By Batiushka for the Saker Blog
I can make a ten-mile trip in any direction from here and see three or four Ukrainian flags flying, or drooping, according to the wind, in people’s gardens. In that time I may pass by a thousand houses. The percentage of Ukrainian flag-flyers is then very small, certainly much less than 1%. But why do they do it at all? It surely cannot be to boost the trade of Chinese flagmakers. What sort of people are involved in this display of stupidity? Flying the blue and yellow flag of nineteenth-century Lower Austria because of its associations with contemporary Nazi terrorists in south-western Russia? Would these flag-flyers also fly the swastika then? Because that is what they are in fact doing. Who are these philistines who want to cancel culture and support Nazism?
1. ‘Ukrainians’
Let us suppose that one or two flag-flyers are actually of Ukrainian origin. Their Galician (west Ukrainian) grandparents came here in 1945 as Polish citizens. As one of the last such grandfathers who died 20 years ago in great old age said to me on his death-bed: ‘But I never killed any Jews’. I believed him, but noted that he did not say that he had never killed any Poles or Russians. In the UK the authorities did actually bother to check the stories of some pro-Nazi Galicians and some were refused entrance.
However, the refused were not too bothered, since they knew they could get into Canada and the USA without any vetting at all. The North Americans would take any Galician SS nasties, as long as they were anti-Communist and hated Russians, no problem….After all the US space program was built by V1 and V2 Nazi nasties, and only a generation after Auschwitz and Belsen they took Americans to the moon. The grandchildren of such 1945 Ukrainian immigrants generally have little idea of what the Ukraine actually is and cannot speak the language. Flag flying for them is just part of family nostalgia, tokenism. We should not take it too seriously.
2. The Naïve
Let us be generous. The naïve are always with us. Those who rescue cats from trees and take in stray dogs, feed the birds in their gardens and give money to Afghan refugees/terrorists may also fly this flag. After all, ‘it is all in a good cause’. Let us not pay too much attention to such people. They ‘mean well’.
3. The Zombies
Now, sadly, we come to the vast majority of the flag-flyers. These are the ones who have a TV instead of a brain. These are the ones whose grandparents believed that German soldiers bayoneted Belgian babies in 1914, or whose parents believed that in 1945 the British genocided Dresden and that the Americans nuked Japan in order to shorten the war (in fact both crimes were committed to frighten Stalin), or who believed in 1990 that Iraqi troops threw babies out of incubators when they freed the British-separated Iraqi province of Kuwait and that Serbs massacred Muslims in Yugoslavia in the 1990s. These are the ones who read British ‘newspapers’ (= lie-sheets) and over the last two years actually believed the propaganda about covid, closed themselves away wearing a mask and refused to go outside for a year because ‘it’ was ‘in the air’.
They listened to and read and believed all the government social control lies. In order to avoid an extremely small possibility of death, these are the ones who made their lives into living deaths by locking themselves up in their homemade prisons. These are the same brainless conformists, who actually think that Western countries are democratic! Oh yes, Western elections do give you a choice. You can vote for a moron or for a cretin, both of whom are puppets of the same oligarchs who similarly made their money from arms, oil, pharmaceutics, food, media, computing or whatever. Demo-no-cracy indeed. As long as these flag-flyers have bread (supermarkets) and circuses (TV shows and sport), they will do anything you want, even fly the made-up flag of a made-up country, of which they know nothing.
Let us be generous and give the benefit of the doubt to all these nostalgic, naïve and the stupid. Sadly, however, there are yet others, the tiny minority, whose motivations are far, far more sinister because they are flying that flag consciously, not to support another country, but because that flag is the emblem of something really very evil, in which they are participating and so staining themselves. We call them the Devil’s pawns.
