I had to look that up… but does it accurately describe (most/)any of the people it is actually used against?
Apologists of oppressive governments? I think it may have been adopted as a general insult but it’s original use was justified.
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Russia
China
NK
Israel
Indeed (currently) most of the developing world countries?
USA 2016-20?
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A close friend of mine has become a Tankie since the beginning of the Ukraine war. The last time we met she started a diatribe against Ukrainian fascists that was straight from RT.
It’s very sad as she’s become impossible to talk to.
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Like;
Or,
There are fascists in Ukraine. There are fascists in Russia. There are fascists in France, Italy, Germany, Hungary, the USA.
It doesn’t justify invasion.
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What does? Killing 14,000 of your own civilians over eight years? Sounds standard for “Western values” these days…
And for starters; show me Nazis, not just “fascists”, who murdered 100,000s of Jews, Poles and ethnic Slavs in those countries, like in Baba Yar, Kiev, then show me that same country renaming the boulevard that leads to the site of said massacre “Stepan Bandera Boulevard”.
Then maybe some self-reflection on what a shitty friend you are…
Like the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact that allowed the Russians to annex huge swathes of Eastern Europe?
Russia is very selective on which bits of their grotty history they like to remember when they start invading other countries.
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Pro Putin propaganda and personal attacks don’t go down too well on here.
Just sayin …
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Firstly, is it not possible for you to discuss without resorting to personal insults?
The 14,000 you mention are total casualties of the conflict in the Donbas. That is Russian military, Ukrainian military and civilians.
Stepan Bandera was a nasty piece of work, a nationalist and racist who was imprisoned by the Gestapo. There are streets in all the major cities of Europe named after nationalists, colonialists, slave owners and the like.
The Russian invasion was not about liberating the Ukrainians from fascists, it was a reaction to Kiev’s rejection of the Russian puppet regime and turn to the West.
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Fixed
I think that he refers to the fact that Bandera was rehabilitated by Ianoukovych as a national hero in 2010, and then by Porochenko in 2014, when he instated a national day of ‘Defender of the nation’, and the date was set on the one of the creation of the UPA, Bandera’s armed group of terrorists who committed all kinds of horrible massacres.
As you said, it doesn’t justify an invasion, but I think it’s worthy to remember that the above-mentioned oligarch-presidents were nasty pieces of work as well, and were heavily criticised for it at the time; by Russia, by the EU and the US.
However, it should really be emphasized that Zelensky and his government haven’t any clearly recognized links with the Ukrainian extreme right. But he could be threatened by its rise, which is strong right now.
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You mean the Russian puppet? Figures.
You’re literally going around calling people “Tankies” just because they have a different, and more accurate (ironically), position than you… Second, call him what he is: a Nazi. If you have problems with historical fact go visit your local Holocaust Memorial Musuem, maybe the one in Moscow, then you can visit all the intact and destroyed Western wunderwaffen in “Victory Square” whilst there… Reality bites.
I was calling my friend a Tankie because that’s what she is. I don’t know why that means you have to insult me.
I have no problem identifying Nazis and am well aware of the history of the holocaust as I live in Berlin.
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Maybe Russian self-reflection on who exactly was killing the Poles could start in the Katyn Forest if we are going back to the 1940s? Turns out some of those Poles were Jews too, as it happens.
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Not sure what I’m missing here. Putin is a scum bag and has invaded Ukraine. It is a large scale war and the casualties are atrocious. I didn’t think we would see something on that scale again in Europe. The Russian people - not all, but most - have been coerced to his will, and they see the world through the lens they are told to view it with. Were it not for the fact that Putin has thousands of nukes, help from the west would have been a lot more decisive and Russia would have been soundly defeated.
It is appalling, and understandable, that the west has played a more cagey game - supporting Ukraine, but not to the point of enabling it to strike Moscow and inflict serious damage deep into Russia, as that could easily prompt a nuclear response.
Russia has been interfering in foreign elections for years, and it also has the propaganda dialed up. Even in America - a country that used to have a clear view on Russia, communism, and the likes of Putin, but has now lost its way - Putin will receive succour and tacit approval, especially if Trump wins the election.
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Goes with other countries in a siimilar vein as well. USA doesn’t like to remember their history of interference in other countries too.
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Yes, we can all do the whataboutism thing, but the discussion was about left wingers who support totalitarian regimes (in particular, the USSR/Russia), colloquially known as ‘Tankies’.
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I’ve never understood that, why on earth are left-wingers supporting one of the most dictatorial, un-socialist regimes around?
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