Wow, that must have been crazy, changing your whole worldview like that. I have not read Furrs book on Katyn yet, tho i have read his chapter on Katyn in "Blood Lies", so i do have a general idea of the evidence on Katyn. I agree, nazis did it most likely.
Lmfao, PiS is nuts. Btw, as a polish comrade, what is your take on Katyn? Do you agree with historians like Grover Furr that it was nazis who did it, not soviets? Or do you think soviets did it?
I love everytime Russia supposedly "poison" someone with ultradeadly chemical weapons yet they never die. Russia must have the worst hitmen ever.
Cope that "akchually Russia lost" while crying in silence
Many people will say what you say, that they are "evil genocidal mass murderers". However, i have read a lot on this, and i have found no evidence of this. The War in Croatia and Bosnia was started by the Tudman ustashe fascists and the Izetbegovic Al Qaeda jihadists. They wanted to create an ethnically pure Croatia and Bosnia respectively, and were very clear about it. Tudman as i said was an open admirer of the ustashe (croat fascist militia that fought with the nazis in WW2, they genocided hundreds of thousands of muslims and serbs) and a holocaust denier, who openly said that muslims and serbs had to be expelled from Croatia.
Same with Izetbegovic, who had fought in the Waffen SS during WW2 and was imprisoned for it under Tito. In 1983, Izetbegovic published his "Islamic Declaration", in which he advocated for a sharia law islamic theocracy in Bosnia, and he said this was only possible by expelling all nonmuslims, since "muslims and nonmuslims cannot peacefully coexist". In 1983, yugoslav courts ruled the Islamic Declaration promoted chauvinism and genocide, and sentenced Izetbegovic to 14 years in prison.
This is the type of people that ruled Croatia and Bosnia, bloodthirsty fascists. You would think that this would result in a prosecution right? And yet, while the police were hunting down Milosevic and Mladic, Tudman and Izetbegovic were calmly in their homes, undisturbed, they were never prosecuted. While Tudman and Izetbegovic were genociding serbs and each other, the serbs were trying to find antifascist allies against them. If Mladic was a "bloodthirsty butcher who wanted to kill all muslims", then why did he ally with Fikret Abdic, a muslim politician? Abdic, unlike Izetbegovic, was a secular social democrat and antifascist. He led muslim militias to try to overthrow Izetbegovic, and he proclaimed the Republic of Western Bosnia as a base to do so. This republic was allied with the serbs against the croat and muslim fascists during all of the war. Coincidentally, while Izetbegivic was never prosecuted, Abdic was immediately arrested and imprisoned for decades after the war ended. Its almost like this is a victors justice isnt it?
The serbs were only defending themselves from genocide, they didnt start that war and had no intention to "create a Greater Serbia" as the narrative goes. They were being expelled from their own houses, were they supposed to just let it happen?
Now on crimes committed by serbs. There was no genocide, this is a complete lie. However there were deportations on an ethnic basis. Was it good? Hell no! But you must understand this. You had big muslim population enclaves in serb territory. You have no way of knowing who supports Izetbegovic and who doesnt. You have to secure your territory, so you can only do 2 things. You imprison them all, which is terrible, or you send them to muslim territory, which is what they did. I agree, its terrible, but thats how war is, serbs didnt start that war, NATO and their puppets did. Besides, this was done in many other wars. Stalin did it in WW2 with ethnic groups that mass collaborated with the nazis, such as tatars or chechens, he deported them to Kazakhstan to secure the front. Now were atrocities committed? Ofc yes. But it was not a state sponsored thing, it was done by rogue units in the military and chetnik militias.
Now on the supposed "crimes" that Mladic and Karadzic committed that make up the so called "bosnian genocide". When you hear "bosnian genocide" you think hundreds of concentration camps right? Yet, if you look into it, the "tribunal" could only prove 2 events that make up this "genocide". The first is the Siege of Sarajevo, which was done first by the Yugoslav Peoples Army and then by the Army of Republika Srpska, and lasted 3 years. During this siege, many civilians died due to shelling. However, the serbs, since the beginning of the siege, had offered Izetbegovic to evacuate all the population, but he refused, he knew civilian deaths would help justify a NATO intervention. Yet somehow the serbs are to blame for the deaths.