4. The Devil’s Pawns
There are the ones who consciously know what they are doing. They actually believe in the superiority of the West over the Rest, that the West is ‘best’, ‘unique’ and ‘exceptional’. These are the Niall Fergusons and the Douglas Murrays (‘The War on the West’). They believe in Western imperialism and that NATO must support the terrorist regime in Kiev, just as, before it, NATO’s Washington masters have supported any number of drug-running tinpot gangsters and dictators in Latin America and Asia. Apparently, the West is best brigade have never heard the story of Gandhi, who visited London in the 1930s and, when asked by a journalist what he thought of Western civilisation, is said to have answered: ‘I think it is a very good idea’. These are the sinister people who are in power and their useful idiot supporting ideologues, who realise that if the West loses the Ukraine, this will be the turning-point and the collapse of their ethnocentric, ‘I love Me’ nightmare world. They are the Anglo-Zionists.
As for us, we do not believe in One World ‘Government’ (i.e. One World Dictatorship), in planetary hegemony and homogeneity, in one size fits all, as decided by a self-appointed top-down global elite of super-Capitalist mega-rich. We have other values, far older and far newer than theirs, because our values are timeless, representing Continuity and even approaching Eternity. We believe in spiritual identity – personal, familial and national identity, because we believe that all the really important things are higher than money. We believe in civilisational values, in cultural traditions and historical memory, we believe in humanity (remember that?), in truth, in national sovereignty, social justice and prosperity for all. Yes, all those values are higher than Capital, Mammon, the filthy lucre, on which they base their whole way of life. And that is why we will not fly the made-up flag of a made-up country, which exists only as an excuse for the self-justification of money-lusting global tyrants.
Wojja mean “naive”! I help cats and dogs and feed birds. And I also see through the Permanent Billshit Blizzard of the Western lying-propaganda machine as well as you do, You calling me naive just because I love my animal friends? That doesn’t make you blind to realities, you know.
Don’t take that personally. I also love the animals and follow a ‘do no harm policy. They are all God’s gift to us though seldom treated as such.
I think the writer was talking about a certain type of person who will jump on any environmental bandwagon or anything which sounds all mushy and good. But they don’t know the reality.
I don’t virtue signal anything I do. I do it by myself because I really love animals. And I will not fly this Ukraine flag because I have some understanding of what is really going on. It often means standing alone.
Craig, I am totally with you on this one.
I’d go even further than that, wouldn’t hesitate to help an animal in need but most people, I wouldn’t piss on if they were on fire quite frankly.
What such people do do is called “Virtue -signaling!”
They do such acts not for the benefit of the animals, but because they can state “LOOK AT ME and see how kind, virtuous and good I am!”
What is suspicious about the nationwide display of flags is that it all seems pre-organized and done at a fairly large scale. I think there is an intimidation factor here. The flag display shuts down anyone who wants to side with Russia.
Indeed – basically folk who operate from ego and not from the soul.
Spot on Craig. This article sounds so much like my girlfriend, sister, sister in law, etc., etc. I’ll never forward as they just will never “get it”. I too like animals and have feeders out and am an avid nature watcher, actually rather serious. But, I also hunt for my own meat once in a while but never buy it from the store. Thanks for clarifying this to this person who didn’t understand it fully.
It’s called virtue signaling.
Humans have a psychological need to be liked, if your a celebrity like Angelina Jolie it goes further- you income depends on it.
By flying the Ukraine flag they are signaling to their friends, social media profile and neighbors that they are a good person they agree and support what is advertised as the good / right side so they must be a good person.
Some may not actually believe the Ukrainian narrative but will do it anyway for the popularity
This is commonly seen in children who are yet to develop their own identity that comes with adulthood.
It’s funny as in a parallel universe I can see the same people flying the Russian flag as they fight the Nazi’s.
The power of the media and propaganda I guess
Angelina Jolie, George Clooney and Sean Penn work for the CIA.
Which goes to show you that Hollywood is a Cult, similar to Harvard/Yale. A recruitment ground for the next batch of pond life.
A thread I can relate to on here at last!
Hello friends!
Indeed – all friends welcomed into the club of sanity, truth and common sense!
The real meaning is clear for all to see, but was worded with wit (i.e. a clever and amusing way, sometimes with sarcasm but not always).
Close this conversation down. Mod.
