#Lens Sector

[creativityandinovationday]

Through the Lens of the Youth project.

Feeling creative and want to make a short video on one of the Sustainable Development Goals and its impact on your community?

UNITAR's Through the Lens of the Youth project is for you! Show your talent and join a meaningful conversation.

[sleepynegress]

Black actor who faced abuse over role in Romeo & Juliet calls for industry-wide action

Francesca Amewudah-Rivers, who played Juliet alongside Tom Holland’s Romeo, says racist abuse went on for months

The actor Francesca Amewudah-Rivers, who received a barrage of online racial abuse after being cast in a production of Romeo & Juliet this year, has called for industry-wide action to protect black and brown actors.

The abuse aimed at Amewudah-Rivers began after the Jamie Lloyd Company theatre group announced the cast of its production in April, with Amewudah-Rivers to play Juliet and the Spider-Man star Tom Holland playing Romeo.

Amewudah-Rivers has revealed she also received hate mail, and that she did not feel safe while working on the play, her West End stage debut, at the Duke of York’s theatre.

“There were many days where I didn’t know how I was going to get through it,” she told the Stage. “The flurry of abuse was sustained throughout the whole job. I received death threats, hate mail sent to the theatre. I didn’t feel safe at work.”

‘Too much to bear’: Black actors condemn racial abuse of Romeo & Juliet starRead more

The 26-year-old, who was nominated at this year’s Black British theatre awards, said the minimal set and closeup camerawork of the production made her feel “very exposed” on stage. “Off the back of the abuse, having to stare down the camera lens and have my face be blown up in this theatre was really tough mentally,” she said.

Amewudah-Rivers said the harassment also affected her family and friends, as well as the show’s cast, crew and producers at the Jamie Lloyd Company, who condemned the initial abuse in a statement on social media at the time and said further harassment would be reported.

The incident led to an open letter of solidarity with Amewudah-Rivers being signed by more than 800 predominantly black female and non-binary actors – including Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Lolly Adefope, Freema Agyeman, Wunmi Mosaku and Tamara Lawrance.

Amewudah-Rivers described her experience as an “incredibly tough” induction into the West End. She said: “I know what it means to move through life in a black body. Racism is something we have to navigate every day, so I was very aware of the potential for something like this to happen.

“I think what I was unprepared for was how long it went on for, and also having to navigate it while doing the job. It was four months of battling against this energy, and it’s something I still have to deal with. I really had to reckon whether it was worth it, this sustained feeling of duress.”

The actor called for “broader conversations industry-wide” about the protection of global-majority actors and said it was “not enough to represent our communities on stage, there also needs to be an infrastructure of support”.

“Safety has to be at the forefront. We can’t do our best work if we don’t feel safe, if we don’t feel held, if we don’t feel understood,” she said. “I think more needs to be done, especially because I know I’m not alone. I know other actors who have had similar experiences, more recently, too.”

According to Amewudah-Rivers, the response to her casting showed how the UK theatre sector was still lagging behind in terms of onstage racial diversity.

“For it to cause such outrage that I was cast in this role means we have a long way to go. Theatre has a legacy of community, it should represent society. Especially in London – there’s a big black British community here and in the UK. It shouldn’t be a surprise. Our histories as black people have been erased. It’s about re-education. I’m not the first black Juliet, and I won’t be the last.”

[yourdoorisunlocked]

I'll Never Meet Another You - Part 3

📺 【 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝑰 | 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝑰𝑰 | 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝑰𝑰𝑰 】📺

𝐀/𝐍: *coryxkenshin ass entrance* Hey! W-Wassup? *sweats uncomfortably* It's been a while...

➺ 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬: Obsession, stalking, Boss/Favored Employee, manipulation, Vox having no sense of boundaries, but you don't notice because you're too busy fangirling lmao ➺ 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟏,𝟖𝟔𝟖

. . . 

. . . 

The commotion of rushing employees, frantic in their pace to their respective workplaces and office buildings nearly dizzied you on your way to the tallest building in the Entertainment District. Neon luxury bathed every street of the promiscuous sector, composed of streets filled with depraved Sinners, and had your wandering eyes widened with awed stars. 

You had attempted to put more confidence into your steps as you walked around the district, trusting your phone to lead you to the Vee’s main headquarters, despite being slightly shaken by your surroundings.  

But you were determined to keep up the facade of not being too shifty, shy, or ready to bolt. It wasn’t like you even could bolt, anyway. You’d missed your morning shift, and God only knows what would happen to you if you returned to that diner... 

The soft whirring of an overheated camera barely caught your attention, as you were so wrapped in your own little world to notice how the lens adjusted to look directly at you, glaring down at you as you walked. 

The cameras set above the entire city, unbeknownst to cute, quaint little you, had zeroed in on your form since your arrival, wearing a large overcoat – slightly worn, but suitable – over the delicious little outfit that had one demon in particular frothing at the mouth. 

He couldn’t wait to pick out his own little outfits for you to wear, all tailored to match him and his tastes. Just imagining his cute, future wife clad in the dresses that housewives would wear in his time was enough to send the demon into complete overdrive.

Vox was already walking around the halls in a calm frenzy as soon as you slammed the door to your apartment, with your filled-out application in hand. His nerves wouldn't allow him to sit still, not for a moment, not while his dearest was out there, on the streets for any to grab! 

He had even watched with growing tension as you debated over whether you should go to the interview, to which he nearly activated his hypnotism to just push you out the door and into his arms already-! 

Vox cleared his throat. No need to lose his patience, now. You were here, in his domain. No other unworthy scum of a Sinner could snatch you up, now. 

Besides, you put in so much effort to impress your future husband boss, shouldn’t he do the same for you? 

. . . 

“Are you deaf, or just that fucking ᵾꞩēłēꞩꞩ?” Vox barked to the nearest intern, watching them with pure contempt as they shuddered under his icy glare. 

“I-I’m sorry, Sir! I’ll put in an a-appointment with her right away!” 

“Good. Clear my schedule of other meetings for now, and have my office prepared for my appointment.”  

Shock dawned on the intern’s face, but before another moment passed, he stuttered pitifully, “Uhm, could I get her name, S-Sir?” 

Antenna sparking impatiently, Vox allowed your name tumble softly from his lips. No trace of malice from his exhausted frustration poisoning his words.

The tension in his padded shoulders loosened just ever so slightly, before he snapped again at the young trainee, who was blinking dumbly up at him with his mouth agape. 

He’d never seen his boss so calm... It set the hairs on his neck to stand on-end. 

“You got that?” 

The intern jumped, glasses nearly falling off his nose as he frantically jotted down your name. “Got i-it!”

With that, he quickly scampered away to let his other staff members aware of the boss’s new assistant, a shiny toy that innocently wandered the streets of Hell without a care in the world. He prayed for whatever poor soul managed to catch his employer's ever-watching eyes.

Vox rolled his eyes with a disgusted groan before starting again down the hallway. Fluorescent lights bloomed ahead of him, setting a pale, neon path of electric teal and offices stretching literal miles until the nearest elevator.

He probably shouldn’t have left such an important task to some incompetent underling, but there was too much on his plate to deal with it, for now. He had a date meeting with a lovely little doll to prepare for.

For every section of the Vee’s tower, there was a flair completely unique to each member, whether that be Velvet’s more glamourous, chic wardrobe of bone-thin, overworked models, Valentino’s debauched studio simmering with lust around every corner, or the advanced, technologically-inclined office floors where Vox normally dwelled. 

Floors that you would rule over, seated comfortably next to him.

Pointed dress shoes, tipped with cyan flared blue sparks against the polished marble floors like the very electricity the Overlord emitted. Had anyone walked past Vox in that moment, the hairs on the back of their necks and arms would have risen in tandem with the crackling energy that tainted the frigid air. 

There was very little in Vox’s afterlife that brought him comfort, but he couldn’t help but find solace in the thought of you rushing down the streets of the Entertainment District, simply to make it on time to your appointment with him.  

Honestly, it was only a matter of time before he had you in his clutches. Like a naive little lamb to the slaughter, you trusted him with your very soul. 

And, no doubt, that would very soon belong to him, too.  

Vox nearly blue-screened at the thought of a chain around your neck, emblazoned with his name, electric-blue and sparking against your tender skin. He could feel the light buzzing around his cheeks that flared up in a soft lavender-pink against his interface.

Just then, the equivalent of hairs rising on the back of Vox's neck came in a series of light sparks tickling the outlets on the back of his head.

“Voxxy~!” 

Ӻᵾȼҟīꞥꞡ- 

Immediately fixing his grimace, Vox swerved around on his heel with the most tooth-grinding smile he could muster, though a twitch of his left eye was a dead giveaway.

Valentino didn't so much as blink at the Overlord's obvious irritation, not at all taking the hint that maybe this wasn't the best time to pester him with whatever the fuck Val was failing to manage now-

"I've been looking for you everywhere, cariño!" The oversized insect said with too wide a smile, too forced a laugh, and Vox knew he was in for an interrogation - either that, or Val was, once again, trying to rope him into bed.

"You've been locked up in that apartment of yours for so long, amour, why don't we relax for a bit~?"

Vox didn't allow Valentino to usher him a single step away from the large window he'd been overlooking the district, wondering which shadow that scurried the streets belonged to you.

And what a sudden appearance, too. If his mind weren't swarming with thoughts of where you could be at the moment, Vox would've been questioning the sudden - and painfully obvious - distraction Valentino was trying to pose.

"I don't have time for that, right now," Vox brushed off his touch with a disgusted glower. "I have a meeting in ten, so it's going to have to wait, Val." He turned to walk away, albeit with his feathers slightly ruffled, but it was nothing that a couple moments spent with you couldn't-

"A meeting?" The moth demon blinked, his eyes adjusting to the blaring lights ahead. Vox was surprised that Valentino had even made an effort to visit him on his floor, since the Overlord was clearly blind out of his wits.

"Hm... Could this have something to do with whatever's been distracting you from your job, recently? Or..." Valentino scowled down at Vox with a narrowed, scrutinizing gaze taking in the sudden tensity in his padded shoulders.

His face curled into a triumphant sneer when Vox stopped dead in his tracks. If there was anything Valentino hated, it was being ignored.

"Or whoever?" Crimson tendrils of smoke blew from the moth's mouth, tainted by his ire. "They're probably a good fuck, if they managed to match up to your standards," with another smokey drag, Val rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. "Since you won't take any of my whores."

"Ɇӿȼᵾꞩē ᵯē?"

White-hot electrical currents climbed up Vox's throat, spreading through his fingertips and zapping at the antenna of his hat. He glared up at Valentino through glitching red eye sockets, daring him to overstep further.

The moth hid a heated shiver underneath Vox's murderous gaze, his glitching eyes sharpened, poisonous blades slitting into his skin at the mention of you.

Oh, you... You were different, weren't you? Not just some cumdump for Vox to use and abuse all in one night, nothing like his dolls that would return to him, bruised and in hysterics because of what Vox did to them.

No. You were special to him. The very thought made Valentino's blood seethe.

"You are certainly one to talk about being distracted."

The porn director took no offense to Vox's insinuation, already as comfortable as he could be with the knowledge that it was the television demon who took reign of the strings.

With overflowing confidence, He simply crossed his arms with a venomous smirk, jutting his hip out beneath one of his lower arms.

Val's way of blowing off steam would one day surely get him brutally murdered. By his own fellow Overlord, no less.

"Aw, did I touch a nerve there, Voxxy~?"

And Vox was two seconds away from ripping the insect apart.

