ISU Statement on Russia's war against Ukraine - Participation in international competitions of Skaters and Officials from Russia and Belarus

[tmari]

Crimea was largely bloodless and not entirely unsupported from within. The world has seen enough borders redrawn within the last thirty years. One more didn’t feel like much, considering there was no visible pain involved.

Tell that to the families of the Tatars and other Crimeans who just "disappeared"...

Unlike Germany, Moscow has never had to face any consequences for its crimes against humanity and now you're upset because the West is finally, after massive loss of human life, doing the bare minimum for Russia's victims?
Stalin, whom Putin openly admires, killed over 20 million people. Before you say that Russia is not responsible for the Soviet Union's crimes: Russia is the self-declared successor state of the Soviet Union.

See Holodomor, genocide by deliberate starvation, resulting in the deaths of millions of Ukrainians and Kazakhs.
And then Stalin's pact with Hitler, leading to WWII and the deaths of millions more. Invasions of:
Poland
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
and so on.
Deportation of these peoples and many others from their homelands (see Crimean Tatars), half of whom died during these "deportations".

Let's not forget:
Afghanistan
Czechoslovakia
Hungary
Chechnya
Georgia
Ukraine, in 2014
Syria

That's not even taking into account all the people killed across Europe and Asia as a result of the Russian Empire's colonialism.

How many more genocides should Russia be allowed to perpetrate without consequences?

Instead of having to atone for its crimes like Germany, Russia was molly-coddled and treated like the injured party after some of its colonies managed to break free. It never acknowledged its crimes against the countries it colonized and instead pretended to be a victim of the evil West.

It chose to continue making threats and demanding the right to control who they are allowed to be friends with. And instead of supporting the victims, many in the West were in fact arguing that these countries' rights should be restricted to assuage their former overlords' hurt feelings.

The American Pundits Who Can’t Resist “Westsplaining” Ukraine

John Mearsheimer and other foreign policy figures are treating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine like a game of Risk.

newrepublic.com

English-language article in a Polish newspaper which discusses how many in the West treat Russia's neighbours as without agency, parroting Kremlin propaganda:

Wyborcza.pl

wyborcza.pl

And you believe Russia is being mistreated?

 

[Nadya]

Tell that to the families of the Tatars and other Crimeans who just "disappeared"...

Unlike Germany, Moscow has never had to face any consequences for its crimes against humanity and now you're upset because the West is finally, after massive loss of human life, doing the bare minimum for Russia's victims?
Stalin, whom Putin openly admires, killed over 20 million people. Before you say that Russia is not responsible for the Soviet Union's crimes: Russia is the self-declared successor state of the Soviet Union.

See Holodomor, genocide by deliberate starvation, resulting in the deaths of millions of Ukrainians and Kazakhs.
And then Stalin's pact with Hitler, leading to WWII and the deaths of millions more. Invasions of:
Poland
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
and so on.
Deportation of these peoples and many others from their homelands (see Crimean Tatars), half of whom died during these "deportations".

Let's not forget:
Afghanistan
Czechoslovakia
Hungary
Chechnya
Georgia
Ukraine, in 2014
Syria

That's not even taking into account all the people killed across Europe and Asia as a result of the Russian Empire's colonialism.

How many more genocides should Russia be allowed to perpetrate without consequences?

Instead of having to atone for its crimes like Germany, Russia was molly-coddled and treated like the injured party after some of its colonies managed to break free. It never acknowledged its crimes against the countries it colonized and instead pretended to be a victim of the evil West.

It chose to continue making threats and demanding the right to control who they are allowed to be friends with. And instead of supporting the victims, many in the West were in fact arguing that these countries' rights should be restricted to assuage their former overlords' hurt feelings.

The American Pundits Who Can’t Resist “Westsplaining” Ukraine

John Mearsheimer and other foreign policy figures are treating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine like a game of Risk.

newrepublic.com

English-language article in a Polish newspaper which discusses how many in the West treat Russia's neighbours as without agency, parroting Kremlin propaganda:

Wyborcza.pl

wyborcza.pl

And you believe Russia is being mistreated?