The second event is the Srebrenica massacre of 1995. Now Srebrenica was a muslim enclave deep within serb territory. To avoid civilian deaths, it was declared a UN Safe Haven in 1993. UN peacekeepers were dispatched there. Their task was to protect Srebrenica from any possible attack by Ratko Mladics serb troops and to disarm the local Izetbegovic loyal muslim troops led by Naser Orics. But yet, UN peacekeepers did not disarm the muslim troops. This allowed Oric to use Srebrenica as a safe base from where to attack serb territory, since serbs couldnt go in to respond. From Srebrenica, Oric carried out hundreds of attacks on serb villages, torturing serb civilians to death with bayonets and knives, often ending with a beheading. After every new attack, the serbs would ask the UN to do their job and disarm Oric, but they refused. Oric also used UN helicopters to transport weapons from muslim territory to Srebrenica to continue his guerrilla operations.
So, after 2 years of the UN doing nothing and thousands of dead serb civilians, Mladic decided to do the job of the UN himself. He stormed Srebrenica and disarmed the muslim troops. Most of the muslim population was expelled to muslim territory, it is false that all the men were killed. Most of the dead men were soldiers. Now were atrocities committed? Ofc, but it wasnt ordered from above, much less a genocide. Coincidentally, Oric had already escaped Srebrenica by helicopter before the attack. In fact, the muslim police chief of Srebrenica at the time, has said that Izetbegovic knew the attack was coming and wanted it to happen. This makes sense since Srebrenica was the main justification for the 1995 NATO invasion of Bosnia.
Does this look like a bloodthirsty genocide to you? To me it doesnt. If you wanna read more on this i recommend the book "To Kill a Nation" by Michael Parenti and an RT documentary on Mladic ill link below.
And lets not forget the show trials against Slobodan Milosevic, Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic and others. Milosevic was murdered by the EU nazis in prison, they didnt allow him medical treatment for his heart problems and he died of a heart attack. And the worst, even the fake tribunal had to admit he was innocent. That scum murdered an innocent man just for opposing US imperialism and neoliberalism.
"I love superior free western values. Russian patriots want to see their country invaded and balkanized. Yes i am a leftist, why you ask?"
-Zizek the nazi who supported the racist CIA separatist opposition in Yugoslavia (Slovenia) that broke up the country in the 90s
To add on my previous response, i think this quote by Mao Zedong from the time of the japanese invasion of China is quite relevant on this:
"Can a Communist, who is an internationalist, at the same time be a patriot? We hold that he not only can be but also must be. The specific content of patriotism is determined by historical conditions. There is the "patriotism" of the Japanese aggressors and of Hitler, and there is our patriotism. Communists must resolutely oppose the "patriotism" of the Japanese aggressors and of Hitler. The Communists of Japan and Germany are defeatists with regard to the wars being waged by their countries. To bring about the defeat of the Japanese aggressors and of Hitler by every possible means is in the interests of the Japanese and the German people, and the more complete the defeat the better. For the wars launched by the Japanese aggressors and Hitler are harming the people at home as well as the people of the world.
China's case, however, is different, because she is the victim of aggression. Chinese Communists must therefore combine patriotism with internationalism. We are at once internationalists and patriots, and our slogan is, "Fight to defend the motherland against the aggressors." For us defeatism is a crime and to strive for victory in the War of Resistance is an inescapable duty. For only by fighting in defense of the motherland can we defeat the aggressors and achieve national liberation. And only by achieving national liberation will it be possible for the proletariat and other working people to achieve their own emancipation. The victory of China and the defeat of the invading imperialists will help the people of other countries. Thus in wars of national liberation patriotism is applied internationalism."