To be concise to maximum: as not every ‘naive’ is a cat lover, as not every cat lover is ‘naive’.
Great article! It leaves one breathless and full of joy, thank you!
Some musings…
Virtue signalling appeals to the lemmings. Like the Jolie crowd. And the ukraine flag wavers and blm flag wavers for that matter.
The programmed masses nod their heads like bobble dogs. Some people are leaders, the rest are part of the herd.
(I also consider there may be something in the electronic programming that hypnotizes the people who watch it. What else could it be to have this degree if complacency?
That or perhaps dumbing down chemicals in the water system.)
Someone did an analysis here recently:
In short, people going along with the narrative are uneducated or naïve or stupid. The first two can be remedied.
That leaves the percentage who are free thinking adults. A greater responsibility then to that group.
There is no doubt that the folk doing this are being hit on every level of their being with mind control tactics and more. However, the more interesting question in my opinion is why are some people not affected by it? I’d suggest the answer may lie in what I would term a strong spiritual immune system.
Seems like a low number, of flags, I see many more (especially here in Poland, I guess I see one hundred per day or more).
There is an enormous amount of support for Ukraine in every country that speaks English – the language of this blog – and very little support for Russia (hence, no Russian flags).
This is reality, this is fact.
No flags here in NZ.
Just as many retards though.
Yes people in USA flying Ukraine flags are retards
No idea why the author wrote such a longer answer
Given Ukrainians killed a 100,000 poles in WW2 and took a large slice of Poland in 1945, including Lvov, why do Poles support Ukraine?
My enemy’s enemy is my friend.
After all, the Poles have gone through the same CIA/MI6 brainwashing as Ukraine: Destroying historical Russian monuments in Poland, jumping like cockroaches to get dollares after the commands from their many US bases in Poland.
Because, that happened a long time ago. The attention span today is reduced to no more than three weeks (at most). The entertainment industry and the media has become very adept at projecting the appropriate values and mental food that the slumbering human mind consumes. It’s easy and energy saving to have someone else do the thinking for you. Add to that the more or less deliberate poisioning of the organism by processed food and toxic chemicals in the environment, and it becomes almost impossible for the individual to escape the constant, inevitable, brainfog. Cudos, to those who do. They are few and far between. The price is high.
It’s getting worse, and it will take some time (and a lot of pain) for that pendulum to start swinging back to a more conscious and awake state. To be awake and to be “woke” are the two extremes on this oscillation of consciousness. It has always been like that and I believe it always will. A few hundred years ago, the “woke” burned witches. Now, they do all sorts of weird things – and they actually believe in it. The result is always evil. Because, wokeness is the moral basis for evil to thrive and to be able to enter the dull, human mind. It’s the tool of choice. And it’s effective. It can also be called mass formation psychosis, if one wants to be modern in ones expressions.
It’s no joke. They are many and his name is Legion. That’s why.
They “support”, not support Ukraine. It is mass formation psychosis, generated by MSM. Identically like with covid hysteria. If you ask someone in Poland why is he doing that, he can’t explain clearly. Mostly the answer is: “because others do that – and you know – we must help victims of war”. No one thinks deeper, why these “victims” did not stay in parts of Ukraine free from warfare? Ukraine is the biggest country of Europe and for sure there’s plenty of peaceful sites. But if refugees come to Poland, they are offered free medical support, often better than for inhabitants, free stay in private homes, free schools (for over half a million Ukrainian children – which cost polish taxpayers almost 3 billions of dollars only to the end of 2022!), guaranteed amount of money per month, help for starting business, tax reliefs… This list is endless, and it cause rising anger because uneven treatment, with advantage of foreigners. I hope this comes to reevaluating situation and all that mess – by Poles.
Ironically, these refugees are mainly people who wanted to join the EU and were supportive of, or at least indifferent to, the overthrow of Yanukovych. Given that many wanted to join the EU in order to leave Ukraine, it looks like they got their wish. Net loss for Ukraine though, as many won’t return, especially professionals and skilled workers, some of whom will no doubt find their way to Canada.