"Don't ӻᵾȼҟīꞥꞡ test me right now-"

"Sir?"

A small, agitating buzz coming from the installed intercom on Vox's face further tipped the overflowing bucket of his impatience. Yet another idiotic distraction from you, another obstruction from his darling's side.

With a final, stinging glower shot towards Valentino, and a non-committal grunt, his claw gave a single tap to the now prominent phone icon on the side of his face.

"Go manage one of your sluts, Val. Maybe actually do your fucking job, for a change."

Vox spared no glance to the moth, but a spiteful scoff and the clicking of back-breaking heels stomping away from him gave enough closure.

"Ӻᵾȼҟīꞥꞡ ⱳħⱥⱦ?" The noxious growl of Vox practically grinding his teeth into the intercom sent jolts of spiking electricity down the employee's spine.

Fuck, this must've really not been a good time to bother him.

The employee huffed as sweat formed at his brow. He mustered up the courage to speak again after feeling as if his tongue would be cut out, should he utter a syllable.

Maybe give Vox the coffee with the sweeter creamer, next time.

"Well, uhm... The lady you wanted me to set up an appointment for... S-She's already here, sir."

Every ounce of bottled-up fury dissipated. Like a sudden, Godsent sunlight bursting through thunderous clouds, the storm in Vox's mind suddenly evaporated into thin air.

Vox tried to grasp his once boiling-hot, downright murderous fury, but the mention of you had stolen every bit of attention he had to spare. Only one emotion - or a muddle of them, really - managed to seep through his voice, into a single syllable.

Shock, surprise, disbelief, jittering excitement, and then...

"What?"

. . .

𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬: So, I know its been *checks calendar* (fucking hell- TWO MONTHS??) a while since I've updated this fic, but I swear there is a perfectly reasonable, understandable explanation.

The Vox brainrot has failed me, and I've been indoctrinated into the Welcome Home fandom (do expect some fics about WH btw) ANYWAYS! enough rambling, thank you so much for reading, and I'll see you next time :)

𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭: @starsformydarlingmazel, @chitter-chatter, @hazzbindarlingg, @darkangel582, @matrixbearer2024, @prosciuttosblog, @frog-fans-unite, @mysterypotatoink, @burgerflipper72, @chibikochannumberone, @strawberry-gothic, @roboticsuccubus83, @lulurubberduckie, @fangirlanxiety74, @viviannagiorgini, @localmsifan, @justtnat, @karolinda007-blog, @mglawwica, @wonderlandangelsposts, @saitisfied, @repostingmyfavs, @weirdflower2024, @montis-posts, @sirens-and-moonflowers, @theperfectmangovoid.

@slytherin4ever, @i-love-jafar, @itzlochnessie, @mariaclarade-la-cruz1, @susvale, @valentique, @twismare, @robin-the-enby, @v3n7s, @forbidden-sunlight, @leathesimp, @matemor, @groovybear99, @frompeach, @moonmark98, @nyxnightshade7656, @sushigogo, @crowleysthings, @zombiesnips-blog, @sirens-and-moonflowers, @impulsivethoughtsat2am, @ashdaidiot, @crybabycat1, @repostingmyfavs, @crazii-saber-wolf, @reikamasama, @dudesorriso, @speckle-meow-meow, @alastor-simp.

@maggotzdilemma, @cassidywinters, @justgiulia, @lucifers-silhouette, @going2hell4hazbin, @martinys-world

[rottenpumpkin13]

HEY ZACK WHAT HAPPENED TO THE VLOG?

SOLDIER Vlogging Shenanigans pt. ???

[The camera turns on showing Zack, wide-eyed, with his face pressed against the camera in a nervous expression. A commotion is heard in the background along with breaking objects and screams]

"Okay!" Zack smiles, "Probably a really bad time to vlog, but—

"TWO HOURS," Angeal's voice interrupts from the background, "THEY WERE IN THE OVEN FOR TWO HOURS. YOU COULD'VE BURNED THE APARTMENT DOWN. I TOLD YOU TO WATCH THEM!

Genesis' voice follows. "OH, DON'T BLAME ME. YOUR COOKIE RECIPE HAD ITS FLAWS BEFORE IT EVEN WENT INTO THE OVEN!"

And then Sephiroth. "GENTLEMEN, THE COOKIES ARE STILL ON FIRE AS WE SPEAK."

[Zack laughs nervously, glancing over his shoulder]

"So, uh, life updates! Right, let's see... Training's been super intense lately, but I'm hanging in there!"

[He ducks as a spatula flies past his head, but maintains his smile]

"HOW DARE YOU BLAME MY MOTHER'S COOKIE RECIPE!" Angeal screeches.

Genesis scoffs dramatically. "I BLAME IT BECAUSE IT DOESN'T ACCOUNT FOR THE PROPER BAKING TEMPERATURE AND RISE TIME! THEY'RE UNDERCOOKED!"

"IT ENHANCES THE FLAVOR!" Angeal screams back.

"FIRE!" Sephiroth's panicked voice continues. "DO YOU PEOPLE NOT SEE THE FLAMES?"

[Zack nervously adjusts the camera angle as he begins to talk faster]

"Anyway, we had this mission last week, and let me tell you, it was wild. We were dropped off by helicopter in the middle of the desert and—"

[The sound of Sephiroth avidly beating the fire with a dish towel makes Zack lose his smile]

"THE FLAVOR IS SHIT!" Genesis continues.

"Ha!" Angeal screams back. "YOU WOULDN'T KNOW GOOD FLAVOR IF IT BIT YOU IN THE ASS!"

"THE JOKE IS ON YOU, MY FRIEND, I LOVE BEING BITTEN IN THE ASS!"

[The camera blurs as Zack dodges a baking tin that flies past his head. And then fire alarm starts blaring]

"So, uh, what else? Oh! I finally tried that new pizza place here in Sector 0! Their pizza is to die for. You guys gotta check it out!"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU INSULTED MY MOM'S RECIPE! AND THEN INSULTED HER BY LETTING THE COOKIES BURN!"

"THEY'RE RAW, ANGEAL, RAW! THAT'S WHY I LEFT THEM IN LONGER!"

[Zack has abandoned his eye contact with the camera lens. His head is now turned as he watched the chaos off-frame]

"NEITHER ONE OF YOU PAID ATTENTION DURING THAT INTERDEPARTMENTAL FIRE SAFETY ASSEMBLY, AND IT SHOWS IN A GROSSLY DISRESPECTFUL MANNER," Sephiroth screeches as he continues to beat the flames with a dish towel.

Angeal ignores him. "THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE SOFT AND CHEWY, GENESIS, THAT'S THE FUCKING POINT!"

[Zack blinks back at the camera and smiles weakly]

"So I bought a new beanbag chair for my room! It's super comfortable!

Genesis groans loudly. "THEY CAN BE SOFT AND CHEWY WITHOUT CAUSING SALMONELLA!"

[Zack looks back at the camera]

"Who's Sal Minella?"

[Sephiroth's scream makes Zack jolt, the camera blur, and then film Zack's horrified expression as he watches the scene unfold off-frame]

"YOU KNOW WHAT?" Sephiroth shouts. "I LOVE FIRE. I'M NOW APPRECIATING THAT WHICH CANNOT BE CHANGED. FIRE IS INSPIRING. FIRE IS BEAUTIFUL. THE FIRE WARMS ME IN A WAY HUMAN AFFECTION NEVER CAN."

[Zack looks back at the camera and grins]

"And as you can see, we're still one big, happy family!"

"I HATE YOU!"

"I HATE YOU MORE!"

"W A R M T H"

[Zack's eye twitches as he continues grinning at the camera]

"This is why Cloud refuses to hang out with us," he says through clenched teeth.

[Angeal and Genesis' fight becomes audibly physical, and Zack makes it his cue to pan the camera around to catch them going at it while Sephiroth gazes appreciatively at the oven, which is engulfed in flames]

"Hey guys!" Zack yells. "Say hi to the vlog!"

[Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth slowly turn their heads, horror written clearly on their faces for a split second before they rush to look presentable. Genesis and Angeal separate—with Genesis quickly preening himself and smoothing his coat. Angeal steps in front of the flames, trying to hide them]

"I thought we agreed on no more vlogging," Angeal says as he walks towards the camera.

[Sephiroth steps aside and gestures to the fire]

"Zack, come film the fire and how beautiful it is—"

[Angeal quickly rips the camera from Zack's hands and turns it off. The video ends]

[txttletale]

yo i really like your content and agree with you on most things but i don't really know what you mean with that last one. my friends from ukraine both oppose the war's existence but would rather not be violently annexed by an imperial power so of course they, with little other options, support resistance efforts.

it's really hard for me to understand what you're going for because if ukraine stopped fighting back it'd just get taken by russia. maybe i just have bad brainfog, but it's hard to understand what you're asking us to do and believe. should we try and take out both the russian and american imperialist powers at once? but that's unrealistic and unlikely to happen in the near future, no matter how much i personally support it, which i do.

i guess my question is, what's an actual realistic thing we should support in the meantime? we can't just pretend that somehow revolution will take out both american and russian imperialist interests immediately, so. it's like, well yes we should have a better world playing by better rules, but how do we do the right thing when we are bound by the rules now.

i have friends who have family who died in the war, and sometimes it feels like bloggers i otherwise trust say things that sound suspiciously close to "ukraine should stop this pointless fighting and give up." which i am aware isn't your intention, and i want to be an effective anti imperialist and have the correct and informed opinions on stuff like this, but i am having a very hard time understanding what you are trying to say.

i really promise i am not a concern troll or nato apologist or anything, i just also have personally been struggling with what to support and how to save innocent lives. i hate war and i wish we could magically create a situation in which ukraine didn't have to rely on horrible things for self defense. i just don't know what to do or believe because my friends would rightfully hate me if i said ukraine should stop defending itself.

i mean, first off: don't worry, you obviously don't sound like a concern troll or a nato apologist. this is an eminently reasonable question -- healed's law strikes again. & i certainly don't blame you for worrying that marxist-leninists are apologists for russian imperialism, because unfortunately many self-proclaimed marxist-leninists have been deceived by the frankly paper-thin figleaf of 'denazificaiton'--even as putin, puppet of the russian bourgeoisie denounces lenin & the bolsheviks & the soviet union with every speech he makes. it sucks!

first of all, i think the important thing here and the central point of disagreement is on what constitutes 'ukraine'. liberals and nationalists alike consider nations to be fundamentally one whole: that all the people of ukraine together constitute 'ukraine', and so 'ukraine as a whole' has consistent interests, and acts as a one--the ukrainian government represents this unitary ukraine armed forces of ukraine fight for this ukraine.

but the marxist analysis of the nation is completely different. from the marxist perspective, the nation is split across class lines. ukraine is not 'ukrainians', but in fact 'the ukrainian working class' and 'the ukrainian bourgeoisie'. now, of course, there are further contradictions even within these classes--there is a faction of pro-Russian bourgeoisie, and a faction of pro-Western bourgeoisie. but remember, we must apply the same analysis to these countries too: the 'pro-Russian' Ukrainian bourgeoisie do not wish to submit to Russia's working class, but to their oligarchs. the 'pro-Western' Ukrainian bourgeoisie are not opening the nation's economy to the European and USAmerican working class, but to their bourgeoisie. so the bourgeoisie are, in every case--even when split among themselves--only ever in league with other sectors of the bourgeoisie.

so, through this lens, how do we see the war in ukraine? well, i think that the union of communists in ukraine must have a far better handle on this than i, because they're living through it: so i will quote their analysis and then elucidate on it in relation to your question.

