discarded. I just said that it’s Russian propaganda (which it is) and I think that’s important context. Maybe it’s obvious to everyone but me, but I think people should know, and that’s why I commented.

Bullying strangers on the internet because you disagree with them? I’m sure your mom is very proud of you.

Thank you for your valuable contribution to this discussion. /s

Working against imperialism for selfish, pragmatic reasons, is still anti-imperialist. There isn’t an ideological basis for it, sure, but the actions fundamentally undermine global imperialism as the primary obstacle towards global socialism.

I don’t see how Russia undermines global imperialism, sorry. Putin sometimes tries to frame his regime that way, but that narrative crumbles with the slightest critical analysis. The Ukrainian war feeds the military industrial complex globally, creates new oppressive narratives in the West, and overall strengthens the global elites. How is that anti-imperialist?

As for jackeroni posting pro-Russian sources, they’ve stated that they intend on making the information field more even than purely using western sources. Exposure to non-western points of view is helpful analysis.

I completely agree. It just seems from the context that they might have a different agenda. What do you make of their strong-arm emoji in their description of the link?

Thanks for the style tip 😊

Sorry I didn’t mean for this conversation to become a semantic debate.

My original point was merely that the original source is clearly highly biased towards Russia. Mr/ms jackeroni then implied that I was brainwashed by big media, and I was then trying to make the point that just because someone doesn’t like Russian propaganda, that doesn’t necessarily make them an imperialist drone.

Mr/Ms Cowbee then imply that I am calling Russia imperialist, which I wasn’t. I just said they aren’t anti-imperialist, which they clearly aren’t. Just because they are in opposition to the current primary empire, simply doesn’t make them anti-imperialist.

I feel like criticising a news outlet for being biased towards Russia made me the target of two straw man arguments in a very short period of time. Is that normal for this sub?