Haven’t see anyone doing this in Australia either. I hope NOT to see it.
Ghandi said about western culture: ” I think it WOULD be a good idea”
Still true today!
LOL. Didn’t know about that one. Thanks for this delightful quote.
Yes! I too was a little shocked when I went to my nearest city ( more like a town) for my monthly grocery shopping. The whole HUGE City Council building was covered from side to side with 3 yellow and blue flags.
Where is this? In the rural backward interior of Portugal!!!! I can only talk to my goats about world affairs these days as everyone else is glued to their TV and hypnotised into fearing and hating the Big Grizzly Bear.
Quite a few Ukrainians in Portugal.. stepson was very badly beaten up by some cos of his Russian accent. These males and youths escapees and refugees who have brought their attitudes with them where ever they go to live tainted by their culture of violence and corruption .. to prove their fanatical allegiance to their Bandera country. They will rot the societies where they have relocated too. Their hosts will regret .
You are in good company with your goats. Much more pleasant to be around that the two-legged creatures currently threatening all of humanity.
Bears are truly wonderful creatures. Even Grizzly or Brown bears. They are not generally dangerous if left alone and will only attack because we have made them afraid, so they act in self defense. Bears are my second most favorite animal. First is elephants. I’m not nearly as trusting with people.
@ Amy
Those are the Batiushka’s Zombies who have a tv box for brains although there may be a sprinkle of the geography-and-history challenged Devil’s Pawns from Galitzia (see comment below) who might have thought that Roman Gallaecia (modern Galicia, Northern Portugal) was their primordial home and moved in there recently for spiritual connection. Fortunately they got lost on their way and went to Bocas do Inferno (Hell’s Mouth) near Lisbon!
Talking to goats is a salutary therapy and more rewarding too. Lucky you! At the other end of the world my audience sometimes is a herd of dumb cows not interested in humans’ doings.
Cheers
I live in Portugal as well. The Portuguese seem to be extremely naive people, not really into critical thinking. They like to watch their 2-hour evening news, which are all based on the same American propaganda, though. I don’t know why, but the Portuguese are like US groupies. If Americans told them to go and eat feces, the Portuguese would be rushing to the toilet. Most mean well, but due to their utter ignorance they are easy victims of manipulation by sleazy guys like Paulo Portas.
I think Portugal as a whole might also feel obliged to be pro-Ukraine because of the Ukrainian man that was brutally murdered by our immigration officers a few years ago. That was quite a scandal.
Categories 2 & 3 are quintessentially the same. You state that they ‘mean well’. True. However, when ‘weaponized’ through constant emotional psychobabble they become very very dangerous for the rest of us. This is why I make no excuses for them. This is the post-liberal democracy, so easily managed through emotional appeal by our administrators.
It is the price we pay for an unqualified mass electorate that is, at best, only loosely plugged in to reality.
Categories 2 & 3 are quintessentially the same. You state that they ‘mean well’. True. However, when ‘weaponized’ through constant emotional psychobabble they become very very dangerous for the rest of us. This is why I make no excuses for them.
This is the post-liberal democracy, so easily managed through full spectrum emotional appeal lavishly and shamelessly splurged out by our ‘administrators’.
It is the price we pay for an unqualified mass electorate that is, at best, only loosely plugged in to reality and the ultimate consequences of febrile reactions.
You missed one very big group:
5. The afraid
In totalitarian societies that is the biggest group.
Yes, ones who are afraid. Good point. I believe many people are afraid to be expelled from the crowd of like minded. Elite strata of society signalize through mass media what is “right” way to think about conflict of Ukraine. Masses pick that cue; one must at least pretend to believe all that bullshit. For people with any social visibility (actors, media people, artistsd, politicians, managers) this is also practical issue. “Not being with Ukraine” can get you fired or socially canceled.
A very interesting read. Thank you.
I do agree about the group of the “afraid” which I would call the terrified (or terrorized) conformists.