The puppet regime in Ukraine participates in this war in the interests of Ukrainian oligarchs, who have made themselves completely dependent on big capital of the West and NATO, who have turned the Ukrainian army into an advanced military unit of the Western bourgeoisie. The war is not about "the Ukrainian nation," not about "the Ukrainian language and culture," not even about "European values". It is a war for the united interests of the Ukrainian and international bourgeoisie, which coincide in their desire to destroy the economic and political power of the Russian bourgeoisie. No interests or rights of Ukrainian workers are protected by this war. Both Ukrainian and Russian workers in this war have only the right and obligation to go to the front and die so that one group of the world bourgeoisie defeats the other and gains more monopoly rights to oppress the workers, both in their own country and in the defeated countries. […] For the working class of Ukraine, this imperialist war has the most tragic consequences. It lies on the shoulders of the workers the role of "cannon fodder" and the inevitable deaths in the fighting, mass impoverishment, unemployment, complete restrictions of rights and freedoms for the sake of protecting the interests of the Ukrainian big bourgeoisie, the oligarchs and the interests of the Western bourgeoisie in destroying and robbing Russia and seizing its natural resources. This will inevitably be accompanied by the destruction and seizure of Ukrainian industrial and natural resources, including in the case of Russia's success. The same fate awaits the vast majority of the Ukrainian petty bourgeoisie. The big bourgeoisie has already bought its children out of the war and taken them abroad, just as it took its capitals out. But that is not the main point: the big bourgeoisie is profiting from the war under Zelensky, just as it profited under Poroshenko: stealing finances, making money from reselling weapons, supplying the army with uniforms, food, repair work, humanitarian aid, etc. In war the bourgeoisie makes billions of dollars, while the mobilized people have to be equipped and fed by relatives, friends and volunteers – which is clearly not enough. As in peacetime, but even more brazenly, the bourgeoisie is getting rich off the bones of the working class!

—Union of Communists of Ukraine, On the War and the tasks of the working class

that is to say--the russian army, which is funded by the russian bourgeoisie, is fighting to establish the exclusive right of that russian bourgeoisie to oppress and exploit the ukrainian people. meanwhile, the ukrainian army, funded by the ukrainian and western bourgeoisie more broadly, are fighting to maintain the exclusive right of the ukrainian and western to oppress and exploit the ukrainian people. already, ukrainian public assets are being put up in a fire sale for western buyers--(and of course, should russia's offensive have been as succesful as they'd hoped and this war already over, they'd be doing much the same thing for the benefit of buyers among the russian bourgeoisie).

this is what is meant by 'inter-imperialist' war. it's easy to say 'well, the ukrainian army isn't imperialist--it's fighting for the nation's independence!' but in terms of real economic interests there is no 'the nation'. the ukrainian army isn't fighting for the ukrainian working class (which of course includes themselves!)--the government that pays them and the states that equip them wouldn't do so out of any sense of interest in the well-being of the working class. we can see this clearly as the western imperialist powers now start to equip the ukrainian army with depleted uranium shells, which will poison swathes of ukrainian land and cause sickness and death among the people this army purports to be fighting for. the goal of the ukrainian state and army isn't to protect any working class people--only to protect its total right to the economic exploitation of those people.

it's this that the ukrainian state is afraid of when it fights not to cede territory, not the (surely real, to be clear!) brutality from the russian state that would face the inhabitants of any such ceded territory. in fact, funding nazi groups that operated in those areas before the war and will surely continue to operate afterwards, the ukrainian govenrment makes it clear that brutality against the inhabitants of its eastern provinces alone does not phase it, so long as the ukrainian bourgeoisie (& their western bourgeoisie patrons) continue to be the ones profiting off the region's people and resources.

elsewhere in the article the UCU observe the same thing that can be observed by those outside of ukraine by listening to the words of zelenskyy and the ukrainian government's allies--that even the goal of 'protecting its people' [read: protecting exclusive economic/extractive access to those people] has been sidelined by the dream of a total or partial obliteration of the russian bourgeoisie entirely--not for any moral or anti-imperialist reason, but simply so that the ukrainian/western bourgeoisie no longer have competition.

[...] the goals of warfare are changing. If at the first stage of the civil conflict the Ukrainian regime aimed to restore state control over the Ukrainian territories, where this control was lost, then at the second stage it aimed to destroy Russia as a condition for the existence of Ukraine.

—ibid.

so--now that i've really dug into the precise nature of this war and why it's being waged on both sides, i'll answer some of your points directly:

if ukraine stopped fighting back it'd just get taken by russia "ukraine should stop this pointless fighting and give up."

both of these positions, both the one you hold yourself and the one you worry about others expressing, assume that what the ukrainian armed forces with NATO backing and full-throated embrace of fascist paramilitaries is doing constitutes 'ukraine' 'fighting back' against 'russia'. but it doesn't--it represents the ukrainian bourgeoisie fighting back against the russian bourgeoisie.

so, the big question--do i think that the ukrainian proletariat should abandon armed resistance against the russian invasion? absolutely not!

genuine popular resistance against the russian invasion is heroic and commendable--i am under no belief whatsoever that in the face of imperialist war the ukrainian people should not arm themselves and fight against the imperialists. i just reject the framing of the actual war as prosecuted as constituting this, because, to go back to what i've already established, there is not in fact one 'ukraine' but two--only one of which constitutes in a mieaningful sense the ukrainian people. i don't believe (and neither do the UCU, whose analysis i base mine on somewhat) that 'the war' as you ponder 'supporting' constitutes the ukrainian proletariat arming themselves or fighting against imperialism on their own behalf, but rather being armed by the bourgeoisie and fighting on their behalf.

and obviously i'm not an idiot who's blind to the actual numerial and material realities. the communist, anti-imperialist movement in ukraine, just like in most of the world, is completely dwarfed by imperialism and its footsoldiers. 'the ukrainian proletariat as self-armed acting organization rising up and challenging both imperialisms and freeing itself from both sets of bourgeoisie' is not something that's gonna happen tomorrow, and it's not an immediately actionable plan--no ukrainian communist can wake up tomorrow and say 'well, today i shall hit the big proletarian revolution button'.

the realities are that as the meeting ground between two imperialisms, ukrainian communists have to make decisions about which one they can most ably fight, might need to temporarily align themselves with or allow themselves to benefit from the ukrainian bourgeoise state--but never support it. like any bourgeoise state, a communist should know the ukrainian state is an enemy of the proletariat. yes, the pressing material realities on the ground might well make cooperation with that bourgeoise state the best temporary option--but 'cooperation' should never mean 'support' or 'loyalty', and should be done only tactically with ultimately loyalties remaining above all else with the working class.

in fact, refusing to offer the government and army a show of support and valorization is a key element of creating the conditions--radicalization, agitation--that would allow the proletariat to effectively rise up and truly combat imperialism, rather than choose under which imperialist heel they would rather be ground into dust. don't support an end to the war on either imperialist bloc's terms, but rather on proletarian terms--understand that the state of ukraine is not on the side of the ukrainian people, except tangentially, in individual moments of necessary alliance. raise awareness of the true war, the class war, and resist the ukrainian state's claims to stand with the people when it pursues the interests of the bourgeoisie.

tldr: the anti-imperialist position is not that the ukrainian proletariat should not be fighting, or that their fight is not worth supporting. the anti-imperialist action, therefore, is to draw the most awareness possible to this division within 'ukraine' among the working class themselves, make them aware of the realities of the economic condition. this is of course the foremost anti-imperialist and communist task across the entire world, because it is only through creating organizations of the working class that will fight for the working class can international imperialism be dfeated.

i'll leave this answer off by adding what the UCU said about this very topic in the same statement i've been quoting:

We understand the complexity and danger of these tasks, which inevitably cause repression on the part of the bourgeois political regimes. That is why workers' and communist organizations will need to develop illegal forms of class struggle along with legal ones in order to set and implement such tasks. The UCU has been forced to conduct its work in illegal forms since 2014. Many workers' and communist organizations may consider these antiwar tasks impossible because of their organizational weakness and lack of influence on the working class. However, historical experience shows that a correct and honest formulation of the tasks of the working class in conditions of war – real, not momentary tasks – may not yield success immediately, but will yield gains as the revolutionary situation intensifies. Since the task of destroying capitalist social relations is an international task, the international coordination of workers' and communist parties' actions, including the joint elaboration of tasks for the struggle against the imperialist war of the twenty-first century for the sake of uniting the international struggle against this war, for a communist reorganization of society and world peace, is becoming increasingly important. Proletarians of all countries, unite! 

[fullyarmoredbattlesturgeon]

signalis lore spoilers

i think something that too many players simply gloss over is how much of the dialog and found text in signalis is purposely written with an obscuring lens, not because the authors want to be obtuse but because when you live under an authoritarian system you learn to automatically self-censor and end up implying much more often then directly stating things much of the time.

kind of like how everyone sees the doctor's note about Isa being "clumsy and prone to incidents" and don't think twice about that.

you know it's because she's being bullied/abused by her peers, right?

the doctor clearly doesn't care, and Isa knows well enough that in the Nation (and likely Empire) when someone gets hit they *don't talk* about it.

frankly, that's how a lot of bullying/abuse goes down irl too, but instead of just Isa, everyone is experiencing it on some level or another.

think about, say, about the letter written to Ariane's mother, "suggesting" that it would be "best" for Ariane be relocated to the city so she can be raised by a blockwart-monitered civil crèche. there is no directly stated fear, punishment or order in the letter. just a "suggestion", in the same way that Isa was prone to "incidents".

how about the email sent to sector-c's blockwart? even within the power structure, everything is implied. you are only told to do your duty, and that there will be consequences if you falter or fail.

remember how the first floor of Sierpinski's name is censored because the state thought it was too on-the-nose? for those who missed out on the context clues, the word is re-education. Sierpinski is, lacking any other term, a gulag, a work camp. why do you think there's so many soldiers and guns in there? the keycards that only protektors are allowed to use? the uh, "interrogation" chamber?

then there's the Penrose program - it is directly implied in the operator's manual *in the beginning of the game* that these ships aren't built to be able to return, they only have enough fuel to maneuver once launched. it's not like they would just come out and say that it's a suicide mission, but for people who have lived their whole lives surrounded by wording and rhetoric like this, it's obvious.

Ariane knew from the start what she was getting into, that's the tragedy. she knowingly committed a kind of long, slow suicide and accidentally found something worth living for halfway through the process. that's the tragedy, and the final mission update is such a fucking insult because after years and years of dancing around it, they just fucking say it to you straight:

"You are going to die in a glorious demonstration of our power."

yeah.

so don't be confused when something isn't being said aloud in signalis. if it's not being said aloud, you're already supposed to know.

no gods, no masters folks.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Thankful for class consciousness

On November 27, I'm appearing at the Toronto Metro Reference Library with Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.

On November 29, I'm at NYC's Strand Books with my novel The Lost Cause, a solarpunk tale of hope and danger that Rebecca Solnit called "completely delightful."

Before the term "ecology" came along, people didn't know they were on the same side. You care about owls, I care about the ozone layer – what does the destiny of charismatic nocturnal avians have to do with the gaseous composition of the upper atmosphere?

But as James Boyle has written, the term "ecology" welded together a thousand issues into a single movement. When we talk about "looking at our world through a lens," this is what we mean – apply the right analytical lens and a motley assortment of disparate causes becomes a unified, coherent project:

https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=dlj

Unfettered, planet-destroying, worker immiserating corporate power is only possible in the absence of such a lens. Before neoliberalism can destroy our lives, it must first convince us that we are all disconnected. "There is no such thing as society," isn't just an empty slogan: it's a weapon for dismantling the democratically accountable structures that can stand against industrial tyrants.