Source: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-2/mswv2_10.htm
As you see, Mao clearly states, as indicated by the "" around the word "patriotism", that the so called "patriotism" of the imperialists is false, that not only do the invaded and oppressed have the patriotic duty to fight back, but also the working class of the invader countries has the patriotic duty to fight back against their own government, since the war doesnt benefit them either. Thus, as Mao states, "[communists] not only can be [patriots], but also must be [patriots]" and this is fully compatible with internationalism. And this makes sense, the workers of the world have the same interest, to achieve socialism and then communism, so it only follows that by fighting for the interests of your countrys workers, thus being a patriot, you are also fighting for the interests of the workers of the whole world, thus being an internationalist.
Patriotism has nothing to do with "being proud" of anything. Were the CPC and the KMT proud of anything when they started the reunification wars? Ofc not, and thats exactly why they started those wars. Patriotism is about loving your country, and, despite what fake patriots (meaning the bourgeoisie) would want you to believe, your country is made up of its people, its not an abstract idealistic idea of "America" or any other country. China was in shambles, and it was the CPCs patriotic duty to rebuild it and save the chinese people.
This idea that "you cant be patriotic of imperial core countries" and that if you do you are proimperialist is ridiculous and doesnt exist outside of the USA. If you dont believe me, read the party programmes of european communist parties and what they have to say. A good example is the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), an ML antirevisionist and very big party that led the fight against the austerity imposed on Greece by the EU after the 2008 crisis. The KKE openly says that they are patriots, and that its their patriotic duty to oppose the EU and its global imperialism. Most european communist parties say the same thing, and the few that dont tend to be the most proiimperialist liberal and eurocommunist ones.
You americans keep repeating this lie, but its false, and all you have to do is look outside your borders to see im right. Idk why you are so obsessed with this idea, maybe its a reaction to the toxic jingoism you have over there, which calls itself "patriotism" but is not. There is nothing patriotic about joining the US military and drone striking afghan children. In fact, i would say its the opposite, its every americans patriotic duty to NOT join the US military, since the only thing that allows US capitalists to mantain their power is having enough cannon fodder to fight for them in the military.
Also i dont understand what your last sentence is about, i said nothing about nationalism.
I dont know why, but many people here (mostly americans in my experience) are rabidly allergic to the word "patriotism". They seem to believe it means "jingoism" or "reactionary nationalism", when in reality those bourgeois ideas are completely antipatriotic and treasonous. There is nothing more patriotic than being a communist, fighting for the people of your country. How are you not a patriot if you love your people and want them to have the life they deserve, instead of the misery imposed on them by capitalism?
I would say most people here are proud patriots of their respective countries, but if you tell this to many american comrades here, theyll get up in arms about how actually patriotism is reactionary and they arent patriots, even though they are indeed patriots, they just dont admit it for some reason. It reminds me of some self described anarchists whose beliefs are basically marxism leninism, but theyll deny being MLs because "thats a bad tankie word". Truly a mistery why. Maybe its a reaction to the pervasive jingoism maskerading as patriotism in the USA idk.
Edit: To all the americans downvoting this, please read about the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), a very based party from an imperial core country which clearly states that they are patriots and that its their patriotic duty to oppose the EU and its imperialism.
Edit 2: Here are just 2 articles from the KKEs newspaper discussing patriotism and how its fully compatible with internationalism with quotes by Lenin:
https://www.rizospastis.gr/story.do?id=209459
https://www.rizospastis.gr/story.do?id=329397
Its in greek but just use google translate.
Edit 3: Article by the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) discussing revolutionary patriotism. The PCE is quite liberal and opportunist, but even they recognize that patriotism and communism go hand in hand. How much more evidence do you need?
If supporting Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, DPRK, Syria, etc against US imperialism and wanting the US to be socialist and antiimperialist is "american exceptionalism", then i guess im an "american exceptionalist" too. The fact that you dont even know what Maupin and Haz actually believe yet you still have an opinion on them just shows you dont actually care about what they believe, you are just looking for excuses to repeat what moron lib debate bros say about them, that they are "evil fascists/nazbols american chauvinists".
America is a garbage country, i agree. I hate America a lot.