Please do not conflate conformists with people who act in fear. In fear for their livelihood, for their partner rejecting them, for their family admonishing them, etc. etc. By doing that you are in effect switching the perpetrators and the victims.
People who act in fear are not conformist. To the contrary. Conformists DO NOT act in fear – they embrace the new rules and identify with them. They do it precisely because acceptance sllows them to shed fear and stress.
Not being a conformist – as in not accepting the state of afairs – is an essential prerequisite for acting in fear. When you accept/adapt, there is nothing to fear – that is the whole foundation of threats as a means of subjugation.
Yes, these are not simple dynamics. You need people who lived in a totalitarian society to trully understand this. So most of the audience here would be excused to not notice the difference.
When Orwell wrote /paraphrased/: “To speak the truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act.”, it was not an encouragement. It was a warning.
Revolutionaries are shot on spot. No matter the government. The wise understand it. The unfortunate live it.
All excellent, except the silly uninformed snipe at the need for sensible infectious disease control measures.
PS.
I also like cats .. and all animals, especially tasty ones.
There are only two types of people.
1) Those who has faith and dares to stand alone.
2) Those who do not have faith, and are afraid to stand alone.
Groupe 2 seeks membership in secret societies to soothe their fear, usually ending up being over-confident.
They blindly conform to the norm of the cult, in order to receive protection from its members.
Their worst fear is to be ejected (Canceled) by the cult, thus losing its protection.
Thus they will do anything (legal and illegal) in order to stay part of the cult.
These people are the ones eager to enter into Federalism, Fascism and Nazism.
Sadly, this group has become a large segment of the Western population.
So today the west is ruled by Fascists, leading humanity into WWIII.
Solution: Leave the falls security of secret societies and cults. You can make it on your own.
Become a human being again, with a Soule to discern right from wrong, and act accordingly.
Have Faith.
I’ve no faith but dare to stand alone.
Those are only two types of people: *)
1) Those who choose their battles.
2) Those who are defeated.
*) artistic license, please not read literally
UK Prime Minister idiot gives another 300 million to Ukraine.. not too far off a billion now. Of course there will be more. Not yet sent tanks and planes yet as promised by brain of a slug Truss…apologies to slugs.
Keep sending those tanks and artillery pieces please. They will be melted down into rebar at Azovstal to help rebuild Mariupol.
This was so well said. Thank you. I must post it elsewhere.
I live in a rural community. The owner of one general store near me posted on unsocial media that he now had Ukrainian flags in stock. I posted a comment asking when the Russian flags would be in stock. No answer from him, but I got a couple of dirty looks and a couple of thumbs up.
Very sadly I got to experience for over two years what this writer speaks about. My now ex wife was all in on the Covid hysteria and then was all in on the Russian hysteria.
A large part of me is happy she left.
To Craig Mouldey
Here is something to put smile on your face. Not that long ago husband and I drove into the supermarket parking lot one Friday to do some shopping for the weekend and I could not believe my eyes – all over this vast parking lot, from every lamp post to lamp post, it was festooned with strips of yellow and blue bunting flags! Angrily I was about to turn around and leave, when my husband reminded me that those are the colours of our local rugby team that had some big game the following day. The relief..and not just that, but next day they actually won that game! : )
The best way to support refugees is to not create them in the first place.
Unnecessary wars with US involvement (partial list !):
Afghanistan
Iraq
Yemen
Libya
Syria
Ukraine
All creating massive numbers of refugees.
Russia needs a new line of argument because the existing one isn’t working. I am guessing the reason is that the vast majority of people don’t much care about Ukraine one way or another. Being pro Ukraine is just a way of being anti Russian. But the US, like it or leave it, is well known and important. That makes selling opinions about the US a lot easier than selling opinions about the Ukraine. So, make being pro Russian in the conflict a way of being anti US. Get them thinking about how the US (and NATO) will be an even bigger bully boy on the world stage when they add the Ukraine to their long list of subordinated nations. Focus on the war being a way for the US to expand its power.
Russia no longer cares for its image in the West. They gave up.