That's why neoliberalism is so viciously opposed to all kinds of solidarity, why corporate apologists insist that the only elections that matter are the ones where you "vote with your wallet." It's no surprise that the side with the thickest wallets wants to replace ballots with dollars!

Today, at long last, after generations of deadly corporate power-grabs, we are living through an ecology moment where all kind of fights are coalescing into one big fight: the fight to save democracy from oligarchy.

There are many tributaries flowing into this mighty river, but two of the largest are antitrust and labor. Antitrust seeks to ensure that our world is regulated by democratically accountable lawmakers who deliberate in public, rather than shareholder-accountable monopolists who deliberate in smoke-filled rooms. Labor seeks to ensure that contests between profit for the few and prosperity for the many are decided in favor of people, not profit.

This coalition is so powerful that the ruling class has never stopped attacking it. Indeed, the history of US antitrust law can be viewed as a succession of ever-more-insistent laws enacted solely to make it clear to deliberately obtuse judges that competition law is aimed at corporations, not unions:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/14/aiming-at-dollars/#not-men

Rising corporate power and declining worker power is bad for all of us. The failure of successive US administrations to block airline mergers led to sky-high prices and a proliferation of "junk fees" that can double the price of a ticket. The monopoly carriers stand to make $118b this year from these fees:

https://www.fastcompany.com/90981005/airlines-fees-118-billion-dark-patterns

The consolidation of the agricultural sector led to cartels that conspired to rig the prices of our food. These Les Mis LARPers rigged the price of bread!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-bread-price-fixing-1.6883783

Remember eggflation? Nearly all the eggs in US grocery stores come from a single company, Cal-Maine, which owns dozens of brands, including "Farmhouse Eggs, Sunups, Sunny Meadow, Egg-Land’s Best and Land O’ Lakes eggs":

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/13/business/egg-prices-cal-maine-foods/index.html

With all our eggs in one basket, it was easy for a single company to rig the egg market, blaming everything from bird flu to Russian invasion of Ukraine for doubling egg prices while their profits shot up by 65%:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/23/cant-make-an-omelet/#keep-calm-and-crack-on

Antitrust isn't just about monopoly – it's also about oligopoly. The American meat cartel pretends that it's not rigging markets by outsourcing its price-fixing to a "clearinghouse" called Agri Stats:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/04/dont-let-your-meat-loaf/#meaty-beaty-big-and-bouncy

Agri-Stats gets data from all the Big Meat companies, "anonymizes" it, and publishes it back to its subscribers, who use the service to coordinate across-the-board price-hikes that have cost the public billions in price gouging (meanwhile, Big Meat was able to secure $50b in public subsidies).

For forty years, governments have ceded power to "autocrats of trade" who usurped control "over the production, transportation, and sale of the necessaries of life":

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/20/we-should-not-endure-a-king/

But that era is coming to an end. In the past year, American regulators have blocked airline mergers and promulgated rules banning junk fees. They've dragged price-fixing clearinghouses into court:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/why-turkey-eggs-and-air-travel-just

They're getting results, too: for the second year in a row, turkey prices are down. Cranberries, too (18%). Same for whipping cream (25%). Pie crusts are down. So are russet potatoes. Airfares are down 13.2%.

The egg cartel just lost a long-running court case over the last egg price-fixing campaign, which gouged Americans from 1990-2008:

https://www.pymnts.com/cpi_posts/kellogg-kraft-secure-victory-in-price-fixing-lawsuit-against-egg-producers

The same fact-pattern that was revealed in that court case is repeated in this year's eggflation scandal:

https://farmaction.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Farm-Action-Letter-to-FTC-Chair-Lina-Khan.pdf

That's terrific ammo for the FTC, and will doubtless benefit the Democrats running against would-be Indiana senator John Rust, whose family owns convicted egg cartel member Rose Acre Farms and whose wife just stepped down as chair of the board.

One underappreciated aspect of the global war on corporate power is that the same corporations commit the same crimes in countries all over the world, which means that whenever any government establishes evidence of those crimes, they are of use to all the other governments. Competition enforcers from the UK, EU, USA, Singapore, South Korea and elsewhere are coordinating to target the Big Tech cartel. Maybe Google and Facebook and Apple are bigger enough to resist any one of those governments – but all of them?

https://cmadataconference.co.uk/

One notable absence from the anti-monopoly coalition is Canada. While other countries merely stopped enforcing their competition laws in the neoliberal era, Canada never had a good competition law to enforce. Canada's official tolerance for monopolies has allowed a handful of companies to seize control over the economy of Canada and the lives of Canadians:

https://www.canadaland.com/shows/commons-monopoly/

These monopolies are largely controlled by powerful families, Canada's de facto aristocracy, whose wealth and power make them above the law and subordinate the country's democratic institutions to billionaires' whims:

https://www.canadaland.com/tag/dynasties/

At long last, Canada has called time on oligarchy. Last week's Fall Economic Statement included an announcement of a muscular new competition law, including new merger guidelines, a new "abuse of dominance" standard, and Right to Repair rules:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7132855021548769282/

The law also includes interoperability mandates for Canada's highly concentrated – and deeply corrupt – banking sector. These measures are strikingly similar to new measures just introduced in the US by the CFPB:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/21/let-my-dollars-go/#personal-financial-data-rights

The arrival of Canada's first fit-for-purpose competition rule coincides with all kinds of solidaristic movements in Canada that are fighting corporate power from the bottom up. Even Ontario, led by one of the most corrupt premiers in provincial history, can't break its teachers' union:

https://globalnews.ca/news/10105600/ontario-elementary-teachers-reach-contract-deal/

It's not just workers who benefit from solidarity: Tenants' unions have formed across the province in response to corporate takeovers of scarce rental stock. These finance-sector landlords have armies of lawyers who've figured out how to bypass rent-control rules and evict tenants who balk. Rather than rolling over, tenants' unions are organizing waves of rent-strikes:

https://macleans.ca/longforms/rent-strikes-canada/

As with Big Tech, the illegal tactics of the rental sector aren't confined to a single nation. In America, Wall Street landlords have dramatically increased the price of housing and kicked off an eviction epidemic the likes of which the country has never seen:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/16/mortgages-are-rent-control/#housing-is-a-human-right-not-an-asset

And as with Big Meat, landlords use arm's-length clearing houses to rig rental markets, coordinating across-the-board rent hikes:

https://www.propublica.org/article/yieldstar-rent-increase-realpage-rent

In other words: to fix the housing market, tenants all over the world need to learn the tactics of labor unions. Housing regulators have to learn from agricultural regulators. Americans tenants have to learn from Canadians. These aren't 1,000 different fights – they're one big fight, and the coalition for dismantling corporate power is vast and powerful.

The most powerful weapons our bosses have is convincing us that we are weak and they are strong – so strong that we shouldn't even try to fight them. But solidarity is absurdly powerful, which is why they go to such great lengths to discredit it. In Sweden, the solidarity strikes against Tesla – who refuses to recognize its maintenance workers' union – have spread to nine unions.

Tesla can't get its cars offloaded at the ports. It can't get its showrooms cleaned. No one will deliver its mail. No one will fix its chargers. The strike is spreading to Germany, and workers at its giant Berlin factory is set to walk out:

https://www.metafilter.com/201514/Swedish-Tesla-workers-go-on-strike

There's something delicious about how palpably frustrated Elon Musk is by all this, as he realizes that neither his billions nor his bully pulpit are a match for workers in solidarity:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-23/elon-musk-calls-swedish-tesla-strikes-insane-as-impact-spreads

It's a reminder of just how fragile and weak billionaires are, when we stop believing in them and deferring to them. Rebecca Solnit's latest Guardian column adds up the ways that allowing billionaires to run the show puts us all in danger:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/20/billionaires-great-carbon-divide-planet-climate-crisis

They are the unelected "autocrats of trade" who control "the production, transportation, and sale of the necessaries of life." They are the force that this new ecology movement is coalescing to fight: across borders, across sectors, across identities. No matter whether you are a worker, a tenant, a voter, a shopper or a citizen, your enemy is the billionaire class.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/24/coalescence/#solidarnosc

[jyeshindra]

ALL ABOUT CANCER ASCENDANT

Here we go guys...moving through our ascendant series we come to our lovely lunar beings, the Cancer Ascendant!

As always, let's go over what the ascendant is in astrology. It is our mask. How others see us and how we approach the various sectors of our lives are determined by the ascendant. We also see the journey and direction of our soul through the rising. It is the moment we choose to incarnate into this reality, making it an extremely personal point in the chart.

The ascendant also marks our chart ruler, which is where we'll begin with our Cancer Ascendant. Ruled by the Moon, Cancer Ascendants possess a familiar, warm quality that endears them to the world.

The Moon is known to soften and round out the features, so perhaps you possess a sweet, soft smile. The cheeks may be rounded and plump. There may be a delicate quality to your skin or your disposition. I've also noticed that Cancer Ascendants have quite the gaze! (Honestly any water ascendant is mesmerizing in the eyes). I attribute this to the illusory, trance like nature of the Moon. Maybe you appear as if you're always on the verge of crying!

The Moon in astrology represents our emotions, our reactions, our ingrained habits and patterns, who we feel we truly are, and what we need to feel nurtured and safe. Cancer Risings, you are sensitive beings who are emotionally attuned to your environment. This makes you empathetic and intuitive. People like to come to you because they feel you'll understand them, and being Moon-ruled, you likely will. There is a nurturing quality to your aura and an ingrained desire to protect, nurture, and care for others. It will always be part of who you are.

But the Moon is constantly shifting! It only stays in one sign for 2.5 days! There is a turbulence to you, Cancer, with your shifting moods and shifting desires. What you felt yesterday may not be what you feel today and since you view the world through the lens of your emotions, you may appear somewhat erratic or irrational to others! Such is how you respond to people and environments. When things are off, when something wrong is said, you feel it. Your instincts are unparalleled, Cancer and you must learn to trust them. How does that saying go...mother knows best?

The world sees your gentle, emotional nature Cancer. You're likely sensitive to your environment, so you keep a low profile and are apt to be flustered easily. It takes a while for people to truly know you, but do believe if you are angry or hurt, the world will know.

I think this is the cardinal, self-focused nature of Cancer. You're very aware of your own comfort and security and will do what is necessary to defend that or protect that. Much like the crab, the exterior is hard but the inside is soft and mushy. Cancers are aware of their own defenselessness and adjust accordingly. There are Cancer Risings who have an easier time with others and are more approachable. Others may withdraw within themselves and keep their distance.

Make sure you are taking care of yourself, Cancer. Nurture, self-care, and self-responsibility must be at the forefront of your mind! This is the folly of water signs I believe...to get caught in codependency and needing others to take care of them and their emotions. What you want is to be validated and nurtured back Cancer. Your life can be full of ups and downs, with moments of melancholy and resentment.

But when it comes to expressing yourself, you can do so with such a creative flair. Perhaps it's not on display in your presentation but it's certainly a skill you have (Leo 2nd House). Your wealth and your self-esteem may be built through this creative expression and through processing your world in fantastical ways.

As always, check out where the Moon is placed in your own chart. It's sign and house and aspects will be significant.