Of all the things you could critique of them, their supposed "preference for the middle class" is the worst you could pick. I have no idea where you deduced that they prefer the middle class. They literally ramble all the time AGAINST the middle class, saying they are "labor aristocrat urbanites" and "not true proletarians". I personally disagree with that analysis, i think the middle class is just working class benefiting from imperialism, and once the unequal exchange from imperialism goes away (as the global south becomes socialist), they will inevitably join the revolution as proletarians, as it will be in their class interests. Many already do so now, even against their class interests.
If you americans really think you will achieve revolution by constantly attacking your fellow ML comrades because you dont like their personality/persona/behaviour, instead of joining with them to fight against your imperialist government, then i have no words. But hey, you do you, im just a spaniard, my job isnt to build socialism in the USA (although the rest of the world would highly appreciate it if you got your act together). Im totally sure calling Haz and Caleb Maupin nazbols/fascists 100 more times will bring you to socialism soon.
Infrared is a youtube ML channel that focuses mainly on debates and general entertainment while also politically orientated. While the Infrared team consists of several members, the main member who does most of the content is Haz, a lebanese american man. Hes not very liked over here because he has several, lets say, controversial takes on some things, mainly relating to identity politics, LGBT, patriotism for the USA and the Trump movement. Hes also created an extreme macho persona in his debates and often says that his debate opponents are "beta cucks". Whether he is serious on this or its just a joke is up to you to decide. Finally he also often gets into drama with other leftist youtubers/streamers, which often degenerates into nasty insults and attacks.
Hes part of the wider american "patriotic socialist" movement associated with people like Caleb Maupin, who are also not very liked over here. I personally watch his content sometimes, and while i dont agree with everything he says i prefer to keep an open mind and not just shut off different perspectives, but thats just me.
Damn, thats fucked. Maybe anglos are especially deranged i dont know. Here in Spain ive never seen anything like this. Like my parents, who are very left wing, almost communist (i guess you could call it "communist with liberal characteristics") have an old friend who is very right wing, possibly even fascist (he served as an officer in the spanish military during the fascist dictatorship). While they ofc rarely talk politics because the discussion can get very heated, they nevertheless are friends, and its not like they dont know each others political ideas. I dont know maybe anglos are more brainwashed than us.
Sorry to be blunt, but if they blocked you just because of your political opinions, then they were never your friends. A real friend doesnt care about your political opinions, he may disagree but he will always be your friend no matter what. Heck here in Spain when we had the Civil War in 1936 you would have literal fascists helping their communist friends flee the country and escape execution at the hands of the fascists. Thats what real friendship looks like mate. Dont even bother with those losers.
This is about the Winter War and Continuation War. They were part of WW2. To understand them a bit of history is needed. Finland was part of the Russian Empire when the October Revolution happened. After the Revolution, Lenin proclaimed that all the constituent nations of the Russian Empire were now free to choose their own path. So Finland (and many other nations like the Baltics, Georgia, etc) declared independence. The Finnish Civil War broke out, between the finnish whites (monarchists/fascists/anticommunists), mainly composed of petty and big bourgeoisie who wanted to be completely independent from the USSR, be capitalist and ally with the German Empire (which at the time was still at war with the USSR since WW1 was still going on) and the finnish communists, mainly workers and peasants who were supporters of Lenin, had proclaimed the Finnish Socialist Workers Republic and wanted to join the USSR. While Lenins bolsheviks did help the finnish communists, the german advance was too much. Lenin had to sign the humiliating Treaty of Brest Litovsk, a peace treaty between the USSR and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire). The treaty ceded Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine and Belarus to the German Empire and Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan to the Ottoman Empire. Thus, Lenin had to withdraw troops from Finland and stop helping the finnish communists. While they continued fighting, it was a lost cause and the german troops crushed them.
