Timothy Snyder

Timothy Snyder is just fantastic: https://snyder.substack.com/ His class on Ukraine on Youtube is fantastic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJczLlwp-d8 If I had a history class taught like this in college I might have looked at it. I think in one of his classes about Ukraine he mentioned that he was a programmer at some point. His explanations of history are often very input/output oriented or explained almost like an algorithm. His books are also worth reading and every one of his lectures on youtube I have enjoyed. He's great at giving historical perspective to current affairs, and probably more than anyone else, I feel like he makes the current political climate make sense.

> Guess what the stated jurisdictional limits are for CBP? 100 miles from any possible border To quote a prominent US historian: In a constitutional regime, such as ours, the law applies everywhere and at all times. In a republic, such as ours, it applies to everyone. For that logic of law to be undone, the aspiring tyrant looks for openings, for cracks to pry open. One of these is the border. The country stops at the border. And so the law stops at the border. And so for the tyrant an obvious move is to extend the border so that is everywhere, to turn the whole country as a border area, where no rules apply. Stalin did this with border zones and deportations in the 1930s that preceded the Great Terror. Hitler did it with immigration raids in 1938 that targeted undocumented Jews and forced them across the border. * https://snyder.substack.com/p/lies-and-lawlessness

Not correct. Already in the very beginning Putin demonstrated his genocidal intent by declaring that Ukrainian nation does not exist. Mussolini didn't set the goal to destroy Ethiopian nation(s). Does it make Putin Hitler? I don't know, I see him more like some neo-Hitler/Stalin hybrid with touch of mysticism as flavor - he is a new thing. If you want to get a more systematic argumentation then I'll refer you to prof. Timothy Snyder https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-war-in-ukraine-and-the-question I'll recommend author to reconsider this opinion.

Yeah, what a nice way to avoid responsibility. Victimhood of Russians is part of their crime¹ When they pretend there’s nothing they can do, and after all they are victims too, that’s exactly that. You’re playing that narrative. ‘Embracing passivity’ is exactly a choice. To never give a duck about what’s happening on your behalf. It’s great that law doesn’t work that way. Otherwise everyone would go ‘I embrace passivity’ mode. [1] — https://snyder.substack.com/p/playing-the-victim

> Russian direct energy supplies to the EU have been cut, raising energy costs So the EU should have been more careful not to be too dependent on Russia? Maybe Germany should have avoided shutting down their nuclear reactors. The idea that US should cut of our allies in Europe is stupid and insane but at the same time Europe made a lot of mistakes that it should learn from > What pockets planned and backed up the Maidan rise that removed the Kremlin's puppet from power? Who aimed and intended such country to join NATO along years before this event? No "one" planned it. It was a spontaneous grassroots movement that blew up when the authoritarian president tried to violently crack down on it. https://snyder.substack.com/p/ukraines-maidan-revolution > The consolation prize Yanukovych dangled before a liberal intelligentsia that hated him was the distant prospect of European integration. For a young generation in particular, “Europe” was the object of the greatest desire. In November 2013 Ukraine was expected to sign a long-anticipated association agreement with the European Union. At the eleventh hour, on 21 November 2013, Yanukovych refused. > The disappointment was especially crushing for students, who felt as if their future had vanished; Europe would be closed to them. That evening a thirty-two-year-old Ukrainian journalist from Kabul named Mustafa Nayyem wrote in Russian on his Facebook page: “Come on, let’s get serious. Who is ready to go out to the Maidan by…

I've never been a fan of news organizations making endorsements. However, the idea that such an endorsement is being suppressed because of an owner's fear of reprisal against their other businesses by a candidate should they win the election is very very very bad. Intimidation of a free media is how fascist regimes begin and thrive. As Timothy Snyder wrote: Do Not Obey in Advance. In general politics is to be avoided on HN, but I will sacrifice every point I have to for my fellow Americans (international viewers, apologies for the American centric writing). 1)Russia is at war with the United States of America. 2)The goal of this war is to destabilize America. 3)The battle-ground is here at home. 4)The weapons in this war include pervasive laundering of Russian money into a) bend the minds of Americans through pervasive propaganda, b)direct corruption of U.S. citizens with money in return for favors or for promoting propaganda (e.g. influencers), c) corruption of politicians with promises of power, d) our divisions and our platforms for communication. Too few Americans accept or appreciate the veracity of points 1 thru 4, and this makes us weak. We have a free and open internet, and while this is great, it means that U.S. citizens are accessible, viable targets to any foreign-influence campaign, which can be all the more effective given the amount of data accumulated on each individual, and the ease at which these attacks can be individualized at scale. The United States…