When you incarnated into this world, you exchanged the airy intellectuality of Gemini for a more sensitive and emotionally attuned experience. This is the meaning of your Gemini-ruled 12H. Don't forget that part of you! It's still there. The Moon will bog you down at times...that is the nature of things. But there is a part of you that wants variety, new experiences, new people to talk to, new environments to explore. You want to communicate your experience and take in all kinds of different experiences. Just because you may feel things does not mean you should stop yourself from enjoying life.

Your 4th House in Libra points to an environment in which fairness and justice could have been very important to your security and emotional life. There could have been an emphasis placed on considering others, caring for others, or even caring for the world. There could be deep relationships made from your home environment that are important to you. Cultivating comfort and safety as you grow older becomes centered around who is with you. Surrounding yourself with good art, pleasurable people, and meaningful relationships that allow you to love and be loved.

It can also mean perhaps your home environment was one in which you had to care for others! In which you did not make room for your own experiences or desires and instead constantly gave to other people. Maybe you witnessed a mother/father figure who was very self-sacrificing. Libra in a negative energy can be a very people-pleasing.

Ultimately, you attract strong, authoritative partners who give you structure and guidance. Water and Earth mix well together in this regard, like a river with earth to guide it. Such is your Capricorn 7H. You need someone who prioritizes comfort and security just as much as you do. And you'll enjoy the Capricorn finding their emotional home within you just as you find your stability within Capricorn.

That's all we've got folks! Hopefully, I can get the Leo Ascendant post out sooner than later :P

jyeshindra

[happilyfeatherafter]

Happilyfeatherafter’s ficrec Fridays

Back back back again, and I don't know guys, I think we should all just totally stab Caesar! Welcome back to a new fortnight of fics that I’ve read and loved recently.

If you want to find more you can see my previous rec lists here!

15 March 2024

Are You Writing From the Heart? by  @luckshiptoshore is now complete!! Congrats Luck! Full disclosure, Luck is one of my very best friends, but that just means I know not only how much of a talented fic writer she is, but also how much of her heart and soul she poured into writing this love letter to queer storytelling, season 4 Destiel as a romcom, meta text (and subtext), and finding out who you really are when society and your upbringing is fighting against you. Castiel is a ghostwriter for L.S. Shore's Supernatural novels about Neal and his brother. Caught in a storytelling rut, Cas finds himself adding the fallen angel character of Bel...what could possible go wrong? Meanwhile at his local writing coffee shop spot, he meets the handsome stranger Dean who is an up and coming standup comedian and Supernatural fanboy. They because firm friends, but that's definitely it because Cas is straight....right?! Following these two dummies as they FAIL TO USE THEIR WORDS is a total joy, as Luck's humorous and emotional writing paired with her eye for detail is so very on point, and I'm so excited more people will finally get to read this story in full.

Baker Six by komodobits because !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot tell you how goddamn excited I was to get this email notification and finally be back in 91w world, and to witness these early stages of Dean and Cas' relationship through Dean's eyes at last. This barely needs a rec because it's THEE 91w Dean, but komodobits hasn't missed a beat in getting back inside their heads and I was once again swept away by this iconic love story against the odds. Head the trigger warnings as always, this is truly on the front lines as a medic in a war zone. Baker Six was written for the very good cause of the fandom Palestine fundraiser, in support of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. Please donate if you can!

Truth & despair by @shallowseeker was a recent discovery and such a fascinating read! It's set in a post-15x18 verse, but importantly it features a fun Sam narrative perspective that delights in his lens by...being a bit of an unsympathetic oblivious dummy (affectionate). I really appreciate a crunchy Sam characterisation and oooboy does this pay off. Dean is steeped in his grief for Cas, and Sam is oh so concerned. He reaches out to Mia Vallens to understand his own grieving, and that leads to him making a discovery...Dean's memories of Cas' death aren't what he claims happened. With the unwelcome reappearance of Chuck (he lost...didn't he?) and LITERAL sinkholes appearing in the fabric of the universe, can they figure out what's happening to save Cas and save the world? This wip plays with physics, theology and narrative fuckery in such intriguing ways. I can't wait to see how it wraps up in the next two chapters.

The Leap by @friendofcarlotta started reading this one when Tina reshared it on Leap Day...because of course. I'd actually read it before but it more than lived up to the reread. 'Castiel Krushnic is a police officer in Soviet-occupied East Berlin. He is also gay, in a city where that’s a dangerous thing to be. One night, he meets Dean Winchester, a mechanic from the American sector. Their mutual attraction is instant, and a convenient hookup quickly turns into a passionate love affair that defies all rules and expectations.' Meticulously researched, emotional, heartrending and thought provoking. I highly recommend taking the leap on this fic!

See you in two weeks and OMG it's @deancaspinefest time!!!! I'm so excited *clears calendar*

Tag list under the cut - let me know if you'd like to be added to be notified of future recs!

@dean-you-assbutt-cas-loves-you

[hbyrde36]

The Crawl (Complete)

Part 5 of 5 (Final)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 AO3

Author's note: This chapter had a mind of it's own and has gone through several re-starts. Basically, if you saw prev wip snippets of this, no you didn't 🤣

WC: 4152

-Eddie-

It did keep happening. 

By the time Eddie was released from the hospital, about a week later and with loads of antibiotics, pain meds, and a packet inches thick of instructions on how to care for his still healing wounds, they knew for sure that they were right. 

Anytime he closed his eyes, even for a brief cat-nap, Eddie would get another flash from the alternate week from hell, or so he called it. Although, occasionally he’d get a glimpse of something more mundane but still decidedly different from the months leading up to it.

As far as he could tell, his other timeline split off on the night Steve first tried to get his attention after Hellfire. 

It was funny to think about how unwilling he was to accept that a well-known, if supposedly reformed, asshole like Steve Harrington would want anything to do with Hellfire, or him, regardless of the kids he seemed to love so much. 

It was strange too– to look back now, through the lens of everything he had come to know, on the months that had followed. How he and Steve had gone from relative strangers, to acquaintances, to friends, and now so much more. 

It wasn’t lost on Eddie that without all the bad shit and the extreme circumstances of his other self dying and being resurrected, only to change everything by sheer chance and a well placed time disturbance, he and Steve might never have gotten to where they were now.

He didn’t want to say he was grateful for it… they would all undoubtedly be better off if the Upside Down had just never existed at all, but if there was a silver lining to be found in all of this, that would be it for him. 

In the alternate version of things, the other Eddie’s memories– though, now that they belonged to him he should probably stop thinking of it that way, the first time he’d seen Steve since graduating had been the moment he threatened him with a broken beer bottle to his neck. 

They recovered from that dramatic re-introduction rather quickly, and went on to share more than a few intriguing little moments between that day and the day that Eddie died. He could see a hint of it there, the potential, in curious glances and countless casual touches made without thought. If only they’d had more time. 

He tried not to dwell on that part though. 

However it had happened, they were here now– was the point. Alive, together, and with a future in front of them full of possibilities and hopefully free of monsters and trauma. 

Eddie had been wondering all week what would happen once he was released. 

Their old trailer was still a no-go. The gate inside of it was closed for good, the world it led to gone, as far as they knew, but there was still a sizable crack in the ceiling. Not to mention the fact that the entire park was now off-limits, cordoned off by temporary fencing– closed to the public by whatever shadowy sector of the government had finally decided to step in to help clean up the mess made by Brenner and his lab. 

Steve said he would have offered his place but his parents had made a surprise return to town in the middle of all the chaos and he wasn’t sure how long they would be staying this time.

Eddie knew Wayne had been living in a nearby motel and just sort of assumed that would be home for now. He was more than a little surprised to find out, as they waited for his discharge to be finalized, that Hopper had offered them his cabin to stay in for as long as they needed. The chief was living with the Byers full time anyway so he hadn’t hesitated to make the offer when he realized they were stuck. 

He asked Steve to come with them, would have begged outright if he wasn’t already afraid he was being too clingy, but Steve said he couldn’t. Though, he didn’t look any happier about the idea of being separated than Eddie was. 

It was tough to think about being apart for any amount of time after they’d been sleeping in his hospital bed together for almost the entirety of his stay, with Steve only ever leaving his side to go home for a shower in the mornings or to pick up food, but Steve seemed to think he would be imposing.

A ridiculous idea. 

Eddie tried to convince him otherwise, but Steve was sure that Wayne would mind, and didn’t want to make a bad first impression on his new boyfriend’s only family by being a nuisance so soon. He felt the need to point out that Steve had been hanging around their house for months. He and Wayne saw each other literally all the time– meaning they were well past first impressions at this point, but he insisted it was different now that they were a couple. 

A couple.

Boyfriends.

The idea itself, let alone hearing Steve say the actual words, was enough to keep Eddie warm for at least one night, so he let it go. 

They parted reluctantly in the hospital parking lot, after everyone else who’d come to see Eddie off had left, with Steve promising to come up and visit the next day. 

Maybe then, after they sat Wayne down and told him about their relationship, as if he hadn’t figured it out already, maybe then he could talk Steve into it. It was probably too soon to discuss actual living together, considering they’d only been together for a week, but maybe he could just stay with them temporarily, at least until it was all a little less raw.

Eddie was exhausted from the day. He hadn’t actually done much, the kids had all helped Wayne move what few belongings of theirs had been salvageable into the cabin while he was languishing away in the hospital, but it was still the most he’d been up and moving around since the final battle. 

Regardless of how tired he was, he tossed and turned for hours, unable to ignore the way his skin itched where it was healing, or find a comfortable position to rest in alone, having grown so used to having another body pressed closely to his. 

And he couldn’t stop thinking about Steve.

Wondering if he was alright, wishing he was there, and… okay, maybe he was also possibly avoiding sleep on purpose so he wouldn’t have to see anything, since he wouldn't have cuddles from Steve to wake up to and make him feel better. 

Pathetic? Maybe, but it was the truth.

Which was why he was still awake at 3am when a series of hesitant knocks sounded on the front door of the cabin. 

It had to be someone in the party, no one else knew they were there. Eddie’s name had been cleared officially, sure, but it would take time for the news to spread and be accepted by a town full of people who had hunted one boy down like an animal based only on circumstantial evidence and the word of another boy who was blind with grief and his own prejudices.

Wayne got to the door first, of course. Eddie was doing better by the day, but his injuries still had him moving painfully slow. When he did finally make it out of his room, what he saw made his heart drop through the floor. Wayne was grasping on tightly to a weeping Steve, holding him up as the boy fell apart in his arms.

Eddie shuffled closer as fast as he could, finally catching their attention.

“There, see? Look at him, son.” Wayne said gently, coaxing Steve into lifting his head. “Eddie’s just fine– he’s right there.”

His eyes were so red and swollen that Eddie wasn’t sure Steve could see him, but he nodded anyway, sniffling as Wayne released him, transferring him over into Eddie’s arms instead. 

Eddie braced himself, worried that he didn't have the strength to support them both, but Wayne was right there with a hand on his back for support, just in case. 

Steve buried his face in Eddie’s neck as they embraced, babbling, “I'm s-s- so sorry. I woke up and you weren’t there. I forgot, I forgot I was alone and… I- I knew we made it out, that you were okay but I needed to see. I just needed to see you.” 

Eddie ran his hands in soothing circles along Steve’s back, shushing him, and telling him it was okay.

“Come on,” he said, when Steve had calmed some. “Let’s go lay down on my bed so I can hold you properly.”

Steve pulled back, biting his lip and cutting a sharp nervous glance at Wayne 

Eddie huffed a gentle laugh, taking Steve’s hand and squeezing it. “Baby, we were sharing my hospital bed, I think he knows.”