With the collapse of the German Empire at the end of WW1, german troops withdrew from Finland and Finland became completely independent. The new finnish state, far from the "wholesome liberal democracy" mainstream academia paints it as, was a right wing authoritarian regime. Communism was banned, and most of the finnish communists who had lost the Civil War were either massacred together with their whole families or imprisoned for a very long time. Massacres against communists were very common in the years after the war. As the 1930s arrived, Finland became more and more fascist and anticommunist. This placed them for a possible alliance with Nazi Germany against the hated communist USSR. The finnish bourgeoisie was more than happy to ally with nazism to destroy socialism. And so they did.
Now Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), the most important city in the USSR after Moscow, was (and is still nowadays, which makes Finland joining NATO very dangerous) very close to the border with Finland, making an attack on Leningrad from Finland very easy. For this reason, in 1939, seeing the soviets the antisoviet alliance forming between Finland and Nazi Germany, they had to secure their borders. They invaded and liberated the Baltic States (who were also fascist anticommunist dictatorships allied with the nazis) and they tried to negotiate with Finland. They offered to exchange territory. Finland would give the USSR their territories surrounding Leningrad and the USSR would give Finland a territory of their choice. Finland refused. USSR even offered to just lease them or even buy the finnish territories but Finland refused to negotiate. Seeing the finnish nazi alliance was a done deal, the USSR in 1939 invaded Finland to protect itself. This was the Winter War. The plan was to invade and bring the finnish communists to power, as had been done in the Baltic States where it worked perfectly since communism was very popular there despite being brutally supressed. The finnish communists proclaimed the Finnish Democratic Republic, a socialist republic, in the areas liberated by the USSR.
Unfortunately, the plan didnt work, since finnish communism had been completely destroyed by the finnish fascists. While the USSR did manage to secure Leningrad, they failed to topple the finnish fascist regime. The small Finnish Democratic Republic joined the USSR as the Karelio-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (it later joined the Russian Soviet Republic where it remains today). In 1940 a peace treaty was signed and the Winter War ended. But Finland was still fascist and a nazi ally. So when Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa (the nazi invasion of the USSR) in 1941, Finland joined in in the invasion, seeking revenge against the communists. This was the Continuation War. In the end, Finland, along with its nazi allies, lost WW2. The finnish fascists were put on trial for war crimes and imprisoned. Communism was finally legalized and the Finnish Communist Party, a strong ally of the USSR, became a powerful force in finnish politics until its decline in the 1980s. Thus, it is thanks to the USSR and its crushing victory in the Continuation War that Finland is a social democracy today and not a fascist regime. Although its slipping back into fascism recently. These historical facts are being denied by the finnish government and historical revisionism openly promoted. Finnish schools teach that Finland was a "wholesom social democracy" and ebil russians invaded them for no reason. There is no mention of the fact that they were literally nazi allies nor of the numerous war crimes Finland committed both during WW2 and the Finnish Civil War.
So yeah, the dude here is honoring his nazi dad basically.
I mean, i still think tho that we shouldnt supress religion, we should control it, like in China. Religion will fade away with communism, but until then we must deal with it somehow. Supressing it doesnt work (as a pole you sure must know) and its wrong. By controlling it, we remove cults and reactionary branches of mainstream religions and put in its place religious leaders loyal to the Communist Party. China did this great in Tibet. They replaced the proUS Panchen Lama with a prochinese one, and as soon as the Dalai Lama dies the same thing will be done, and it will be the end for the US funded tibetan opposition. Same in Xinjiang, they have religious leaders who respect secularism and are loyal to Beijing. I also think we shouldnt ban religious people from joining the Communist Party as long as they can separate their faith from reality and do a materialist analysis (meaning no creationist type idiots). Thats what i think.
Even if they claim to be ML its bad. Here the Communist Party of Spain claims to be ML but its 100% liberal. They are in coalition government with these Podemos idiots and the socdems. They love Zelenski, say pootin man bad all the time and support sending weapons to neonazis. While many members of the party are based the leadership are a gang of corrupt opportunists and are destroying the party. Although imo the party was killed in 1975, when they rejected revolution in favor of liberal democracy. Honestly i think the KKE (Communist Party of Greece) is the only mainstream communist party in western europe that isnt 100% social imperialist.