You're speaking to voices in your head.

 

[Nadya]

I don't think that's true. Plenty of Americans are very critical of their government, some vehemently so.

Americans are allowed to say things that immigrants aren't. If you haven't experienced what I'm describing, I would just say, with all my kindness, that you're not familiar with the immigrant experience in the U.S. There is an unspoken social contract around it, and the constant readiness to fall on your knees and praise the lord you're here is part of the deal.

 

[Fairuza]

You're speaking to voices in your head.

and you keep saying the same thing over and over again, without bothering to read.
So it remains to be seen who really is speaking to ”voices in their heads”

 

[Frau Muller]

Tell that to the families of the Tatars and other Crimeans who just "disappeared"...

Unlike Germany, Moscow has never had to face any consequences for its crimes against humanity and now you're upset because the West is finally, after massive loss of human life, doing the bare minimum for Russia's victims?
Stalin, whom Putin openly admires, killed over 20 million people. Before you say that Russia is not responsible for the Soviet Union's crimes: Russia is the self-declared successor state of the Soviet Union.

See Holodomor, genocide by deliberate starvation, resulting in the deaths of millions of Ukrainians and Kazakhs.
And then Stalin's pact with Hitler, leading to WWII and the deaths of millions more. Invasions of:
Poland
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
and so on.
Deportation of these peoples and many others from their homelands (see Crimean Tatars), half of whom died during these "deportations".

Let's not forget:
Afghanistan
Czechoslovakia
Hungary
Chechnya
Georgia
Ukraine, in 2014
Syria

That's not even taking into account all the people killed across Europe and Asia as a result of the Russian Empire's colonialism.

How many more genocides should Russia be allowed to perpetrate without consequences?

Instead of having to atone for its crimes like Germany, Russia was molly-coddled and treated like the injured party after some of its colonies managed to break free. It never acknowledged its crimes against the countries it colonized and instead pretended to be a victim of the evil West.

It chose to continue making threats and demanding the right to control who they are allowed to be friends with. And instead of supporting the victims, many in the West were in fact arguing that these countries' rights should be restricted to assuage their former overlords' hurt feelings.

The American Pundits Who Can’t Resist “Westsplaining” Ukraine

John Mearsheimer and other foreign policy figures are treating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine like a game of Risk.

newrepublic.com

English-language article in a Polish newspaper which discusses how many in the West treat Russia's neighbours as without agency, parroting Kremlin propaganda:

Wyborcza.pl

wyborcza.pl

And you believe Russia is being mistreated?

Exactly! Remember what I wrote about the long-time mistreatment & mocking of Caucasus peoples as “Blacks” (“Chorny”), which some idiots here mocked as being untrue.
#ChornyLivesMatter !

 

[Vagabond]

Welcome to FSU, @tmari!

 

[BlueRidge]

@tmari thank you for the link to the New Republic article, that is absolutely vital

The American Pundits Who Can’t Resist “Westsplaining” Ukraine

John Mearsheimer and other foreign policy figures are treating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine like a game of Risk.

newrepublic.com

 

[Nadya]

It chose to continue making threats and demanding the right to control who they are allowed to be friends with.

Let's just say the field of countries telling Ukraine who should run it is not limited to Russia, is it.

Ukraine crisis: Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call

A transcript of the alleged conversation between Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the US ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt discussing the crisis in Ukraine.

www.bbc.com

Nuland: Good. I don't think Klitsch should go into the government. I don't think it's necessary, I don't think it's a good idea.

Pyatt: Yeah. I guess... in terms of him not going into the government, just let him stay out and do his political homework and stuff. I'm just thinking in terms of sort of the process moving ahead we want to keep the moderate democrats together. The problem is going to be Tyahnybok [Oleh Tyahnybok, the other opposition leader] and his guys and I'm sure that's part of what [President Viktor] Yanukovych is calculating on all this.