The sole exception is they want to be seen as threatening – as much as possible. For that is the only way a nuclear exchange may be avoided.
Anything beyond, they gave up on “The West” and switched on basic barter economics in everything. No concept – or expectation of – decency, image, face-saving is considered. Not beyond using it as a weapon against the West.
The West desperately wanted “This Russia” for their narrative building. They got it. Just not sure they realize what they got themselves into.
this show , how easy people get on with the narative, replace the flag with a mouth piece protection,you just need a narative for a hopeless horde of zombies,they are ready
” they are ready ”
i mean they are already dead
I think you have to take a look at the media to understand this, to understand how the brainwashing works. The media does not merely tell (made up) facts in their broadcasts. A lot more air time is actually devoted to so called “discussions”, where a panel of talking heads come on and go over and over the same made up facts, spinning narratives full of ludicrous analysis leading to predictions of outcomes and invariably adding remedies to what “must be done” to help freedom-loving-ukrainians. This becomes like a regular soap opera that draws the listeners deep into the tale being spun. Like a good story, they root for the white hats and boo the black hats. But unlike in a movie where we come away understanding that everything we just watched was a work of fiction, when presented in a news format, the opposite is the case. This, of course, is very dangerous, even if somewhat amusing.
In my rural Canadian retirement village, it would appear that “those who rescue cats from trees and take in stray dogs” also extends to those who treat their injuries. My local vet is flying a Ukrainian flag and he, so far as I know, comes from The Netherlands or at least he took his training in Utrecht. On the other hand, so too is the business that provides the local school bus services the owner of which is strictly a local community native.
It a strange phenomenon without any clear pattern that I can discern although I suspect it may have some relationship to TV “news” watching hours and overall susceptibility to “trendy” promotional sales pitches in general. The U.S. influence on Canadian perceptions is widespread and almost unavoidable in both of those areas, of course.
Canada (and especially rural areas and the prairies) is infested with ukronazis so that makes sense. The guy is probably just doing it to avoid being vilified by the local UCC gestapo.
Did your local vet wave Iraqi flag or Yemenite? No? Why not? Perhaps he feels his civilization is being defended in Ukraine?!
Good observations. I see the blue and yellow streamers flying from Edmonton Transit bus mirrors and wonder at the partisanship E.T. is displaying.
Alberta and Western Canada are filled with Ukrainians, most second and third generation, so I understand to some extent the popularity that the Ukraine enjoys here. Sadly most claiming Ukrainian ‘blood’ have no idea what that means today and their only notion of history is, as the article states, that Russia is bad.
I am watching carefully for that person who is driving alone in their car wearing a blue and yellow mask to ward off covid and Russia apparently. I know they are out there…
What kind of people fly the Nazi-Jew flag? The pentagram?
What kind of people fly old glory vs betsy-ross?
HL Mencken said it best 1930 “When I see a man wave a flag, I expect to get a bill”.
Those are not rigid, mutually exclusive categories. Many Ukrainian flag displayers belong to more than one.
Spot on.
But, while I do not necessarily despise the Ukrainian nationalists nor the Devil’s Pawns, I absolutely abhor the Naives and the Zombies.
Lack of intelligence, rationality and balls is, to me, almost always worse than “evil” ideologies.
That is also one of the reasons why I disrespect modern democracies: they are ruled either by criminals or by a brainless mass of untermenschen.
Even a King is preferrable to this crap. At least you can behead him.
@ Batiushka
Thank you for the very instructive – and entertaining – lecture. Always a pleasure to read you.
However (here comes the crunchy bit):
“Their Galician (west Ukrainian) grandparents came here in 1945 as Polish citizens.”
Please spare your Galician fans on the far west of Europe (Cape Finisterra, Lands End) on the Atlantic coast, the embarrassment of being confused with the birthplace of Ukynazism, Galitzia or Halyčyna.
There is a remote possibility that 3,000 years ago they were cousins of sorts as the whole continent was stomped by Celtic feet whose tribal names included the common root “Galato”, but so were most Europeans from Pannonia to present day Galicia.
