NYT: Putin's Baseless Claims of Genocide Hint at More Than War

[DBoon]

Senior Russian officials and state media have since echoed Mr. Putin’s use of “genocide.” Russian diplomats circulated a document to the United Nations Security Council accusing Ukraine of “exterminating the civilian population” in its east.

...

But invocations of genocide represent more than just a superficial casus belli. They reflect Moscow’s sincere belief that, in a world dominated by a hostile West, it is the rightful protector of Russian populations throughout the former Soviet republics.

In that worldview, any break from Moscow’s influence within its sphere constitutes an attack on the Russian people as a whole — particularly in Ukraine, which Mr. Putin considers effectively Russian.

Claims of genocide, then, are a way to assert Russia’s sovereignty throughout an ethnic Russian empire that extends well beyond its formal borders — and a right to control that empire with force.

sort of like a Großrussland?

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/19/world/europe/putin-ukraine-genocide.html

[BootinUp]

1. A lot of jockeying going on. As the headline says, baseless.

[Wicked Blue]

2. Paywall nt

[DBoon]

5. lies are free, the truth costs money

[Kid Berwyn]

10. Yet liars are well-paid.

Truth-tellers are not.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Does this include parts of Brooklyn? /nt

[KPN]

6. Ha. How about Southeast Portland?

[lame54]

7. Sacramento, CA

[DBoon]

11. will Putin annex parts of West Hollywood, too?

[Wounded Bear]

4. It's basically what Hitler did prior to most of his expansionist moves...

He made claims of what we now call genocide or ethnic cleansing. It gives a veneer of justification for invading and taking over one's neighbors.

If you look around at the map of Europe, virtually every border has this melding of people from both sides of the border. It's what happens after centuries of living as neighbors and interacting economically and socially. Hell, it's the same world wide, I guess. Throw in how so many areas have been swapped back and forth as conquered areas that have spent years under different flags and regimes.

This one is longer by 8 minutes or so, but clearer:

[PortTack]

8. Putin won't stop until he's stopped by NATO and EU forces

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. Putin's talking points are bogus

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[UTUSN]

12. iow, the resurrection of the USSR