zone posted:

https://twitter.com/DefMon3/status/1641818293907406849
Another case of incompetence being rewarded.

Samovar posted:

Brotherly in the Cain-and-Abel sense, I'm assuming?

Shaman Tank Spec posted:

Some more stuff from Yle, this time an interview with a Russian journalist who has faced serious consequences for opposing Putin and the war. The translation is by me, and as a small note in the "she got angry, I got angry, they got angry" section naturally in the original Finnish the source was not gendered because we don't have gendered pronouns, but for readability I replaced the gender neutral third party pronoun.

Original author: Sanna Uosukainen
Source: Yle

E: fixed a typo

Set posted:

I really find these interviews Yle does with people living in Russia with different perspectives on the situation there interesting! Especially journalists and political activists have always had a hard time, but holy hell hasn't their situation gotten worse over the last year. When she mentions her friend who recently had to leave Russia and how broken they are over it is goddamn heartbreaking.They work with so little support and have so much to lose, they really are heroic people.

Shaman Tank Spec posted:

Yes but have you considered that Elon is a centrist and we can't know his politics.

Shaman Tank Spec posted:

Yeah, I think it's crucial to keep these people as big a spotlight as possible, because it's important to remember that it's not all Russians. Some Russians are trying to oppose this government and war by any means they can, and face personal hardship and persecution as a result.

Alan Smithee posted:

Shaman Tank Spec posted:

Yeah, I think it's crucial to keep these people as big a spotlight as possible, because it's important to remember that it's not all Russians. Some Russians are trying to oppose this government and war by any means they can, and face personal hardship and persecution as a result.

Power Khan posted:

https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1642463129388068866

quote:

Lukas Stasevskij's column: In Ukraine, I noticed that war divides people in a new way

The war has made Ukrainians organize in an unprecedented way. However, not everyone is ready to do as much for their country as others, writes Lukas Stasevskij.

I have sometimes heard it said that war brings out the best and the worst in people.

As a Finnish-Ukrainian, I have noticed that Ukrainianness has been made synonymous with bravery in the Western media since the start of the Russian war of aggression. This is definitely deserved for many Ukrainians.

I have lived in Ukraine since the beginning of the war and documented the war. In my eyes, the Ukrainians have heroically stood up in a seemingly hopeless situation.

The recruitment points of the Ukrainian regional defense forces were already filled with volunteers at the beginning of the war, and the cities turned into collective aid centers.

I myself received my share of unsolicited help from ordinary Ukrainians. When I arrived in the front town of Mykolayiv, I was looking for a hotel and got a place to stay and borscht soup from completely unknown locals without asking. No one wanted compensation for services.

A new watershed among Ukrainians may be people's variable contribution to their country during wartime.

However, during the war, I have noticed that there are also Ukrainians who do not feel that the war is related to them. Some men took advantage of the chaos of the early days of the war and fled their possible conscription abroad.

It is good to remember that even Ukrainians cannot be compartmentalized into one mold. In a nation of an estimated 40 million people, personal attitudes toward the state and war differ greatly.

In the early stages of the war, it seemed surreal to see bikini photos of some young Ukrainians who fled the war to tourist beaches in Greece or party photos from Berlin nightclubs. At the same time, the majority of Ukrainians followed the struggle for survival of the defenders of Azovstal in Mariupol.

The corruption scandals of recent times is its own chapter. Although corruption has been commonplace in Ukraine since its independence, abuses during the war have angered many.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyi has had to dismiss several politicians and civil servants - Ukrainian oligarchs have also received some of their corruption investigations. Many foreign observers who have followed the country have considered the president's recent anti-corruption efforts exceptionally strong.

The fight against corruption would be impossible without freedom of speech and free media. The Ukrainian press and independent anti-corruption institutions have been very active in addressing abuses.

The fact that there is a significant social movement at the grassroots level in Ukraine has received less attention in the western media. During the war, a network of thousands of aid and non-governmental organizations was born in the country.

Voluntary grouping is not always organization-based, but for example residents of many villages and neighborhoods have often organized themselves into independent small cells. These cells, for example, maintain a roadblock at a fork in the road or house and equip local regional defense forces.

