GloriousDoubleK

Yugopnik might be my spirit commie though.

He talks like he's a cousin who would call you an idiot but would undoubtly have your back in a scrap.

Like Warhammer lore is digestible because it's very self aware that it's ridiculous.

Battletech unfortunately is really self serious. The different houses of the Inner Sphere are basically a rough sketch of what a redditor thinks America, Europe, Russia, and China are and Japan.

Then you have the clans who are basically exiled nazis with a handful of quirky social progressive quirks.

This. Is a shame because Battletech and MechWarrior are really cool.

But the understanding of states of any stripe is basically what a redditor thinks if they were also from the 80s.

I think I would appreciate sci fi that werent blisteringly inaccurate and vulgar appropriations of real modern day states. God damn.

Free education -Soviet Union, China, Cuba, Vietnam

15% wage for rent - Soviet Union

Land Redistribution (Landback?) - Cuba, China, Soviet Union

Unions - Soviet Union, Cuba, China, Vietnam, DPRK

Free natural disaster reconstruction - DPRK

State of the art public transit - China

No electricity bill -Gaddafi Libya

No interest loans - Gaddafi Libya

On work site medical care - Soviet Union

Pre employment unemployment UBI - Gaddafi Libya

We can go on and on and on and on and on.

If one is an "anti tankie", then it must follow that one must be against these kinds of policies.

Progressives and leftists DREAM of having these things. But they're committed to being against the tankies.

They have yet to demonstrate how the masses are supposed to get these benefits by negotiating and appealing to the good graces of capitalists.

But they're TERRIFIED at the prospect that the people.may do these exact things AT GUNPOINT. As if they know those guns are meant for them.

Her videos are really nice.

I have a partner in my polycule relationship that is going to date someone from Ukraine. 😒

I have a problem. I can respect that ANY Ukrainian is likely pissed about the Donbas war and the Russian SMO.

I dont know this man. And Im already disgusted with myself for being prejudiced.

My partner is a socially progressive liberal. And they once tried taking me to task about China once before.

I told them it was best we never talked global politics.

But I will absolutely 100% lose my entire shit if my partner starts going openly rah rah for Ukraine.

My partner says they love and adore me. But they dont have a deep appreciation of me being a Tankie and they deserve to know. They deserve to understand or at least know who I am.

I cant abide a lover living in a lie and giving their love on a misunderstanding.

How do I approach this diplomatically and in good faith? Because Im probably gonna have to meet this guy and frankly... He is a Ukrainian in the US. Im being prejudiced; but I am automatically expecting this guy to obviously be against Russia and at best; reactionarily supporting Azov and Banderites simply because they're the ones fighting.

I was thinking about that point that people bring up about military spending with the US and Im getting suspicious that the actual money spent on the US military is a mirage suggesting a capability that far far surpasses the capabilities of the next 10 near peers of the USA.

Something just doesnt add up.

The US has spent trillions on its military yet NATO and the US is having a tough time making the fight against Russia trivial.

If the money spent is any indication of capability; then it follows that besting Russia in Ukraine should be trivial. But that is not the case.

You see... I can understand designing weapons in order to kill and win wars which Im sure that is the principles of Russian and Chinese philosophy in warfare.

But what if the US is doing that... But also allowing the profit motive to have a say? Im starting to think that the USA is blowing money on overvalued systems that are AT BEST, MAYBE a tiny bit more effective than the oppositions' weapons.

It aint like Ukraine was short of capable fighters with covert NATO training and backing.

For all the trillions spent on NATO; Ukraine should have settled this conflict months ago. Ukraine should have defeated the Donbas rebellion before it could even find its footing.

For real though. What the fuck? Is the west genuinely a paper tiger in the most real sense?

Consider also colonial projects like Isntreal. With all their backing from the US; they havent managed to just bulldoze Palestine into the phantom realm. They STILL have to put in effort.

It's just very strange... The realities don't match up with the money or the talk.

The only way it makes sense is if the west develops weapons for profit first and foremost, which doesnt always mean the highest quality.

So you are a lib. You care about women. You care about LGBTQ. You care about minorities. Fine.

Questions. Do YOU specifically command the US military and NATO militaries? No. Do they fight like you want them to fight? No. How many women or trans people or queer people have they liberated with their bombs? Or did they just... End lives of civilians indiscriminately?

If you stop supporting NATO and American militarism, then potentially, reactionary forces that cant POSSIBLY muster the amount of destruction like the USA may rise. This may blunt social progressive things... But like how you cant command the US army, neither can you convince or control how other countries forge their futures if they had peace from imperialism.

If you are a human rights lib; you have no reason to support NATO. All they do is kill women, queer folks, and children and sometimes reactionary men.

You dont have to have opinions on other countries. NATO is not a civilizing force and you dont have the power to make that the case. If you are a human rights lib, then it's okay to disavow NATO and the USA. You cant shoulder the responsibility of inaction since the only means of REAL critique and influence against other countries is sanctions or military intervention... Neither of which gives you or the people you pretend to care about the freedom you want or the safety. Only the dissolution of colonialism is it even REMOTELY possible that human rights can begin to be realized at all.