Liberalism: A Counter-History

You came in here repeating right-wing talking points. I didn’t put any words in your mouth, you said them yourself.

I do read between the lines, and you know what else I do? Study history, and the material basis behind world events, especially war. The US was lying about WMD, it was always a way to privatize oil after creating a failed state. Russia has consistently for decades opposed NATO expansion, to the point of signing the Minsk agreements that Ukraine violated and said they never intended on honoring in the first place.

In the Donbass region, where the majority is ethnically Russian, the Kiev government has been shelling and murdering the breakaway republics for a decade. The reason they broke away was because of language suppression, and the Euromaidan coup that overthrew the president they supported and installed the far-right Banderite government. Russia tried to resolve this peacefully with the Minsk agreements, which ultimately failed, and then decided to invade at the request of the LPR and DPR for foreign support.

Why does Russia want to do this? To stop NATO encirclement! Since the Cold War, NATO has had nukes pointed right at Moscow, and they never let up. Not even after the USSR dissolved and Putin tried to join NATO! How could this have been prevented? By NATO stopping its expansion! Simple as. Russia did not invade “because it wants Ukrainian stuff,” it invaded because it wants a secure border, and Ukraine was the path the Nazis took when invading Russia in World War II, as its the easiest path.

You’re right, you aren’t an expert. Neither am I. The very fact that you only listen to the US-narrative when you admit they lied about WMD means you’re in no position to immediately ignore perspectives that conflict with your current understanding.

Yep, actual legendary heroine shit.

Do you often start discussions by loudly proclaiming that you haven’t done any research but fully agree with the right-wing?

Should all misinformation be allowed to stay? Should right-wing, western narratives be unchallenged? No investigation, no right to speak.

No, Russia did not invade “because Russia wants Ukraine’s stuff.” Do you have any idea about the background of the war? About the relationship between the USSR and NATO, the dissolution of the USSR and how that impacted NATO/Russian relations, the 2014 Euromaidan coup, the declaration of secession of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics and the ensuing war with Kiev? Of the NATO buildup in Ukraine over the last 2 decades? The sabotage of the Minsk agreements? The rise of Banderites and the takeover of nationalists?

Russia wants full demillitarization of Ukraine, which is why they want the 4 oblasts, where the majority of people are ethnically Russian and support the invasion, as a sort of “buffer-zone,” as well as certification that Ukraine won’t be allowed into NATO. This entire thing could have been avoided if NATO kept to their word and didn’t continue to encircle Russia for the last few decades.

If Russia wants “Ukraine’s stuff,” why did they invade when they did, why do they specifically want the 4 oblasts, and why only Ukraine? Your narrative makes no coherent sense, yet it’s the reason you dismiss other narratives uncritically.

That didn’t answer either question, though. Why do you think the war started? How could it have been avoided?

Skip to the section “defectors.” Essentially, information on the DPRK is hard to verify, and 70% of defectors are unemployed, so many turn to selling sensationalized stories that are more fantasy than reality in order to make a living. See Yeonmi Park for perhaps the most famous “celebrity defector.”

The authenticity of her claims about life in North Korea – many of which have contradicted her earlier stories and those of both her mother and fellow defectors from North Korea – have been the subject of widespread skepticism. Political commentators, journalists and professors of Korean studies have criticized Park’s accounts of life in North Korea for inconsistencies,[8][9][10] contradictory claims, and exaggerations.[11][12][1] Other North Korean defectors, including those from the same city as Park, have expressed concern that the tendency for “celebrity defectors” to exaggerate about life in North Korea will produce skepticism about their stories.[13][14] In 2014, The Diplomat published an investigation by journalist Mary Ann Jolley, who had previously worked with Park, documenting numerous inconsistencies in Park’s memories and descriptions of life in Korea.[13] In July 2023, a Washington Post investigation found there was little truth to Park’s claims about life in North Korea.[3] Park attributed the discrepancies to her imperfect memory and language skills,[3][13] and her autobiography’s coauthor, Maryanne Vollers, said Park was the victim of a North Korean smear campaign.[15]

These are both just Wikipedia, you can find way more elsewhere why defectors aren’t a good source of information on the DPRK. Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang in Seoul is a good documentary on the horrible treatment of defectors in the Republic of Korea and why the celebrity defector industry exists.

This is at least expressed in a new format, the same old “checks instance” bit is extremely reddit-like behavior.

Why do you think the war in Ukraine started? How could it have been avoided?

I exhaled through my nose. Maybe not laugh-out-loud, but it was funny enough to upvote.

Yes, I guess so. As for Marxism-Leninism, it’s a tool for working class liberation and a frame of analysis, not really a construct.

Liberalism cannot align with socialism, they are diametrically opposed. Liberalism supports private property while socialism supports public ownership of property. Social Democracy is a subset of liberalism. “Modern liberalism” is just maintaining capitalism.

Liberalism is the ideological justification for capitalism. Outside of that, any “principles” it holds are purely in service of uplifting private property rights, any positive movement attributed to liberalism can only really be expressed in opposition to feudalism and other more backwards modes of production, or as dragged into progressive movement by the working class. I’m not a Trump supporter, I’m a communist.

The PRC and Russian Federation don’t financially dominate Africa. For the PRC, it’s because they don’t have a domination of their econlmy by private financial capital, they have a socialist market economy. The PRC stands to gain more from mutual benefit, especially since developing others improves trade circulation and provides more customers for goods they produce. Even ignoring ideological reasons like being Marxist-Leninists, they lack the economic compulsion.

For Russia, it’s because they outright lack the financial capital to participate. Russia, for all of its productive capacity, fell dramatically from their heights as the Soviet Union. Russia needs to offer more favorable trades, as they cannot rely on the sheer overwhelming financial power the west has. As a capitalist country, it has every reason to want to be imperialist, but it can’t, and as such it is forced to strategically align itself with socialist countries and against western imperialism. Further, KPRF membership is skyrocketing, meaning a return to socialism is legitimately increasing.

That’s a matter of perspective, if it opens up the conversation to tangential subjects, ie me saying Marxism-Leninism has helped, then it’s still a useful conversation starter. Depends on what you want to get out of this post.

I explained more here, but leftists oppose NATO because NATO is the millitary alliance of the world’s imperialist powers. This group of countries uses this alliance to prevent the global south from going against it and liberating themselved from foreign plunder via overwhelming financial domination. The way imperialism tends to work in the modern day is countries like the US, France, Germany, UK, etc expropriate vast wealth from countries in the global south, similar to how capitalists steal value created by the working class.

Correct, the genocidal US Empire far-outscales the problems with the Russian Federation, and it isn’t close. The US Empire is the world’s hegemon and absolutely plunders the global south, couping, sanctioning, invading, and genociding those who go against that system of plunder.

Kinda? Predictions aren’t a binary, often times I get more aspects correct but details wrong. The future isn’t knowable, but reasonable and accurate predictions can be made.