Even the Russians recognize being banned by it is a badge of honor.

“The past was alterable. The past never had been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.”

― George Orwell, 1984

It's funny how Russia screams about Nazis in Ukraine and then censors the news, fills people with propaganda / hatred, cracks down on protests, and commits brutal atrocities that wouldn't look remiss in Nazi Germany. They are the Nazis even if people haven't gotten the memo yet. Even today Russia decided to murder civilians trying to evacuate by train with missile strikes. I'm sure their puppets and useful idiots will be decrying this as more fake news.

Putin determined to snatch the crown from Uncle Adolf and Grandad Stalin as the most hated genocidal murdering war criminal in history !

Ditto Republicans

The Russian propaganda units are already saying the missile was shot at the train station by the Ukrainians at themselves. The Ukrainians seem to be shooting themselves a lot at the moment one way or another. Plus civilians are accidentally shooting themselves in the back of the head while their hands are tied behind their backs - neat magic trick.

Apparently all the lies and denials from Russia are intended for the people back in Russia who are only fed state propaganda. Nobody in the west believes a word the Russians say any more.

It wouldn't surprise me that once the Russian troops are all clear of Kiev, if the Ukrainians somehow manage to procure and drop a nuke on the city in a mass suicide attempt. Or that's how the Kremlin will spin it.

Apparently all the lies and denials from Russia are intended for the people back in Russia who are only fed state propaganda. Nobody in the west believes a word the Russians say any more.

Unfortunately people in the west are spending time and energy debunking this bullshit instead of just saying "that's bullshit, you [1]drunk lying genocidal fuckers" leaving it at that. I guess this time and energy has to be spent to try and keep down the number of feeble minded followers of George Galloway and Tucker Carlson and similar who somehow believe it too.

[1] https://twitter.com/DmitryOpines/status/1512393707529674756

George Galloway is throwing a hissy fit because his Twitter account is tagged as Russian state-affiliated media. He's threatening to sue them even though only moments before proudly showing Sputnik & RT in his bio before removing them. I hope he does because I could do with the laugh.

What is sad is he still exists on YouTube. I caught a bit of a livecast where he was basically throwing cold water on the idea that anyone could possibly know if Russia tortured and executed people in Bucha. Despite more than sufficient evidence to convince any reasonable human being that they did.

Despicable doesn't even cover my views of him.

this. Totally this.

I see it on Twitter all the time. People saying it's a "fake war" and spreading all kinds of nonsense about not trusting MSM. I mean, I don't totally trust them myself and I've seen a lot of dodgy and biased reporting in the last couple of years, but that doesn't mean I think everything I see if now fake news. A lot of people really do seem to think that now, which means they are just really ignorant or they are actually part of the propaganda machine (i.e. They work for the Russian government either directly or indirectly).

What can be done about these useful idiots? It's really annoying.

I've seen the same in the Steam forums.

Quite a few Dev and Publisher, especially a lot of the smaller indie devs based in the East of Europe, are either based in Ukraine themselves, have friends or family there, or employees. So they are well aware of what's going on on the ground, as they are getting first hand reports.

So some of these Devs and Publishers have been showing their support for Ukraine, such as helping to get people out of Ukraine (providing a room in their house in Poland etc), raising money and so on.

This has been supported by the vast majority of people on Steam, but then you get the occasional one, who clams it's all a lie, that the Ukraine people are being protected by Russia soldiers from the evil Ukrainian Nazi government. etc etc.

Very sad that these people have drunk so much of the Putin cool aid.

drunk so much of the Putin cool aid

They should probably check it for polonium or Novichok first...

It's also funny how many of these Russia boosting idiots are also COVID deniers and MAGA enthusiasts. They've spent too much time in the company of bots.

The Putin administration even created Hitler youth style camps back in 2005 with the sole purpose of brainwashing teenagers. The name of the organisation is "Nashi" which almost reads as Nazi!!! Maybe Russia is full of mirrors and when they are screaming at the Nazis in reality it's like a dog barking at it's own reflection :-D

A good article on this can be found here:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jul/24/russia

I don't disagree with this as such, but please remain skeptical about what our media and government are feeding us. Don't be fooled into thinking it's only the Russian media that pump out disinformation and propaganda.

Certainly in the UK the current government seem to be less willing to entertain peaceful protest and have used the charade of Brexit, Covid and now the Russian invasion of Ukraine to limit our freedoms.

I saw this [1] on a site earlier today.

To: V. Putin

Subject: Personal invitation

Most esteemed V. Putin. you are personally invited to attend (at our expense) a Special Awards Ceremony to be held in your honour. You are invited to bring your most senior staff as they too are deserving of such awards, although not as prestigious as yours.

The location is The Hague, Netherlands.

Felicitations

The Organisers

[1] Expanded a bit to stroke his ego...

One side effect of this awful situation is seeing just how ineffective tanks are in a modern war.

I agree with your comment but even the idea of any war is anachronistic. Humanity needs more than ever to co-operate. And it's women who are holding it together, making sure we survive. Men can STFU and get with the survival plan! I am a man and more than rather ashamed by the actions of men at every level (although we're not all bad!).

Not really. What we are seeing specifically is how vulnerable cold-war era soviet tanks are when used in isolation against scattered but entrenched enemy forced with modern man-portable anti-armour weapons. That tanks are vulnerable (even to weapons as simple as the soviet RPG-7) when maneuvering/operating in isolation is a lesson already learned by the US forces long ago in Afghanistan and Irak. Tanks need to be part of a combined force with infantry and other armour to provide support and cover against anti-tank weapons. Especially in (semi)urban environments.

Shh! The Russians might hear you!

"YouTube video hosting has become one of the key platforms spreading fakes about the course of a special military operation on the territory of Ukraine, discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation"

Yeah, only official Russian sources are allowed to spread fake news! I can't wait for the one describing the murder, torture and rape of the invasion as "typical youthful high spirits on a spring break".

Spring break is an American cultural imposition that has no place in modern Russia.

Any Russian attempting to go on a "spring break" will be required to register as an agent of a foreign government.

They've already claimed that, in Bucha, the Ukrainians executed the people themselves or that they staged the whole massacre 'scene', even trying to show dead bodies moving (later disproved by video analysis - showing that it was due to raindrops on the windshield or filming through mirrors causing distortions on those images - and by satellite images showing those same bodies laying at the same places for days or even weeks)

At least the original Nazis were good at their propaganda.

More damning is video material of executions and intercepted communications ordering it.

However, as the Russians have demonstrated well for years: they don't need to be good lies, just lots of them. No doubt the people murdered by a missile attack in Kramatorsk station this morning while they were waiting to be evacuated will be portrayed variously as recruits on their way to a military training station, saboteurs, that from afar look like flies . Anyway, it wasn't Kramatorsk, just somewhere in Yemen with a fake sign.

Absolute imbeciles - do they actually think we're falling for Vladolf's nonsense at this point? They should be embarrased. Peskov is the new Comical Ali.

In Russia they have no choice but to believe it, not least because they've been force fed multiple conflicting narratives for years.

More worring is when you see some of the reports trotted out on networks like Fox (Breitbart is presumably full of it) with millions of people more than happy to believe it.

The only "bright" spot this week may have been the death of Zhirinowski who was invaluable to Putin because he was even more extreme. But after a lifetime of service to Mother Russia and, even after 7 alleged COVID vaccinations, he died of COIVD.