Citizens' voluntary organization maintains society's functions when the state is unable to do so. As a result of the organization, Ukrainians may be able to influence the development of their country in a new way in the future.

- Ukrainians want to see real change in the fight against corruption. Too much blood has been spilled for things to continue as they were before the war, said a taxi driver when I was on my way to the train station.

The driver also shared his views on the effect of war on people.

- The war changed the people who stayed in Kyiv after the war started. They experienced air raids, queues at pharmacies and dwindling food supplies.

The driver said that he changed his spoken language to Ukrainian, even though he had been Russian-speaking all his previous life.

Russia's brutal war of aggression has truly united Ukrainians. No more talking about the old dividing lines; from western and eastern Ukrainians, Ukrainian or Russian speakers, rich and poor. In its place, a powerful civil society is emerging.

While in Ukraine, I have heard many people say that the war has shown who everyone is.

A new watershed among Ukrainians may be people's variable contribution to their country during wartime. It is clear that some people have done more to resist than others.

- If the men who escaped conscription abroad decide to return after the war ends, then shovels in hand and forced labor camps to rebuild the country, snapped one of my Ukrainian acquaintances.

Although there are probably relatively few people who follow the enemy and take advantage of the war situation for their own interests, I have observed some who have a more passive approach to the war.

The war raises the classic question of man's responsibilities towards his country. After the war, every Ukrainian should know how to answer the question; what did you do for your country during the war?

Lukas Stasevskij

The author is a Finnish-Ukrainian cellist and a student of film directing. Stasevskij has been living in Ukraine since 2021. Currently, he is making a documentary film about the transformation of Ukrainian identity and organizing humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

quote:

A rhapsody plays in the ruins

Lukas Stasevskij at first wondered why he was wanted to play the cello in the middle of the war. Now the aid organization brings food, medicine and rhapsody.

Lukas Stasevskij has been playing the cello since he was 9 years old. For more than 15 years, playing has been his profession.

A few years ago, however, Stasevskij began to dream of something else. He wanted to realize his long-time dream of becoming a film director.

In addition to this, Stasevskij wanted to explore his Ukrainian identity. The son of a Finnish mother and a Ukrainian father had lived in Finland almost his entire life.

A new home was found in Kyiv. There was also a film school. The studies started in the fall of 2021. Playing the cello was now taking a back seat in life.

But then Russia invaded Ukraine by force. Exactly one year ago.

Short description of video: In the documentary Sodan Sävel (Tunes of War) Stasevskij performs 3 musical pieces with his cello in Ukrainian ruins. The footage and music speak for themselves, so I won't go deeper into it.

The performance went viral

After the war of aggression started, Stasevskij immediately decided that he wanted to stay in Ukraine. In fact, he had already decided that when the media began to consider an attack likely.

The first weeks of the war were filled with shock. People's panic and lack of awareness have especially stuck in Stasevskij's mind.

Then Stasevskij received a contact, which felt "really strange" at that moment. He was asked to play the cello for a documentary in progress.

- What the hell is the role of playing the cello in war? Stasevskij remembers thinking.

Filming would be held in a building destroyed by a rocket attack, and international media would be there.

"In completely destroyed places, the music absorbs the performer and the listener in a completely different way," states Stasevskij.

Stasevsky agreed. And that was a good choice. After a while, pictures and videos of Stasevskij's playing had spread widely. The cello had reached the ears of many.

Stasevskij started getting more contacts. They came, for example, from international aid organizations operating in Ukraine. Organizations providing humanitarian aid saw potential in Stasevskij. In addition to food and medicine, music could also be taken to those suffering from the war.

And soon Stasevskij's cello was playing again. On the main street of Bucha, which first became a symbol of war atrocities. Then in the destroyed cultural house of Irpin. Soon for the children evacuated in Kharkiv. in Chernihiv and Borodyanka. In between again the capital in Kiev. Most recently, just over a week ago in Kherson, at a military wedding, which was held at the destroyed airport.

People cry a lot

Stasevskij's everyday life is that he delivers humanitarian aid to various parts of Ukraine as part of aid organizations. The cello is traveling. His film studies are on hold.

