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Please, when you see something written in Cyrillic, don't assume right away that it's russian. Russian is not the only language that uses Cyrillic. There are also Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Serbian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Mongolian.

It's a sensitive topic especially for us Ukrainians because russian language is a weapon. It's a colonial language, it's presented like one and only true slavic language, it erases and replaces other languages. Belarusian is literally on the verge of extinction because of russian. Ukrainian has been banned 134 times throughout history, it is still called a "village language", a dialect of russian. Russian colonialism is literally the reason why there are so many russian speaking people in Ukraine (I was one of them btw). Ukrainian is banned on russian occupied territories and people are getting in trouble or even killed for using it there, Ukrainian POWs in russian captivity are getting brutally beaten for speaking Ukrainian.

Like okay, I can get why there's this confusion, so here's a clue to understand that the language you're looking at definitely is not russian — the letter і. If you see ї (like i but with two dots) it's 100% Ukrainian. If you see j it's Serbian. Russian alphabet also doesn't have such letters as Ђ, Љ, Њ, Ў, Џ (dont confuse with Ц ). Yes, it's not always gonna be easy to detect that the language in front of you is not russian, but when you have trouble with it just ask or run it through any translation app and it'll probably tell you the language.

Hope this will be helpful.

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Don't believe Russian narratives ever

Their ability to whitewash themselves should be studied scientifically. This could be a scientific paper worth more than one volume. 

And at the same time, it is a representation of good Russians. Opposition. Whining that their "boys" are poorly equipped. This is the only thing they know how to do. And, of course, banging on pots. Pathetic human trash but not a nation. 

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Oleksandra Kostetska, widow of a fallen Ukrainian soldier Kostyantyn Miroshnichenko, did a photoshoot with the same photographer who took their pictures as a couple.

"I will show you my new reality. As a widow. Igor Yefimov, you started photographing us as a couple at the beginning of our relationship, now you have taken the end for me. Mirosh [Kostyantyn's military call sign] taught me a lot, now the last lesson is to live without him and remain strong. But it's hard without his warmth/smile/laughter/hugs/bedtime talks, and my favorite, running my fingers across his cheeks and stroking his beard. I love, but now I am not loved".

Source

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The Cowards of our Age

So Pope Francis recently gave an interview where he called upon Ukraine to have the "bravery" to wave the white flag. I wonder if he would have also cheered on Nazi Germany as it steamrolled across Europe 75 years ago?

Let's look at the parallels:

In the aftermath of World War 1, the victorious allies formed the League of Nations in 1920 to prevent armed conflict through collective security, military, and naval disarmament, as well as settling international disputes through peaceful negotiations and arbitration (sound familiar?)

The idea was to build a new world order based around peaceful settlement of differences, and an end to the imperialism that had dominated the world prior (sound familiar?)

Of course, not all nations were on-board with this new anti-imperialist agenda, notably Germany, Russia, Japan, and Italy.

After the German army entered and annexed Austria in 1938, the West remained largely silent. Encouraged by their inaction, Hitler began threatening Czechoslovakia, claiming that they were oppressing the German speakers in the Sudetenland (sound familiar?) and that he would be "forced" to invade in order to save them. The UK and France entered the Munich Agreement with Germany, ceding Czechoslovak territory - against their wishes - in order to avoid war.

For modern parallels, see the Minsk agreements of 2014, whereby the West pushed Ukraine into ceding territory to Russia in exchange for security guarantees (which Russia then promptly violated).

Of course, appeasing an imperialist merely encourages them, and predictably Germany demanded even more territory from Czechoslovakia - resulting in the First Vienna Award that gave it to Hungary. In 1939, Germany invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia in violation of the Munich Agreement and then issued an ultimatum to Lithuania, demanding territory.

With Germany now about to start openly threatening Poland, the UK and France pledged their support for Polish independence (later extended to support Greece and Romania).

Meanwhile, Germany and Russia formed the Molotov-Ribbentov pact, in which they secretly carved up Europe to share between themselves after conquest.

Hitler then accused the UK and Poland of attempting to "encircle" Germany (just like Russia accuses the West of attempting to encircle them) and renounced its non-aggression agreements with both countries. When Germany invaded Poland, many Western countries declared war on Germany, but in fact did nothing (this is known as the Phoney War). Unwilling to commit actual troops, Western support was limited to weapons and words (sound familiar?).

After signing a ceasefire agreement with Japan, Russia invaded Poland as well (as per the Molotov-Ribbentop pact). Germany annexed western Poland and Russia annexed eastern Poland. And the West did nothing.

The USSR then began threatening Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, forcing them to sign pacts to allow Soviet military bases in their countries. Then, the USSR invaded Finland. Shortly after, Germany imposed the Second Vienna Award, which carved up Romania (and again, their allies in the west did nothing but talk, despite their guarantees to preserve Romanian independence).