Nuland: [Breaks in] I think Yats is the guy who's got the economic experience, the governing experience. He's the... what he needs is Klitsch and Tyahnybok on the outside. He needs to be talking to them four times a week, you know. I just think Klitsch going in... he's going to be at that level working for Yatseniuk, it's just not going to work.

 

[Vagabond]

@tmari thank you for the link to the New Republic article, that is absolutely vital

The American Pundits Who Can’t Resist “Westsplaining” Ukraine

John Mearsheimer and other foreign policy figures are treating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine like a game of Risk.

newrepublic.com

Eys. This bit particularly struck a chord with me:

The result is that hard-nosed realists see the world not as it is but as it appears in their theories

That's the whole problem with realists, innit?

 

[allezfred]

Bringing it back to why Russia is banned.

Skate Ukraine on Instagram: "Ковзанка «Салтівський лід» у Харкові сьогодні 😢 Подарунок від росії."

1,670 likes, 106 comments - skateukraineorg on April 21, 2022: "Ковзанка «Салтівський лід» у Харкові сьогодні 😢 Подарунок від росії.".

www.instagram.com

The Russian government has destroyed skating in Ukraine. I do not want to see Russian skaters compete again until reparations are made.

 

[zoe111]

Bringing it back to why Russia is banned.

Skate Ukraine on Instagram: "Ковзанка «Салтівський лід» у Харкові сьогодні 😢 Подарунок від росії."

1,670 likes, 106 comments - skateukraineorg on April 21, 2022: "Ковзанка «Салтівський лід» у Харкові сьогодні 😢 Подарунок від росії.".

www.instagram.com

The Russian government has destroyed skating in Ukraine. I do not want to see Russian skaters compete again until reparations are made.

Same

 

[airgelaal]

Bringing it back to why Russia is banned.

Skate Ukraine on Instagram: "Ковзанка «Салтівський лід» у Харкові сьогодні 😢 Подарунок від росії."

1,670 likes, 106 comments - skateukraineorg on April 21, 2022: "Ковзанка «Салтівський лід» у Харкові сьогодні 😢 Подарунок від росії.".

www.instagram.com

The Russian government has destroyed skating in Ukraine. I do not want to see Russian skaters compete again until reparations are made.

Plushenko should be invited here with his show. He's very supportive of his president, isn't he? And let the skaters also tell on this show that sport is out of politics.

 

[Pink Cats]

I think before people come down to heavily on individual Russians remember they do face up to a 15 year jail term for speaking out against the War.

 

[airgelaal]

I think before people come down to heavily on individual Russians remember they do face up to a 15 year jail term for speaking out against the War.

I don’t know a single public person who would end up in prison. There are not many of them who oppose, but they are. They remain in Russia and continue to oppose.
Maybe you should start to assume that they either support, or they don't care what happens in Ukraine. I'm sure it's closer to the truth.

 

[airgelaal]

Figure skating in Mariupol now is like this. Master class from russian army

https://twitter.com/sanitar01/status/1517049679476887552

 

[MacMadame]

Eys. This bit particularly struck a chord with me:

That's the whole problem with realists, innit?

This is what struck me:

When talking about people who make the argument that Ukraine shouldn't be in NATO because it upsets Russia:

In other words, Eastern European countries should recognize their status as second-class citizens in the community of states and accept their geopolitical role as neutral buffers at the edges of the vestiges of the American and Russian empires.

and when talking about American commentators who frame the whole conflict as being about NATO expansion:

Paradoxically, the problem with American exceptionalism is that even those who challenge its foundational tenets and heap scorn on American militarism often end up recreating American exceptionalism by centering the United States in their analyses of international relations.

 

[Pink Cats]

I don’t know a single public person who would end up in prison. There are not many of them who oppose, but they are. They remain in Russia and continue to oppose.
Maybe you should start to assume that they either support, or they don't care what happens in Ukraine. I'm sure it's closer to the truth.

