This news might be a bit old, but I don’t think it”s been mentioned yet:

Quote: Russia’s foreign intelligence director alluded to cancel culture and claimed that Russia is suffering “a cancellation” as the world slaps sanctions on the nation for invading Ukraine.

“The masks have been dropped. The West is not just trying to surround Russia with a new Iron Curtain,” Russia’s Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin said on Thursday. “We are talking about attempts to destroy our state — its ‘cancellation,’ as it is now customary to say in a ‘tolerant’ liberal-fascist environment.”

Yes, Russia’s blaming the pushback against the their invasion of Ukraine on cancel culture.

The Moscow Times: Putin Lashes Out at 'National Traitors' with Pro-Western Views
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/1...umn-a76987

"
Russian President Vladimir Putin gave strongly worded comments on Russians who he says betray their country by holding a pro-Western worldview:


"They [the West] will certainly be counting on the 'fifth column,' on national traitors.
[...]
They think it’s a sign they belong to a higher caste, to a higher race.
[...]
As I mentioned earlier, their goal is to destroy Russia.

But any nation, and even more so the Russian people, will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and will simply spit them out like an insect in their mouth, spit them onto the pavement.

I am convinced that a natural and necessary self-detoxification of society like this would strengthen our country, our solidarity and cohesion and our readiness to respond to any challenge."
"

He went full Hitler!
It's no longer aimed only at Ukraine, but also at Russians in Russia.

It's really only a matter of time before WW3... Unless their own military show some spine and evict Putin from office (as if)

Yup, Putin has gone full Hitler, or perhaps full Stalin.

Russia has also just responded to Biden’s characterizations of Putin as ‘a pure thug’, ‘a murderous dictator’, and ‘a war criminal’ by calling Biden ‘irritable’.

I bet Russians absolutely suck at ‘your mamma’ jokes.

Boru

I've been reading articles that try to explain the current war, and there are a few cultural and historical things at play.

* An idea that Kyiv is the birthplace of the first Rus empire, and is therefore part of Russia
* The fact that Russian has been an empire, ruled by autocrats for 1000 years.
* While the concept of Empire lost its moral foundation in the West, it is still present in Russia.
* The Soviet military doctrine that Russia must have client states as buffer zones in case the West invades like Hitler or Napoleon did.
* Russians see their culture and religion as superior. The Russian Orthodox Church is part of the state apparatus, declaring Western liberalism as evil.

These ideas will take generations to change. The problem isn't just Putin. It is history, religion, and a belief in Empire.

Seems like that would make russia part of the ukranian empire, to me. At the rate things are going, it may very well end up being. : shrugs :

(March 18, 2022 at 10:47 am)HappySkeptic Wrote: Yup, Putin has gone full Hitler, or perhaps full Stalin.

I wouldn’t say he’s gone full Hitler until he starts to herd the Ukrainians into extermination camps. Admittedly, I wouldn’t put that past him. As for Full Stalin? It’s safe to assume that if he hasn’t gone Full Stalin, he’s really chomping at the bit to do so. And the sad thing is I’m almost certain that the majority of Russians wouldn’t even see him being compared to Stalin as a bad thing, because If you’ve ever had a female acquaintance who kept falling in love with men who beat the shit out of her, that’s basically been Russia’s relationship with her rulers and has been thus for centuries.

Boru

We used to be told that Russia had the second-best army in the world. Turns out they only have the second-best army in Ukraine.

Boru

In my biased and often warped opinion, it should have been relayed to Putin, "Your first bomb that explodes in Ukraine will trigger a bomb in Moscow and every other major city in Russia."

Then you have to have the fortitude to make good on your threat.