“You don't need to worry about me, Steve. I’m just glad the two of you finally figured yourselves out. It was getting painful to watch, frankly.” Wayne said, letting out his own small amused chuckle. He gave Steve one last little pat on the shoulder and finally retired back to his own room.

They laid quietly on the bed facing each other, arms and legs entwined as much as they could manage without putting pressure on Eddie’s bites. Steve refused to take his eyes off of him for even a second while wearing the most tortured expression. 

He didn’t seem to want to talk about what happened, but that was okay. Eddie knew Steve was still struggling with the loss of the other Eddie, and having to leave him behind to fade with the Upside Down. Though, with Eddie gaining the other’s memories he had to wonder if that still meant he was lost.

“Feeling any better?” Eddie asked after a while.

Steve nodded, running his fingers through Eddie’s hair. “Always better when you’re with me.” He said sleepily.

Eddie gave a soft, breathy laugh. “What a line.” He whispered, leaning in to capture Steve's lips with his own. 

It was meant to be a chaste kiss, a sweet moment before they both inevitably passed out from exhaustion, but it quickly turned heated. 

It was nearly sunrise before they finally fell asleep.

After all, they had been apart for over 12 hours, surely that kind of reunion was worthy of an hours-long make out session, right? 

They slept all day until Wayne knocked on the door to make them come eat something. 

They sat as close together as the kitchen chairs would allow, their thighs pressed together under the table, compelled to have some form of physical contact no matter what, even while they were eating. 

Dinner was quiet, unusually so. Eddie would normally have been talking away, filling the silence with whatever popped into his head, but he was tired. He also knew his uncle must be wondering what had happened the night before, but he wasn’t really sure what to do about that. 

Wayne kept giving them sideways glances, clearly trying to ignore the silence, pretending like it wasn’t completely abnormal for Eddie who typically never shut up. But eventually, having apparently had enough, he gently set his fork down on the table and looked squarely at the two of them. 

“Now, look boys, I know I ain’t supposed to ask any questions about what happened to you two, and honestly-” he paused, blowing out a long breath. “I'm not sure I want to know. But if you want to talk, if you think it’ll help, I’m here for you. Both of you– for whatever you need, and nothing you’d say to me would ever leave the three of us.”

It was actually something they’d discussed however briefly before falling asleep. It didn’t seem fair to leave Wayne in the dark when he’d been nothing but supportive so far, even after Steve showed up at his doorstep in the middle of the night crying that he needed to make sure Eddie wasn't dead again.

“I’m not sure you’d believe us if we told you.” 

“I’ve seen some shit, Steve. You’d be surprised what I'm willing to believe.” 

Wayne took it well enough.

Not a single look of doubt crossed his face as he listened to the whole saga of Hawkins lab and the Upside Down. Worry? Certainly, but never once did he question if what he was being told was the truth. Not even when they told him about the other Eddie, though he did look a little haunted by the thought of it.

Steve took the lead for the most part, since he’d been there for so much more of things, and at several points in the storytelling Wayne did ask him to stop, to give him a moment to process things and also to ask, where were his parents? Why didn’t they ever seem to show up when he needed them? How could their son have been dealing with all this shit, for all this time, and they still have no idea it was going on?

Eddie was glad for it. He’d had some of the same questions on his mind since he learned the full truth of things, but they’d been dealing with so much. He knew Steve’s parents weren’t around a lot but it always felt like there was more to it, he just hadn’t really known how to ask. 

Steve tried to brush it off, but as patient as Wayne was, he was also persistent, and eventually Steve had to admit that his parents were hardly ever home. When they were, it seemed all they would do was judge him for not doing better in school, or in sports, or in life in general. Far from being concerned when the mall mysteriously caught fire, they had called to say how disappointed they were that he hadn’t gone out and gotten another job already. Never once asking if he had been there that day, if he was okay. 

When it was all over, and Wayne finally knew everything they had to tell, all he did was nod and start clearing the table. 

“You know, Steve, we got plenty of room here if you’d like to come stay with us.” He said casually, as he put all their dishes in the sink.

Eddie grinned.

“Oh.” Steve said, blinking in surprise. He looked from Eddie’s smiling face to Wayne’s back, opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water. 

“Um, thank you. I… do you– do you mean just for now, or…” Steve trailed off. 

Wayne turned, drying his hands on a kitchen towel and shrugged. “For now, or for good. It’s up to you and Ed really. I’m happy to have you, son, and I'd sleep better at night if I knew you were right here– safe under my borrowed roof.”

Steve bit his lip, still looking at them both hesitantly like was truly unsure of his welcome. 

Wayne sighed, plopping back down in his chair.

Eddie was familiar with this particular expression, having been the receiving end of it more than a few before. Wayne was uncomfortable about whatever it was he was about to say, but damned it he wasn’t going to say it anyway.

“I know you two probably feel like it’s too soon for all this, and ignore an old man if you like because God knows I only know what i’m talking about roughly half the time, but–”

A lie, Wayne was always right, but Eddie decided it wasn’t the time to argue. 

“Your relationship might be new, but the way you feel about each other ain’t. You’ve been through Hell together, in this life and another, it seems. That kinda thing either brings people together or breaks them apart, and from where I'm sittin’ it looks like it’s only made you closer, stronger.”

Eddie took Steve’s hand that was resting on the table and laced their fingers together. 

Wayne tilted his head. “Maybe a little codependent but it’s not the worst thing in the world.” He murmured. 

“Move in, Stevie?” Eddie asked, looking Steve firmly in the eye. “Please, I want you to stay for good. And it’s not just about me wanting you here after my nightmare memories, or wanting to get you away from your shitty parents. Wayne’s right, and who cares if it’s too soon. We both know better than most how short life can be.”

“My parents kicked me out.” Steve blurted out suddenly. “There was a message on the machine from Keith, saying I was fired for too many no call no shows. They heard it and flipped out on me when I came home yesterday.  I have till the end of the week to get out.”

“Baby, why didn’t you say something sooner?”

Steve shrugged, “I didn’t want you to feel obligated or–.”

“What were you gonna do, sleep in your car?”

“If I had to.” Steve admitted. “Or sneak into Robin’s house.”

“Well, that settles it then.” Wayne said with finality. “When do you wanna go get your stuff? I can go with you if you want.”

Steve looked down, cheeks going a little pink. “It’s all in my car already. The stuff I wanted to keep anyway. I packed it up before I went to bed last night.”

3 Months later

Steve held up another god-awful polo shirt and waved it in his direction. “You sure you don’t want to borrow something of mine? Look, it's even black!”

Eddie was tearing through their small closet, no closer to finding what he was looking for than he had been ten minutes ago. 

“No way, Harrington. That look is all you. Besides–” He grunted as he finally pulled the plain black dress shirt from between a sea of red, black, and gray flannels, holding it up triumphantly. “I have this, and a brand new pair of non-ripped jeans that I was saving just for the occasion.”

It was graduation day and they were getting ready to go and cheer on Robin, Nancy, and Jonathan as they walked across the stage to get their diplomas. 

Eddie wouldn’t be joining them. 

He’d been given a choice when the doctor’s cleared him to return to school. He could go back, knowing he was likely to fail, all the while being subjected to hate and vitriol from the rest of the student body, or, if he agreed to never set foot on school property again, they would pass him, and send his diploma in the mail. 

It was an easy decision. He took the diploma. It was no skin off his back. The only thing he missed about that place was Hellfire, and it was simple enough to move their weekly game to the cabin, and a hell of a lot more pleasant than the old musty drama room provided by the school. 

Technically he’d be breaking his word today by showing up to the ceremony, since it was being held in the school’s auditorium, but he figured, fuck Higgins. Eddie already had the diploma. What were they gonna do, make him give it back? Nothing was going to stop him from showing up for three of the people who’d had his back before they ever really knew each other. 

“Boys! I hope you’re getting dressed in there, we gotta leave in fifteen minutes!” Wayne shouted from the other room.

Eddie grinned, buttoning his shirt up as he caught Steve’s eye through the mirror, while the other boy fixed his hair.

They giggled in unison, both of them knowing full well that they should have been dressed a while ago, but that was the thing sometimes about sharing a room with your significant other, someone starts to get undressed and suddenly it becomes really easy to get distracted.

Things had been going great for a while now. Steve eventually stopped looking at him like he was going to disappear, and Eddie’s dreams had slowed to a crawl before finally stopping altogether, leaving him with a full set of alternate memories. He didn’t think about it all that much anymore. As quickly as they had come, the memories started to fade into the background. There, if he wanted to poke at them, but easy enough to leave in the past if he so chose, which he did most of the time. 

Still, as good as things were, as happy as they were, Eddie was nervous. He had a big question to ask Steve and he wasn’t sure how the other boy was going to take it. 

Eddie cleared his throat and walked over to where Steve stood, wrapping his arms around him from behind. 

“Hey, Stevie, what would you think about getting out of here?”

“Like, the cabin?”

“I was thinking more like… Hawkins.”  

Steve stilled, hesitating before he responded. “And go where?”

Eddie took a deep breath, letting it all out in a rush. “What if we got a place in New York with a certain friend of ours who’ll be going to school there in the fall?”

At first Steve broke out into the widest smile imaginable, his eyes sparkling with it and Eddie thought maybe this wouldn't be such a hard sell, but a split second later Steve’s face fell. 

“What about the kids, we can't just leave them here on their own.” 

Eddie rested his chin on Steve’s shoulder, still watching him carefully through the mirror as he swayed them back and forth, subtly trying to soothe the other boy’s nerves. 

“They won’t be on their own, baby, they have parents, families, each other. And it’s not like we wouldn’t come visit. It’s a 10 hour drive– hour and a half by plane if we’re in a hurry.”

“You’ve really put some thought into this, haven't you?” 

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while now. Since Robin got her letter.” 

Steve chewed on his bottom lip, turning in Eddie’s arms to face him. 

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t be stupid, of course you should go.” Dustin said, suddenly appearing in the doorway. 

They both jumped, completely forgetting that the kid was getting dropped off here to ride to the ceremony with them since his mom had to work. 

“Jesus Christ, kid, put a fucking bell on or something.” Eddie said.

“Dustin, what? You want me to leave?” Steve asked, leaving the circle of Eddie’s arms to take a step towards the kid.

“It’s over. For real this time, Steve. I know you think you need to stay here to protect us, but you deserve to get out of here– start your life. We’ll be fine, I promise. You’ll call and you’ll visit, and you better get a comfortable couch for me to sleep on when I come to stay with you.”

Forget the bell, if it made him happy this kid could sneak up on Eddie all he wanted, because he’d just said the one thing that might convince Steve to finally leave this place and it’s awful history behind.

“Are you sure?” Steve asked.

Dustin nodded emphatically. “Robin needs you, and it’ll be… easier for the two of you in the city, won’t it?”

Their relationship was no secret to the party, least of all Dustin since he and Will had witnessed their coming together in the Upside Down. They’d told everyone else not long after Steve had officially moved into the cabin. 

Eddie took Steve’s hand and squeezed. Steve squeezed back.

It would be easier. There would be places– shops, gay bars, whole neighborhoods where they could walk down the street hand-in-hand, in relative safety compared to their small Indiana town. 

“And you’ll come visit? The others too?”

Dustin grinned, making a waffling motion with his hand.  “Might take some convincing to get Mike to come along, but yeah. For Eddie, he’ll do it.”

Steve laughed, shaking his head. “He’s never gonna forgive me for dating his sister is he?”

“Nope,” Dustin said, chuckling as well. 

