What a devious plotter! He made Russia invade his country so that he could become a dictator. Genius!

Half a millennia of near endless military conquests and civil wars. What’s not to love?

You changed the subject.

Because your liberal reformists consolidated enormous powers in the executive branch. Again. You keep giving governments the ability to end elections and entrench themselves indefinitely. That’s exactly what it will do, every time.

What a ridiculous thing to write in the context of this discussion. Martial law was not enacted via self-coup. The Ukrainian executive did not wake up one nice morning, realize it had some kewl powers and thought let’s enact martial law so that we can entrench ourselves. It was enacted when a foreign power invaded. It will be revoked the moment Russian soldiers return the fuck back to Russia.

And how’d that work out?

Given that the Roman Republic lasted for something like 480 years (509 – 27 BC) ? Pretty damn well thank you very much, that’s a longer lifespan that any of our current republics (minus San Marino I guess).

While in a state of martial law. A constitution re-written as recently as 2015, the year following Ukrainian Oligarch Petro Poroshenko’s ascension to power. You’re witnessing the end stages of the collapse of democracy in the country under a set of rules authorized barely a decade ago.

Why is martial law currently in effect buddy? Can you think of anything that would guarantee the immediate revocation of martial law? Anything? Any ideas?

Fun fact: the original meaning of a dictatorship was precisely the case where the Romans extraordinarily appointed someone to have full authority to resolve a specific problem, such as when a serious threat the the state was present.

The Ukrainian constitution says no elections while war. Zelensky does not hold any dictatorial authority beyond the one given to him by the Ukrainian people and laws when he was elected.

If you are going to be mad at someone for straining Ukrainian democracy, be mad at the country invading it, and thus triggering the suspension of elections.

It’s called being invaded and by definition, yea, it’s kind of exceptional.

“Zelensky won’t break the law.”

This is absolutely criminal. The world should stand up to the gangsters in Washington and run the illegal US embargo to deliver aid to Cuba.

If we have learned anything from the last decade, the centre-left now is faced with a dilemma: deep reforms to drain the abscess that oozed out the fascists or continue with neoliberal business as usual, effectively giving the far right time to regroup and try again next time.

Excellent summary.

And indeed even for a pendulum swing, it hasn’t been anywhere near as dramatic as the anti-legalization moral panic discourse would suggest.

Prohibition just gives power to the smugglers and the enforcers. Imagine if all consumer drugs and related shit was just legalized across the hemisphere. No more chartels, drug war, drug running, drug police. Just taxes, public health interventions and regulatory enforcement. Canada took the first step with cannabis and guess what, society hasn’t collapsed.

Here: https://huggingface.co/common-pile

Technofeudalism.

That’s a very European mindset.

Got to be able to tell your right wingers apart. He’s a fuck face but Doug Ford is not a fascist like Poilievre. The flu virus, deadly as it is, is not COVID.

Hey Brits, take a cue from Canada and shut your fascists down.

Hope you beat this thing as quickly and smoothly as possible, so I can be annoyed at your modding style again! Jokes aside, take care, all the best wishes for a successful recovery that is very boring and predictable.

Well, take care. In the meantime, listen to the 20 lessons on tyranny.

And maybe binge watch this guy, I think he’s onto something.

I’m not denying fear, violence, or victimhood. And I’m not equating oppressors with the oppressed. I should push back on the idea that naming cultural patterns equals blaming victims, or that only people inside the worst possible historical analogy are allowed to analyze trajectories.

I’m talking about how societies slide, not about who deserves what. Those are different conversations. I’ve been on the receiving end of state violence. I’ve marched, been gassed, watched movements radicalize too fast and burn themselves out. That’s exactly why I’m saying this: jumping straight to existential framing and armed horizons doesn’t protect anyone it only narrows the future until only catastrophe is left.

You don’t need to already be in a Holocaust to talk about escalation dynamics. In fact, if you wait until everything is unspeakable, analysis is already useless. Yes, fear is justified and preparation is understandable and necessary. But when fear becomes immune to critique, it stops being a warning signal and starts being a steering wheel.

My point hasn’t changed: there is still space, Real Political Space, for non-violent (not peaceful!) resistance, that can be powerfully disruptive. Once that space collapses, it doesn’t reopen because people were right about how bad things felt. I’m arguing against that collapse, not minimizing what’s at stake.

The reasons you outlined are why you are in trouble. As in, if they weren’t the case you would be in trouble. It’s a bit of a circular tautology. But they are not things that doom you. They are the shape of the whole you’re in. And it’s on you guys to find a way out. There’s no way around that. And no, the world is not coming to save you: there is no cavalry.

I don’t think you guys are doomed. I think the opposite, that the American people are a sleeping giant that can shake the world. And no, I don’t think you need to jump straight to shooting reach other.

You missed my point.