At least 15,000 people in Russia had been arrest for protesting against the war in Ukraine.

 

[airgelaal]

At least 15,000 people in Russia had been arrest for protesting against the war in Ukraine.

And how many of them are famous people? Even a journalist with a poster on TV is not in prison.

 

[airgelaal]

By the way, Shcherbakova is not in quarantine. Someone still knows how to refuse meetings with the president.

 

[Vagabond]

This is what struck me:

When talking about people who make the argument that Ukraine shouldn't be in NATO because it upsets Russia:

and when talking about American commentators who frame the whole conflict as being about NATO expansion:

We had one of those people posting in PI back in January and February. She's quite the conservative, too.

 

[cholla]

Figure skating in Mariupol now is like this. Master class from russian army

https://twitter.com/sanitar01/status/1517049679476887552

Tank driven by Katsalapov? His kind of twizzles

More seriously, what's happening there is an abomination. Russian army's knows only one way: destroying everything in its path and leaving only dead bodies and ashes. We're back to the Ancient Times with Barbarians erasing people and cities from the face of the Earth. What have humans become? Or more exactly, is there still human beings on this planet and why can't they stop this?

 

[Tesla]

At least 15,000 people in Russia had been arrest for protesting against the war in Ukraine.

And are alive.

 

[airgelaal]

NOC's of russia and belorus decided to meet and talk about common problems: the politicization of sports, suspensions from international competitions, and so one. Various athletes from both countries were invited, including figure skaters Stanislava Konstantinova and Alexander Samarin

Спортсмены России и Беларуси обсудят политизацию мирового спорта на рабочей встрече в Минске — Олимпийский комитет России

Of course, only in russia and belarus sport is out of politics.

 

[allezfred]

I think before people come down to heavily on individual Russians remember they do face up to a 15 year jail term for speaking out against the War.

It’s one thing not speaking out, but it’s another to actively cheerlead for war like Plushenko and other skaters have done.

 

[Bouffantrex]

Bringing it back to why Russia is banned.

Skate Ukraine on Instagram: "Ковзанка «Салтівський лід» у Харкові сьогодні 😢 Подарунок від росії."

1,670 likes, 106 comments - skateukraineorg on April 21, 2022: "Ковзанка «Салтівський лід» у Харкові сьогодні 😢 Подарунок від росії.".

www.instagram.com

The Russian government has destroyed skating in Ukraine. I do not want to see Russian skaters compete again until reparations are made.

This. Absolutely zero desire to see Russia in international competition anytime soon. Like years. The Russians can keep competing against each other in shitty domestic events. Have fun.

 

[caseyedwards]

Reparations By the skaters or just the government

 

[Bouffantrex]

Reparations By the skaters or just the government

The skaters, of course. I still expect Adam Rippon to provide reparations to Ross Miner for theft of his rightful 2018 Olympics spot.

 

[MacMadame]

NOC's of russia and belorus decided to meet and talk about common problems: the politicization of sports, suspensions from international competitions, and so one. Various athletes from both countries were invited, including figure skaters Stanislava Konstantinova and Alexander Samarin

Спортсмены России и Беларуси обсудят политизацию мирового спорта на рабочей встрече в Минске — Олимпийский комитет России

Of course, only in russia and belarus sport is out of politics.

The link didn't work. (Maybe because of the translation?) Did Konstantinova and Samarin show up?

 

[airgelaal]

The link didn't work. (Maybe because of the translation?) Did Konstantinova and Samarin show up?

Maybe because the website is banned (official page of NOC of russia ). I need to use vpn to have access to many russian websites.
The meeting is scheduled for April 27th. Participants from Russia are Olympic champions and medalists. Konstantinova and Samarin somehow do not fit well into this company

 

[Pink Cats]

It’s one thing not speaking out, but it’s another to actively cheerlead for war like Plushenko and other skaters have done.

I agree with you but from what I have read these cheerleaders are in the minority.