“So, what d’ya say, sunshine?” Eddie asked. 

Infuriatingly, Steve still hesitated. “And Wayne, he’s okay with this?”

As if summoned, although more likely he was just getting tired of waiting around for them all, Wayne popped his head around the corner with perfect comedic timing. “Stop worrying about what other people want, boy, what do you want?”

Steve sighed, smiling sheepishly.

“Can I be the one to tell Robin? It’ll be a much better graduation gift than the watch I planned on giving her.”

“Of course, baby.” Eddie quickly agreed.

“Okay, then.”

“Is that a yes? Are we really doing this? Are we moving to New York?!”

Steve nodded and leaned over, pressing a kiss to Eddie’s cheek.

“It’s a yes.”

Thanks forever to @penny00dreadful for being the best friend, cheerleader, and beta in the whole fucking world 💜 truly could not do it without you. Also special thanks to @hitlikehammers for all the discussion and encouragement on this!

@hissunflowers @sadisticaltarts @gutterflower77 @epiclazershark @yeahhhh-suga @soapyscoobert @thetrueghostqueen @guppynuggets @reh-hateshumans @katdeerly @kolorzapster @useless-nb-bisexual @sammyammi @ellietheasexylibrarian @thesecondfate @eleganttidalwavecloud @localcrustrat @letsmo6 @justaquietnerd @marvelobessed @femmeratale @carriethesaint @novelnovella

[eowynstwin]

There is something very special about a certain part of the cod fandom that tries to make Graves something more than what he is. They see a violent, backstabbing racist—a man who leads a private mercenary company that commits blatant war crimes intentionally referencing real war crimes committed by a real-world PMC—and think this is an appropriate character to redeem, for some reason.

Case in point, a short fic I had the misfortune of scrolling past in my FYP just now, which imagines a scene in which Shepherd coerces Graves to betray the 141 by threatening his significant other (implied, obviously, to be the reader). Graves is characterized to be resistant, protesting fervently, unwilling to violate the trust he’s built with men he respects—as if, in-game, we don’t witness him taunting Soap while chasing him down with a motherfucking tank, or accusing Alejandro of corruption purely by virtue of knowing Valeria. As if we don’t see him gleefully burn down the homes of or give the order to execute many Mexican civilians.

As if he doesn’t joke, even before he betrays our “heroes,” about how he could probably take over Las Almas by force with Shadow Company.

I just—yes, none of these men are good people. No active service member, particularly in the special forces sector, has clean hands. And yes, in fandom culture writ large we often soften and redeem men who have committed atrocities of frightening scale.

But there’s something to be said about the redemption of villains like Loki—whose megalomania is diegetically personal, whose exercise of domination is so fantastical as to have little accidental effect on the viewer at all—in comparison to that of villains like Graves, whose capability and willingness to cause harm mirrors the real world a bit too closely for a lot of people to be comfortable hand waving away.

Idk. I don’t have much of a point. Expecting thoughtful engagement from fans who consume this propaganda purely through a lens of very heterosexual romance is an exercise in futility. Graves bad don’t like him, send tweet.

[mariacallous]

Ten years ago today, news of the crash of Malaysian Airlines flight MH-17 in eastern Ukraine shocked the world. All 298 passengers on board the Boeing 777, including 80 children, perished. This tragic event was just one of the many shocks coming out of Ukraine that year, as the largest European war after 1945 unfolded in southern and eastern Ukraine.

The war began in February 2014 with the occupation of Crimea by regular Russian troops, followed by Moscow’s illegal annexation of the peninsula in March. Russian irregular troops then entered Donbas in April 2014—ostensibly to “protect” Russian-speaking Ukrainians. Later on, more Russian armed groups, including Wagner mercenaries and small regular army units, poured into Ukraine. They brought with them heavy equipment, including anti-aircraft missile launchers used to shoot down MH-17, a commercial flight on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, as well as Ukrainian fighter planes and transport aircraft bringing troops and supplies. After Ukrainian defenders began to push back the Russians—at that time still mostly irregulars—large numbers of regular Russian troops started invading eastern Ukraine in mid-August.

Over the course of six months in 2014, there was a manifest, expanding Russian military aggression in the heart of Europe. Yet the West reacted barely at all—with meek diplomatic statements and a few minor sanctions. Besides their limited scope, the sanctions were initially focused narrowly on the annexation of Crimea. The first larger sectoral sanctions followed the shooting of MH-17, which killed dozens of EU citizens. Never were the sanctions a coherent response to the most significant attack on a European country since 1945. During the years that followed, even as fighting continued, little additional action was taken. The West continued business as usual with Russia or even upgraded relations, like Germany’s push to build the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

How could it be that it took the West until Feb. 24, 2022—when Moscow expanded the war it launched in 2014 to a full-scale invasion—to wake up to the reality that Russia is a revisionist state seeking to impose, by any means necessary, its own version of European security order?

Between 2014 and 2022, Western politicians, commentators, and journalists, with few exceptions, continued to believe that Russia’s aims were limited—and that the war simmering in eastern Ukraine was a Ukrainian civil conflict taking place in isolation from Russia’s much larger revisionist aims. Not only did Western efforts to resolve the conflict fail. Since the West continued with business as usual, it also inspired Moscow to press on and paved the way for the 2022 invasion.

Why did the West fail to properly diagnose Russia’s war in Ukraine for eight long years? What lessons from this failure are important today?

One reason was the lack of Western expertise on Ukraine and Russia’s tactics there. Moscow’s interference in Ukrainian affairs since the country’s independence in 1991 had largely escaped Western journalists, political analysts, and international relations scholars. When some Western journalists arrived to cover the events, the situation on the ground was chaotic and its interpretation a challenge for newly minted Ukraine experts. Russian narratives of intra-Ukrainian conflict and regional escalation were simple, understandable, and made sense to many observers—not the least those who had previously worked in Moscow. Many media also relied on their Moscow correspondents, with their skewed, Russia-centric lens, to report on events in Ukraine.

There was also a glaring lack of awareness of Russian hybrid methods. Ten years ago, few Western observers understood the Russian way of war, for which Ukraine was a testing ground. Attempts by Ukrainians, other East Europeans, and Western area experts to explain Russia’s strategy were usually met with skepticism. To outside observers, these descriptions of the Kremlin’s methods, where the intelligence services play a central role, often sounded like speculative assessments or outright conspiracy theories.

The parachute reporters arriving in eastern Ukraine in 2014 witnessed pro-Russian protests and listened to pro-Russian Ukrainian citizens. Some foreign observers could not even tell the difference between Ukrainian residents of Donbas and people from neighboring Russian oblasts who crossed as adventurers or were bussed into Ukraine to participate in the supposedly indigenous separatist movement.

Pro-Ukrainian journalists and other anti-separatist local voices in Donbas, in contrast, faced threats, physical violence, and worse. These Ukrainians feared the consequences of expressing themselves publicly and often remained invisible to visiting reporters. A number of eastern Ukrainians resisting the Russian takeover were threatened, attacked, abducted, severely injured, or secretly killed by Russian irregulars or their local collaborators. Most of these collaborators were encouraged, financed, delegated, or otherwise coordinated by Moscow. This suppression of local opposition laid the groundwork for Russia’s eventual annexation of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

Western media only started to have a substantial presence in Ukraine in December 2021, on the eve of the full-scale invasion. Before that, much of the reporting was done by correspondents based in Moscow, who usually spoke only Russian and were heavily exposed to Russian narratives.

The Washington Post did not open a Kyiv bureau until May 2022—and sent its former Moscow correspondent to report on Ukraine. Similarly, the New York Times only opened an office in Ukraine in July 2022, headed by the paper’s veteran Moscow correspondent, Andrew Kramer, whose coverage of the war since 2014 had outraged Ukrainians. The newspaper’s reference to Russia’s hybrid attack as a “civil war” (later corrected) and Kramer referring to Russian-occupied territories as “separatist zones” echoed Kremlin language, reminding some Ukrainians of the Times’ sordid history of misreporting genocides and Soviet atrocities. Another widespread adoption of Kremlin talking points on Ukraine was the Western media’s myopic fixation on right-wing extremism that was supposedly out of control in Ukraine—a claim that has been solidly debunked but that would be used by Russian President Vladimir Putin to justify his full-scale attack in 2022.

Many journalists eventually learned to be more critical of Russian narratives. But there remains what behavioral psychologists call an anchoring bias: When people learn about something for the first time, they remember their initial interpretations. These take concerted effort to unlearn and can still be exploited by Russian propaganda.

There were multiple signs of direct Russian involvement in the events in the Donbas in 2014. Most Ukrainians understood intuitively, from the early days of the alleged rebellion, that the unrest and unfolding war were initiated, directed, and funded by Russia. In contrast, it took Western observers time to establish, specify, and verify the facts—and to distinguish them from the many lies.

A circumspect approach to information and conflicting claims from war zones is, in principle, good practice to avoid misinformation. In 2014, however, this overabundance of caution often turned into laziness—a cover not to do the hard work of digging deeper to establish the facts on the ground. With many Western governments and media commentators invested in the idea of a “thaw” with Moscow at the time, there was also an incentive not to look too closely at Russia’s involvement.

The inability, for many years, to define 2014 as a first Russian invasion also underlines the inability of Western observers, including the media, to cope with the sophisticated tactics of hybrid, grey-zone war. As long as the Russian irregulars and mercenaries did not wear official Russian army insignia—and as long as the Kremlin issued a stream of denials that the Russians in eastern Ukraine were anything more than “tourists”—media editors and fact checkers could take refuge behind a false equivalence of opposing claims and perpetuate the notion that the war was an intra-Ukrainian conflict. The media’s difficulties in properly framing a war if it’s waged beneath the threshold of an openly declared one continues to be an issue today.

Western willful ignorance was particularly evident concerning the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Lugansk People’s Republic. From their creation in 2014 to their end in September 2022, these were Russian proxy regimes. Yet many in the West—including governments, diplomats, academics, and journalists—treated them as statelets set up by supposed eastern Ukrainian “insurgents.” Only in January 2023 did the European Court on Human Rights put an official end to this pretense, establishing that Russia had effective control over these fake republics since the day they were created.

Regardless of motivation, the West’s slow public reaction to the unfolding events in 2014 left space for Moscow to fill with disinformation, half-truths, and propaganda narratives. Many of them, even after having long been debunked, still circulate today.

The West’s widespread cognition problem between 2014 and 2022 was also a result of a fundamental gap between Western strategic culture and Moscow’s sophisticated hybrid and grey-zone tactics. Initially, foreign observers were often reluctant to acknowledge that the war in the Donbas was part of the same operation as Russia’s more straightforward occupation of Crimea. There remained a naïve belief that the Donbas war was a separate case—an unfortunate conflict between equally legitimate interests to be resolved through joint negotiation, deliberation, and mediation.

Pursuing tactics known as “reflexive control” or “escalation control” that were first developed by the Soviet Union, the Kremlin used aggression via proxies to impose its will on Ukraine and its Western partners. From 2014 to 2022, aggressive behavior alternated with feigned concessions and apparent de-escalation to deceive Western politicians and negotiators into thinking that a peaceful resolution remained possible even as Moscow tightened its grip and prepared for an eventual full-scale conquest.

Throughout the talks that eventually produced the Minsk accords, Moscow used purposeful escalation by its proxy and regular forces to exert maximum pressure on Western and Ukrainian negotiators—but stayed short of an open and massive Russian military attack that could trigger a Western response. Moscow’s zigzag between escalation, apparently conciliatory moves, and stalling tactics managed to deceive many Western observers, who continued to believe that the West was in control of escalation, mistaking Russia staying below the threshold of full-scale war for a sign of moderation. This mistake proved deadly for Ukrainians, allowing the conflict to fester and grew.