Encouraged by Western inaction, in 1940 Germany invaded Denmark and Norway. And then France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. And then the real killing began.

Finally, Neville Chamberlain resigned (good riddance to the coward) and was replaced by Winston Churchill, who knew how to deal with a bully.

What these "peace cowards" don't understand is that you can't negotiate with a bully. A bully only understands force; in their eyes, talk is the tool of the weak, and rewards only go to the men of action. The West tried again and again to talk their way out of it, ceding territory, turning a blind eye to countries that flagrantly flouted the world order, all in the name of "saving lives". After the dust had settled, what could have been stopped at a cost of a few hundred thousand dead ballooned into 60 MILLION dead and 5 years of misery.

If you're wondering why everything's going to shit in 2023-2024 with Yemen, Israel, Iran, North Korea and China, it's because they all can sense this Western weakness and are taking full advantage.

The Poles, of course, remember what Russia and Germany did to them, and their "allies" that abandoned them. That's why Poland recently upped their military spending to 4% and will bring it even higher in the next few years. They know from experience that they can't count on their allies, and that NATO is likely a paper-only treaty. And so does Putin.

You think NATO will keep you safe? Guess again.

So whenever I see Western "leaders" talking about how they're "saving lives" in the name of peace, I can but give a hollow laugh. World War 3 could have been prevented last year, but no longer. We're about to see destruction and misery the likes of which the world has never seen.

And it's all our own damn fault. Again.

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They are just bros being bros.

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I am getting so fucking frustrated hearing "the Russian people shouldnt be punished for the actions of their government." And sympathy for the Russian teenage soldiers who have mandatory military service requirements and are now being sent to fight and die in a war they technically didn't sign up for. And telling ppl not to boycott American businesses run by Russian immigrants because "the babushka selling piroshki in New York didn't make Putin invade Ukraine." Even the Russians still on Russia's side (as long as they aren't athletes or oligarchs), they're "victims of propaganda" and being given sympathy over sanctions that may ruin their lives.

Like, the fact that y'all can understand how this works when it comes to Russia and Russians but not apply that same sympathy to Israeli citizens and the Jewish diaspora is pure antisemitism. You've all now admitted that you know and understand that boycotting an American Jewish deli doesn't actually do anything for or have any bearing on Israel's government, but y'all continue to do it anyway. You continue to call Gal Gadot a murderer for serving mandatory military service as a fitness instructor who never once saw battle but excuse Russian troops on the front lines for killing Ukrainians because it's a mandatory draft. You feel sympathy for average Russians losing money due to sanctions but support BDS, which generally boycotts private businesses and therefore takes money from average citizens and not the Israeli government itself. Hell, y'all even seem to understand how propaganda and western sanctions may turn some Russians away from the west and cause them to support Putin but you don't see how deeply pushed state propaganda on both sides is fueling the conflict in the Levant?

I'm so fucking over the double standard. So over it. Your antisemitism is showing and you better fucking pull your heads out of your asses and work on it when international attention inevitably turns back to I/P. Because now I have receipts that y'all understand exactly how this shit works and you just decide to ignore it to punish Jewish people.

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Russian culture is genocide

Don't forget about Ukrainian POWs. They come back to Ukraine and look like bones and skin. When we must pay for Russian prisoners to live in normal conditions. Please keep spreading our voices and remind the world.

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[Philippa of England] was King Henry’s seventh child, born at Leicester, July 4th, 1394,* and her mother had died in giving her birth. Her sister, Blanche, was then two years old, and the two little things were taken to Bytham Castle, near Corby, in Lincolnshire, under the charge of a nurse named Maud. Here their father visited them in July, 1395, and some clothes were brought down from London to smarten them up to meet him. A few months later, they were taken up to London to spend their Christmas with him. In 1397, they were with their brother Humphrey at Eaton Tregoes on the Wye, near Ross, and were moved about between Bytham, Hertford, and Tutbury, under the charge of Kate Puncherdon and Mary Rodes, who did their heads and managed for them now that their mother was gone; and we know how much was paid for their black gowns with the white sleeves, their chaplets of crimson and white taffeta and red tartrin, and how they were dressed in damask baudekin of white silk and red Cyprus for Christmastide. When their father went into exile, they were left in the care of Hugh Waterton, at Eaton Tregoes, with their brother Humphrey, where a chaplain was to say mass daily with them for their mother’s soul. A clerk named Thomas Rothwell was to instruct the little Humphrey, and Kate Puncherdon bought their shoes and got black suits for them from London when their grandfather died. The Wardrobe Accounts for the same year (1399), show that the two girls required no less than 18,529 miniver wombs, 4,540 weasels backs, and 1,531 ermine beasts to find them in pellure for their dresses and shoes, though this may include the liveries of the mistress, the four damsels, the four chambermaids, and the Master in Philosophy, who lived with them and formed their household. In 1402, Blanche left England to be married, and the sisters never met again.