Since the start of the war of aggression, Stasevskij has visited Finland only a few times, and even those times mainly just to renew his visa.

In March, Stasevskij is supposed to leave for the Eastern Front, the focal point of the war. You don't really have to think about going when you've seen how Ukrainians react to the music.

- People cry a lot. Music conveys feelings that cannot be put into words. Playing has taken on a whole new meaning.

Stasevskij says he is committed to helping Ukraine "until the end". Encounters with Ukrainians make you stay.

- I was playing in the military barracks, and an older soldier came to tell me: "The war has been going on for a year already. Things happen and things are forgotten. But it is never forgotten that someone comes to make such a performance for them," says Stasevskij.

Short description of video: And old woman says "Why this chaos? There is no truth in the world. Where is it supposed to be?".
Short description of video: Another woman says "I don't want to sit in a basement. That scumbag Putin is the one who should be here. They should hang him by the balls! I hope that from the depths of my heart."

Life is like a rhapsody

So what exactly does Stasevskij play in Ukraine?

Right at the beginning of the war, Stasevskij played a lot of Bach, for example, as well as compositions by the Polish Krzysztof Penderecki. He chooses songs that fit the situation on the basis of feeling.

- Bach is music that gives hope, Stasevskij says.

In addition to the classics, he plays a lot of Ukrainian folk tunes these days.

In addition, Stasevskij has started improvising.

- It has suited the situation, because the same feeling is about war: Things change quickly and unexpectedly. The future is impossible to predict, Stasevskij says.

He calls his music rhapsody.

A rhapsody is considered to be a composition where various moods and tones meet. Often also spontaneity, improvisation and folk tunes.

Even a non-music enthusiast can easily catch these descriptions when listening to Queen's classic Bohemian Rhapsody. Rock and opera all in one, with great emotions.

Stasevskij himself characterizes rhapsody as an ambiguous entity that is constantly in a state of change. The listener can never tell exactly where we are going.

- I feel like I'm living a rhapsody at the moment.

Terminally Bored posted:

https://twitter.com/ru2ch/status/1575847384931864576

'We'll beat everyone, we'll kill everyone, we'll steal from everyone we want, everything we'll be as we want'.

Vladen Tatarsky, Vostok Battalion in his Kremlin video.

Flavahbeast posted:

Apparently he's been killed:

(possible in thread:) https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1642559067133562880 (nothing graphic is currently shown, but there's a clip of the explosion)

Set posted:

Lukas Stasevskij has both Finnish and Ukrainan roots. He is a cellist, who has lived in Ukraine through the war so far. As he had been studying film in his new hometown of Kyiv, he has been involved in the creation of a documentary about living in the ruins of war, organizing humanitarian aid, while also of course playing the cello. The first text I've translated is a column he has written about how the war has both split and brought together the Ukrainian people, while the second is about a documentary he has been involved in where he plays the cello in the ruins of Ukraine. If you click on through to Yle for the second article you can see the entire 11-ish minutes long documentary. It is mainly footage of survivors surviving, ruins and him playing the cello, so nothing graphic and definitely worth seeing.

Author: Lukas Stasevskij
Release date: 30.03.23
Link to untranslated article: https://yle.fi/a/74-20020820

Author: Roope Kariniemi
Release date: 24.02.23
Link to untranslated article: https://yle.fi/a/74-20019596

Jimlit posted:

given how critical he was of the putin regime's handling of the war this is a very convenient terror attack.

Icochet posted:

Probably just a burst samovar

Rad Russian posted:

The "propagandist" that was blown up is a social media war blogger (just a popular one), not a state-sponsored propagandist on TV. He was recently criticizing the army for sucking and not being brutal enough, so he's on the far-right pro-war side of the spectrum of criticizing the army. Absolutely possible he was blown up by the Shoigu faction and not internal partisans. Partisans would probably go after state-TV propagandists if they actually had the means to blow up stuff without getting caught by FSB.

McGavin posted:

On Canadian radio they said that he was critical of the war, but left out that he was critical because it wasn't brutal enough.

fatherboxx posted:

lmao Glen Greenwald

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1642583630328262656

fatherboxx posted:

lmao Glen Greenwald

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1642583630328262656