I think I clearly stated that the US and NATO has had influence, sufficient to tilt the war in either direction, but I also think it's unrealistic to believe that influence can be leveraged to end the war let alone set the terms for peace. The world in the 21st century is not one in which individual sovereign countries are beholden to the dictates of great powers and where therefore a simplified framework for understanding global politics that only considers great powers is useful. Ukraine fought off the initial Russian attack without US and NATO, do you think they would stop fighting now if support were withdrawn? How exactly do you think the US and NATO could force Ukraine and Russia to the table? Do you think that eastern European countries would withdraw support from Ukraine even absent the US and NATO when Russian incursions on neighbouring territory represent very real threats to them? The entire premise that the US can end this war feels like a hopelessly naive relic of a different era. My own point of view is that the only way this will end peacefully is with the full withdraw of Russian forces from Ukrainian territory. The question of how this can be achieved without Russia becoming destabilized and fracturing, which I don't feel is desirable, is certainly a concern, although I fear that that may be the only thing that leads to their withdraw. (See Timothy Snyder's piece on the subject: How does the Russo-Ukrainian War end? [1]) 1.…

There is then perhaps not enough discussion about certain aspects of the invasion and public justification by Putin and rhetoric in Russian media. It is clear that the main reason behind the invasion is to take control over Ukrainian land and natural resources (especially oil and natural gas that was discovered in 2012). This is clearly an imperialist ambition, but by itself does not make this invasion a genocide. What makes it genocide is the plan how to solve the Ukrainian question, that is, what to do with the people who oppose Russian invasion in Ukraine and do not accept that Ukraine will become Russian territory. So far 5 parliaments (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Canada) have declared Russian actions in Ukraine as genocide. If you think that these parliaments are too much politically motivated, then here is one independent legal analysis https://newlinesinstitute.org/russia/an-independent-legal-analysis-of-… Historian and holocaust researcher Timothy Snyder has written about the topic on multiple occasions. The following was written after Russian state news agency RIA Novosti published an article about "Ukrainian question" just after revelation of the Bucha massacre: https://snyder.substack.com/p/russias-genocide-handbook This writing helps to understand the ideology behind these actions and…

Slave labor, perhaps: https://snyder.substack.com/p/concentration-camp-labor

The fact that this is downvoted is deeply disturbing. Timothy Snyder has similar thoughts on concentration camp labor: https://snyder.substack.com/p/concentration-camp-labor Meanwhile, SV darling Curtis Yarvin is plainly insinuating that we should bring slavery back: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:gqqqg5xi4p2x4bfgphr7akip/post/3lt7x6k… What in the fuck is wrong with people?

[Piling on the current top comment.] A ten minute video: "Twenty Lessons, read by John Lithgow": * https://snyder.substack.com/p/twenty-lessons-read-by-john-lithgow * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lithgow (actor)

Some times I think that would actually be useful for some politicians that do not care about history and prior knowledge. * Rule of law is a good idea * Dictatorship is a bad idea * Allowing Germany to occpy Sudetenland in the Münich appeasement 1938 was a bad idea. [1] * ... [1] https://snyder.substack.com/p/appeasement-at-munich?triedRedirect=true But that said! If this service works I think I could use it. I can handle long articles, but have no time to watch YouTube clips.

Twenty lessons on tyranny from Timothy Snyder: https://snyder.substack.com/p/twenty-lessons-on-tyranny

This felt useful to me: > Make sure you are talking to people and doing something. The logic of “move fast and break things,” like the logic of all coups, is to gain quick dramatic successes that deter and demoralize and create the impression of inevitability. Nothing is inevitable. Do not be alone and do not be dismayed. Find someone who is doing something you admire and join them. https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-logic-of-destruction

Here is an informative article based on reality. It may not be part of the narrative you want to push....but it is accurate. https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-state-of-the-war >Ukraine did want to press forward last year, before the fortifications were built. It lacked the necessary weapons, and Elon Musk chose to cut Ukraine off from communications. That move likely extended the war. Because Musk’s decision was based on his internalization of Russian propaganda about nuclear war, and was accompanied by his repetition of that propaganda, he made a nuclear war more likely. If powerful men convey the message that just talking about nuclear war is enough to win conventional wars, then we will have more countries with nuclear weapons and more conventional wars that can escalate into nuclear ones. Ukraine has been resistant to this line of Russian fearmongering, fortunately for us all.