James Hamilton Wylie, “Lady Philippa” in History of England Under Henry the Fourth, Volume 2

* Philippa was the sixth. Wylie is counting the mythical short-lived son born around 1382 in his tally. Mary died on 1 July 1394, so Philippa must have been born on or before this date.

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Blanche's chaplain was Master John South, her damsel was Mary Scales, her waiting woman was called Cecily, and the names of her two henchmen, her carver, cup-bearer, and cook-for-the-mouth are all known. All these went with her to Heidelberg, together with English varlets for her pantry, buttery, vintry, and wardrobe, the rest of the retinue returning to Harwich by July 26th, 1402. It is clear that such a match gave no guarantee in itself of a happy home for Blanche, and Rupert had recently informed the French King that he had only arranged it because the Court at Paris had refused to let him have a French Princess for his son. ... In Sep., 1402, the pleasant castle of Germersheim near Spires was made over to her as part of her dower ; and as Louis was Bailiff of Alsace, it is likely that they spent much of their time there. But beyond the fact that she yielded official precedence to her husband we know no more of her till the news reached England that she had died ... on May 22nd, 1409.

James Hamilton Wylie, “The Shadow of Death" in History of England Under Henry the Fourth, Volume 3

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The idea that Mary de Bohun was not politically active or engaged is not just that it overestimates how old she was (probably only 23 or 24 when she died) or ignores/neglects the evidence of her being part of a political network but it also, imho, overestimates the extent to which her husband was politically active. Because, yes, he was politically active, but he wasn't a major political player. He was a junior member of the Lords Appellant and junior to his father on the political stage, falling into line with John of Gaunt's policies.

Also, Mary was pregnant or recovering from giving birth for a lot of her short adult life and we know that women's power was soft power, playing out on the edges of the historical record. Additionally, even if Mary was uninterested in politics or had no knowledge of political things (which I doubt, really, since we have evidence - albeit limited - of her networking with major political players or their wives), it doesn't actually follow that she was stupid or ignorant or "just a broodmare".

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Eleanor [de Bohun]’s last act was a piece of devotional theater—almost, but not quite, as dramatic as the obsequies of her brother-in-law, John of Gaunt. In her will, before she divides her books among her children, she specifies that on the day of her burial her body should be “covered with a black cloth with a white cross and an escutcheon of my arms in the middle of the said cross, with four tapers round it, and four full mortars being at the corners.” She naturally designates that masses be said for her soul and for the soul of her late husband, but she then indicates that at each mass, “before the priest commences ‘et ne nos’ he pronounces with a loud voice, turning towards the people, ‘For the soul of Thomas, sometime duke of Gloucester, and Alianore his wife, and all Christian souls, for charity paternoster.’” While there is nothing unusual about her intention of being publicly remembered through a mass, her will is nonetheless marked by her determination that the duke and duchess of Gloucester be publicly identified by their piety and by their station.

Lynn Staley, Languages of Power in the Age of Richard II (2004)

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Deeana Copeland Klepper, “The Ingressus Ludwici Palantini Reni ad terram sanctam: A fifteenth-century response to spiritual crisis”, Fifteenth Century Studies, vol. 15, 1989

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unpopular opinion but: 

Humphrey’s abandonment of Jacqueline had less to do with him being distracted by his boner for Eleanor but more about the fuckery that was going down between him and Henry Beaufort and that the campaign in Hainault had angered the Duke of Burgundy and put the crucial Anglo-Burgundian alliance at risk. 

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When I think of russia nowadays, sometimes I'm struck with similarities to the Trial by Kafka-- the intricate bureaucracy, the senselessness, the absurdity, the brutality that's both embedded in a rather banal environment (I recall the scene in Torture Camp by Aseev where he's being electrocuted in a police station while outside is a normal looking street) and facilitated by this bureaucracy and the labyrinths of judges and lawyers, that are in reality just cardboard cutouts of a system that isn't designed for justice but for crushing people's bodies and souls.

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Ukrainian school in Dnipro after russian missile attack. Teacher of Ukrainian language and literature from this school said that, symbolically, during the last class before the attack they were learning "Contra spem spero!" poem by Lesia Ukrainka:

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on this day two years ago, russia's missile attack on the Kramatorsk train station killed 61 civilians trying to evacuate.

the attack targeted a vital lifeline for those fleeing war-torn regions. we will never forget and will never forgive. please stand with Ukraine in our fight for freedom and peace.