Milchakov, commander of "Rusich" group fighting for Russia in Ukraine:
"I'm a Nazi, I'm a Nazi. I won't elaborate whether I'm a nationalist, a patriot or imperialist. I say directly: I'm a Nazi. I can raise my hand in Nazi salute"
(interview to Provsvirnin, Sputnik and Pogrom)
Milchakov, commander of "Rusich" group:
"When you are going to war, that's sexual desire, it's like wanting to fuck... When you are killing a piglet, you savour his wife becoming a widow, his family grieving , him coming back home in a coffin. You have erection, don't you?"
Milchakov, commander of "Rusich" is an interesting person. He used to be a fan of the football club Zenit under a nickname "Fritz". In 2011 he became famous after uploading a video with himself killing a puppy, cutting of its heads and then eating it (photos are googlable)
In 2014 the war in Donbass started. So Milchakov rallied his comrades together and founded a group "Rusich" which departed to fight in Donbass on the Russian side
In 2022, Rusich group also actively participated in the Special military operation. Here you can see a Russian propagandist boasting about Milchakov "de-Nazifying" Ukraine
In his early days Milchakov was known as "Fritz". Now he uses "Serb" or "Topaz" nicknames. Here you can see Milchakov congratulating everyone with Hitler's birthday (April 20) in his Telegram channel - Говорит ТопаZ
Milchakov's views have never been a problem. In 2016 Putin's deputy Vladislav Surkov organised a Council of Commanders of Donbass Volunteers. Milchakov participated of course. Here you see him shaking hands with Russia-appointed governor of Crimea Aksenov
When you are hearing about the "de-Nazification" of Ukraine, keep in mind who is de-Nazifying it
Warning: next photo will be graphic
Here you see a de-Nazifier Milchakov straight after he cut off a puppy's head but before he ate it
Here you can see Milchakov in visible confusion after Ukrainians hijacked his Quadrocopter. He orders an immediate retreat as now Ukrainians may know where Rusich group stay and can shell them
You may have wondered where the initial videos with Milchakov declaring himself a Nazi and describing the erection he has when thinking about the grieving families are taken from. Well, from Yegor Prosvirnin (=Sputnik and Pogrom) YouTube channel of course
Sputnik and Pogrom used to be by far the most influential Russian nationalist media. It had tons of high profile fans (@achubays for example) as it promoted the nationalist and imperialist agenda in a manner "sophisticated" enough so that higher classes would like it
At this point, I'm gonna stop. I'll just ask readers to remember the keyword "Sputnik and Pogrom", because it gonna be relevant in the context of the next thread. The end
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Now we associate Gorbachev with Perestroika, which in its turn is interpreted as nice Gorbachev being nice. In reality, in the beginning of his rule Gorbachev continued Andropov's Neo-Stalinist policies. But then the oil price dropped and didn't bounce back. Hence, Perestroika🧵
Brezhnev's era is usually referred to as Застой, the Stagnation. If Khrushchev unironically aimed to build Communism, Brezhnev dropped any attempts to do so. High oil prices of the 1970s created illusion of prosperity, while in reality system was becoming less and less efficient
Khruchev saw Communism as a realistic goal. He even set a specific deadline - 1980. Brezhnev however, cut all the specific deadlines from the Party program. Future oriented paradigm (building Communism) died and the new, past-oriented one emerged. Worshipping the Great Victory
See a declassified CIA report about the purchases for one single Soviet plant - KAMAZ truck producer. They aimed to buy the most modern Western equipment: from the foundries to the IBM computers. When the US imposed sanctions for Afghanistan invasion, they bought them in Europe
Well, the US embargo did pose *some* disruptive effect. But not for long: Soviets bypassed it through the Western Europe or Japan. The US could impose sanctions, yes. But their ability to enforce their allies to comply with them has been always very limited
"Radical tradition" in the Civil War context refers to levellers rather than to the parliamentary opposition
Consider Gerrard Winstanley. An appeal to the House of commons, 1649. Civil War was fought between the King who represented the Conqueror and the enslaved English people
Lords of manor are Norman, too, because this institution also originates in the Conquest. So now we need the mass redistribution of land to free it from all the Norman entanglements
I would say that upper classes are more culturalist and being Christian/ancient civilisation plays a big role for them. Working classes' perspective tends to be purely anthropological. They don't care about "ancient culture", "Christian" crap, they just see you as an ape
That's why Karabakh war was a huge thing for intelligentsia but not for masses. Intelligentsia saw it as a conflict of Muslim barbarians vs Christian civilisation and called for a crusade. Masses didn't give a damn though. Neither Armenians and Azeri were seen as fully human
Gorbachov's funerals dilemma. Gorbachov allegedly destroyed the USSR. Still, he is an ex-Tsar which is super important in Russian quasi-monarchy. Disrespecting him would undermine the awe before the institution of Tsar's power. So Putin's private farewells were still broadcasted
Many things about Gorbachov would be counterintuitive for the American public. First, few things undermined his reputation in Russia more than his relationship with his wife. They were very close, he took her everywhere and she tried to play a figure of her own. People hated that
In America being a "good family man" is usually considered a prerequisite for the high political career. You must be one, or at least persuade enough voters that you are. So Americans casually assume Russian politics work just like this. But they don't
Not quite. In Stalin's era engineers indeed could enjoy royal lifestyle compared with working masses. You could realistically hope to get Your 👏 own 👏 apartment 👏 one day 👏, while others would live in barracks forever. Absolute kings
Since 1960s however system of incentives gradually changed. First, engineers were simply overproduced. Second, Soviet village with its seemingly infinite human resources was dying out. Third, Soviet government got wary of too many engineering grads. Are they even proletarian?
By the 1970s it was absolutely normal for industrial workers to earn more than engineers, way more. Hence jokes "The more you study, the less you earn". Sounds strange, but in the late USSR it was very real. Tons of engineers took workers' jobs to earn more cash