Maybe you missed this blog post of Timothy Snyder [1] from October last year: Is it a stretch to suppose that Prigozhin is sparing whatever valuable men and material he has left? He has been openly recruiting Russian prisoners to fight for Wagner in Ukraine; I would venture the supposition that he is sending them to die and keeping back the men and equipment who might have a future in some other endeavor. [...] In the overall logic that I am describing, rivals would seek to conserve whatever fighting forces they have, either to protect their own personal interests during an unpredictable time, or to make a play for Moscow. [1] https://snyder.substack.com/p/how-does-the-russo-ukrainian-war

Because a state-run news site accidentally published a victory article. "Ukraine has returned to Russia...It will be reorganized, re-established and returned to its natural state as part of the Russian world...[Russia, Belarus and Ukraine will now act] in geopolitical terms as a single whole," https://www.newsweek.com/state-run-russian-news-site-accidentally-decl… Also if you take the time to notice what Putin is saying and doing you will realize that denazification = genocide. The goal was not to arrest Hitler's fans but to destroy Ukrainian nationality. https://snyder.substack.com/p/russias-genocide-handbook From Wikipedia. "Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people — usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group — in whole or in part."

> So, I kind of get why people might not like your argumentation style. Yeah. I know I should dial it down a little. But I'm actually really concerned about the US. They do have a lot of mass shootings, and not even tackling this problem does point to a larger dysfunction in the US. And Trump does not accept is loss and 60% of republicans agree. That's why I actually fear that the next elections in the US will not be democratic. https://snyder.substack.com/p/911-and-16

From Prof. Tim Snyder, https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-absurdity-is-the-point > War with Canada is what Trump seems to have in mind. Fentanyl is not the only the big lie. That Canada does not really exist is the other. The way that this fiction is formulated is strangely Putinist. Trump's rhetoric about Canada uncannily echoes that of Russian propagandists towards Ukraine. The claim that the country is not real; that its people really want to join us; that the border is an artificial line; that history must lead to annexation... This is all familiar from Putin, as is Trump’s curious ambiguity about a neighbor: they are our brothers, they are also our enemies; they are doing terrible things to us, they also don’t really exist. > The imperialist rhetoric has to be seen for what it is, which is preparation not just for trade war but for war itself. The US is preparing for war. It’s not a joke.

Syllabus of Ukraine class - "The Making of Modern Ukraine," Fall 2022 - https://snyder.substack.com/p/syllabus-of-my-ukraine-lecture-class "...Topics there include the Kyiv state, early modern Lithuania, and Poland during the age of discovery. Ukraine also provides an intense example of the confrontation between modern national politics and extreme colonial alternatives from the far right and far left... ...Modern topics therefore include Russian and Austrian empires; Jewish and Polish urban society; Romanticism and modern nationalism; the Bolshevik Revolution and its Ukrainian counterparts; Soviet modernization and terror; Nazi occupation and the Holocaust; and ethnic cleansing... ...Finally, contemporary Ukrainian history poses in striking form the question of the functionality and durability of the post-imperial state. The last few topics are thus: the late Soviet Union; problems of post-Soviet rule, the Orange Revolution and Maidan and the war of 2014; and the present war..."

Oh I'm not saying Israel's decision to attack Iran forced the US to join in on strategic or self-defense grounds. I'm saying it forced them because the US does whatever Israel tells them. That is why both US lead negotiators with Iran are Jewish [1], why US congressmen have Israeli flags outside their offices [2], why Nancy Pelosi said the #1 priority in the Capitol is Israel [3], why Netanyahu gets 3 straight minutes of applause when he starts his speech in Congress (and lots of applause interruptions later) [4]. Because when 50% of donations to the Democratic party, and 25% of donations to the Republican party, are from Jewish sources [5], it can't be any other way. [1] In practice, critical negotiations, with Iran and elsewhere, have been put in the hands of two people, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, with close personal relationships with the president and obvious economic stakes in the relevant conflicts. - https://snyder.substack.com/p/on-superpower-suicide [2] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2qjLaSyAWj8 [3] if this Capitol crumbled to the ground, the one thing that would remain would be our commitment to our aid, I don’t even call it our aid, our cooperation with Israel. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1LmnQRnw8I [4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6XZKE7a_F4 [5] https://www.jpost.com/us-elections/us-jews-contribute-half-of-all-dona…