On Feb. 24, 2022, the West finally woke up to reality, imposed substantial sanctions on Russia, rushed defensive weapons to Ukraine, and later followed up by delivering heavy weapons. Had there not been so many Western misconceptions about Russia’s first invasion in 2014, those weapons might already have been delivered then. And today’s much larger, much more brutal war might have been avoided.

[drdemonprince]

are there any arguments against the following hypothesis:

a lot of people carry (intergenerational) trauma in their brains and bodies. Some people choose the construct of autism to label their intergenerational trauma traits. this gives a sense of belonging to a community, which people in capitalism carrying (intergenerational) trauma don't have. Intergenerational trauma can be healed (IFS and Ancestral Lineage Healing are two great approaches for this). This would mean that autism can be healed, and I know this is an utterly triggering and ableist sentence. We classify it ableist because the pathology paradigm of mental health has taught us that healing means 'getting rid of' or masking. What healing actually is and should be is getting to know, attending to and listening to (autistic traits, for example). If we listen and attune to something, it relaxes. So if we listen to our autistic traits and needs, they soften and may become less prominent (the result of unmasking). If autism is the brain and if everyone has brain plasticity, transforming the brain by listening to our autistic traits and attending to their needs may actually make us feel like we have fewer autistic traits. This may feel threatening because we might fear losing our sense of belonging (being autistic or identifying with the autistic community). Not everyone has the privilege, resources, and capacities to attend to and 'heal' aspects of themselves. Society limits the possibilities in which we can accommodate our autistic traits and the prominence of harmful 'healing' paradigms gatekeeps us from the healing we actually need. Most healthcare providers are unaware and still being taught harmful approaches to 'help' body and mind. A lot of harm is being done while slowly but surely new paradigms that are actually helpful are shifting into mainstream Western (mental) healthcare sectors.

A lifetime may be too short to heal all the intergenerational trauma our bodies have accumulated. So identifying as autistic, belonging to the community, and using the construct of autism to deal with our experiences in the world is one solution to protect ourselves during our lifetime and in this quite fucked up society, and to feel some sense of belonging in midst all the craziness.

What am I missing and what are your thoughts? Maybe this is more a late night ramble than anything that actually makes sense to anyone, and that would be okay too...

There are a couple of faulty premises here. The primary one is this:

"So if we listen to our autistic traits and needs, they soften and may become less prominent"

That's not really what happens, and in fact unmasking is the act of your Autistic traits becoming MORE prominent and you shaping your life around them MORE.

I'm sympathetic to many of the ideas you are sharing vis a vis the social construction of disability labels including Autism, but certain elements of the experience such as sensory issues and gross motor deficits are very much NOT negotiable or best understood through a social or contextual lens alone. I had pervasive developmental delays relative to my peers not just socially, but physically too, and nothing is making my sensory issues or propensity to Autistic burnout go away.

I think this take on Autism is largely more appealing to maskers who, in a different life, would have been Aspie-identified. Not saying you're that, I'm just commenting on your positionality relative to those in the community who cannot verbally speak, couldn't write with a pen or walk due to motor deficits, have regular seizures, or can't mask at all. I may pass for what people used to consider to be "high functioning" in a lot of ways but i was also in special education because of physical disability caused by being Autistic, so I'm a bit sensitive to the interpretation of Autism as solely being a social mismatch or a trauma effect or things of that nature. I think many mental illnesses are basically just trauma symptoms with a worse more stigmatizing label put on them, but Autism is a lot more than that.

[rottenpumpkin13]

zack’s chaotic mukbang frightens yet intrigues me

SOLDIER Vlogging Shenanigans pt. 38

[The video starts and there's a nose pressed right up to the lens. It sniffs, and then an "oh crap, I'm too close" is heard before the nose backs away]

[Zack appears fully now. He's grinning and waving at the camera. Behind him are Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis all sitting on the floor in front of a coffee table. Genesis is on his phone, Angeal is organizing the various takeout containers, and Sephiroth is eying the food]

"What's up vlog? Today we're doing things a bit differently! We're doing a .....Drumroll please!"

[The three behind him start rythmically banging their fists on the coffee table. Genesis is still on his phone]

"We're doing a Mick-Bing!" Zack announces, bouncing on his feet.

"MUKBANG!" Genesis echoes from behind him.

"Mukbang!" Zack corrects himself, still grinning. "As you can see behind me, we've ordered from that place in downtown sector three that's famous for their tongue-transplant-wings and—"

[Sephiroth raises his hand in the background. Zack stops talking and turns around]

"Yes, Seph?"

"Why are they called tongue-transplant-wings?"

[Before Zack can answer, Genesis shoves his phone in Sephiroth's face with a smack]

"Because those who eat them suffer tongue injuries! Look at this article. One gentleman needed a tongue transplant! Hence the name!"

[Zack backs up from the camera and sits down at the coffee table]

"It's not that serious." He waves one hand dismissively while opening a takeout box with the other. "We're SOLDIER, right? Our pain tolerance is, like, crazy high! We'll be fine."

[Sephiroth is still reading the article on Genesis's phone, his eyebrows raising further up with every word he reads]

"Zack has a point," Angeal says with a shrug, then immediately grimaces as if the words taste bitter on his lips. "Even if the wings are lethal to unenhanced humans, we'll still handle it no problem."

"Alright!" Genesis shrugs, annoyed. "So what this means is that even if my tongue melts, I won't feel it! Yup! That's comforting!"

[Sephiroth looks up from the phone as Angeal and Zack start laughing]

"Don't be such a baby, Gen!" Zack mocks him. "What? Are you scared of a little bit of hot sauce?"

"Are you scared you're going to get your fingers dirty?" Angeal chimes in with a smug look.

[Genesis looks into the camera furiously. Smoke is practically billowing from his nostrils as his face reddens. Sephiroth watches as Genesis tears open his box of wings]

"You know what? Let's just get this over with. Then, when we're all bonding in the Infirmary, I'll have the pleasure of saying I told you so!"

[Sephiroth stares at the glistening, red chicken wings inside his own box. He looks apprehensive]

"If you still have a tongue with which to speak, that is," he says.

[Genesis's eyes widen comically, making Angeal double over laughing. As Zack tries to catch his breath, he grabs a wing from his own box, prompting the others to do the same]

"Alright!" Zack clears his throat. "On the count of three, ready? One, two, three, eat!"

[All four of them take a bite out of their food. The camera then films Zack spitting his piece back out]

"THIS IS WHAT MURDER TASTES LIKE," he yells, fanning his mouth, "IT'S LIKE A CHAINSAW IN THE FORM OF A CHICKEN WING!"

[Angeal is sweating profusely. He's hysterical, reaching for the glass of water in front of him]

"HOW THE HELL IS THIS LEGAL?" He screams before splashing the water on his face.

"I TOLD YOU SO!" Genesis screeches back. His face is the same color as his coat. He's inhaling his third glass of milk. "I TOLD—"

[Genesis starts retching]

[The last thing the camera films is Genesis running to the bathroom to throw up, Angeal diving across the table to get to Sephiroth's glass of milk, and Zack screaming "MY TONGUE IS MELTING!"]

-

[The next video starts with Sephiroth. He's walking around Angeal's apartment, holding a chicken wing with one hand and filming himself with the other]

"I don't know what all the fuss is about." He continues to chew. "The chicken wings are quite nice. Wouldn't you say so, Genesis?"

[He pans the camera around. Genesis is on the floor with his head completely submerged in a bucket of milk. Genesis lifts his head briefly. He's drenched in the drink]

"Fuck you," he says simply.

[Genesis dunks his head back in the bucket of milk]

[Sephiroth laughs, then ends the video]

[phoenixyfriend]

I’m honestly so burnt out by *gestures at everything* that I really appreciate your posts cause you’ve explain your research and goals for finding non biased stuff and then you just. Collate it with sources and like. I don’t know where you’re getting the energy but WOW you’re amazing 🥹 & thanks 🙏

About two months ago, I started listening to politics podcasts from big names like BBC and NPR in order to understand enough of what was going on to even have an opinion. I added more variety as I went on, and I'm now listening to more politics than I am music.

The thing is, I am... undiagnosed but most likely autistic. When I learn things, I want to share them. Tumblr is great for infodumping. Also for complaining, which I do a lot of as well.

I also left the private sector because I was so frustrated with feeling like I wasn't doing something worthwhile.

I have a job where I do something I feel makes an impact, but it still doesn't feel like enough.

The result is my infodumping politics on tumblr with an activist lens in hopes that I can make a difference and get all this bitching out of my head and somewhere useful.

Will I burn out? Maybe. Am I being paid? I think I've made about thirty dollars on blogging in the past month, so no.

(That's fine. Donate to PCRF or MSF, it'll do way more good that way.)

But for now, I have a lot of information in my head, itchy writer's fingers, and a chip on my shoulder about proving that I do in fact know what I'm talking about and absolutely work from a place of compassion, both of which people tend to throw doubt on.

...so yeah, it's the probable 'tism, the need to make a difference, and pure spite.

[screamingcrows]

Wait, so what about Dottore (and a couple of others) in the mafia au?? Don't worry, I've got you covered.

Dottore

Not a doctor. Weapons specialist with a particular interest in biological warfare although he mainly does more conventional weapons. Secretive and reclusive, has his main base of operations dug down under a warehouse away from the city center. There's always a weird feeling in the air wherever he goes, rumors suggest something is fundamentally wrong with him, head trauma, various disorders... nothing is confirmed and reader finds him to be mostly harmless if a little eccentric.

Does service on reader's rifle and modifies it. Equips it with a better scope, heat mapping lens, changes the casing to a lightweight material, does maintenance on all internal parts... All of it usually without being prompted. Offers reader an exoskeleton to improve weapon handling, reduce strain from recoil, he just has to connect it to her spinal chord, at which point reader politely declines.

There are rumours he runs an organ trafficking side business, but no one has been able to prove it. When asked about it Pantalone will simply answer along the lines of "I'm aware of my partners' various endeavours. But divulging their secrets would be ill mannered"

Pierro

The actual boss and head of the organisation. Has become more withdrawn after an accident that happened before reader was recruited. Is very rarely seen, more myth than man. Rumored to have been a fearsome sight when he was active. His character was enough to draw a lot of members during his prime, and the idolisation still persists among younger members although they might never have met him. Very rarely had to engage in combat due to the sheer respect he commanded with his presence - although that sounds heavily romanticised to reader... Supposedly he still manages relationships with other groups, and has 'friends' in every sector of the city. If you dig long enough everyone owes him a favor.

Arlecchino

In charge of recruitment and basic combat training. Reader went through a brief period under her care and did not enjoy it. Tough 'love' was an everyday occurrence and she did what was necessary to make sure her charges would survive their future. Oversees several brothels and bars through proxies who report directly to her. Said to be the most well informed when it comes to any happenings on the street and is quick to use any unrest as an opportunity to test out new recruits and weed out the weak.

Tartaglia

Dubbed "the bloodhound" by many of the regular members due to always following around at someone's heels. Helps Arlecchino with combat training and enjoys it. Will occasionally be seen entering covered in blood of unknown origin. Banned from Pantalone's mansion for this specific reason. Young and enthusiastic, he gets along better with the regular members of the mob rather than the people in charge.

Pulcinella

Corrupt City Hall member.