From Galicia (NorthWest of Spain), thanks, Parfois.
I live among “the ones who have a TV instead of a brain.”
Very well said, let’s use this to shut up all these clueless people.
“It surely cannot be to boost the trade of Chinese flag makers.”
With the number I see, I am just amazed they got the orders through the ports and/or had all of that material lying about to make so many flags. Interesting coincidence. But in the back of my mind, I just can’t help but think someone was preparing for this?
——–
And I suppose the people that fly them are the same pool of people the “pump and dump” Wall Street racketeers rely on to make money.
Here in Western Canada I also see lots of Ukrainian flags, some with the coat of arms in the centre, on public as well as private buildings. When paying for purchases one must also be careful they do not inadvertently add an extra dollar or two “tip” for Ukrainian “charity.”
+100. So true. Loads of American lefties who do not support free speech have their little blue and yellow flag when they post on Twitter. This includes war monger NeoCons aka friends of Nuland like Max Boot. The guy is a total tool and evil moron.
I have seen a few people around with Ukraine supportive flags. They also usually heavily support vaxxing and mandatory vaxes. They worship at the altar of Covid. Oddly, Covid may have been partially created in bioweapons labs in the Ukraine. Thank you Russia and President Putin for destroying those labs and capturing the documents plus possibly a Canadian (colonel?) and American general who may have been involved.
I ride a lot every day around Sydney, Australia for work … over the last 2.5 months or so, I only noticed a Ukrainian flag sticker on the back of a car and someone attached a flag out of their passenger’s seat.
I also ran across a random driver on the traffic light who got excited by my motorbike (it’s a KTM, and he was happy to see a bike whose parent company was in Austria, which apparently was his home country)… that was quite surreal.
After praising my KTM, he started ranting about how evil Putin was to invade Ukraine and messing up Europe. I wish I had time to have a chat and see which category he’d fall in, but I politely said that it’s a complicated situation and moved ahead with the green light.
“The grandchildren of such 1945 Ukrainian immigrants generally have little idea of what the Ukraine actually is and cannot speak the language.”
The obvious exception being Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister, who walks proudly in the footprints of her grandfather, a Nazi collaborator who escaped and lived out his life in hiding in Alberta.
“ We believe in spiritual identity – personal, familial and national identity, because we believe that all the really important things are higher than money.”
Well said! Great piece
“Now, sadly, we come to the vast majority of the flag-flyers. These are the ones who have a TV instead of a brain.” Or could it be the TV has them?
“we believe in humanity (remember that?)” Very powerful summary to an awesome article, Thanks!
In the old days we used to hold the door for others, was that like today’s virtue signaling? As an occasionally overly gregarious person it was, for me, more about earning a pleasant exchange. Hard to do now-a-days, when you more often then not, one gets a glowering stare of accusation, will you be the one who kills me?
Never authenticated but the story about J. Edgar Hoover, long time don of the FBI, sending his #2 man to Germany to vet the Nazis, in like 38? He came back full of praise and plans to implement so many good ideas.
So yeah, like so many Empire projects, one needs to take the long view before declaring victory and proclaiming, Hurrah, never Again!
To be fair to J.E. Hoover, the Nazis were “German-efficient” in most of their ways and had a lot of excellent analytical minds in between. Especially in 1938 when the #&@{ did not arrive to the fan yet.
That was not the problem. The problem were their objectives.
Never got the nitty gritty details, then there was operation paperclip. History is such a fickle pursuit. Sometimes we get it, sometimes we don’t.
I think a better question might be, who DOESN’T fly the Ukrainian flag? I live 45 minutes outside the capital of the empire of lies in another large eastern city, a couple hours south of NYC, land of the sponsors of terrorists globally and primarily, at this time in Ukraine and i have NEVER seen a Ukrainian flag flying..ever..In my lengthening life ive seen lots of American flags of course, lots of Irish and Italian flags. my friend in grade school with the surname Vondracek, his dad flew a Norwegian flag, but i do niot see and have never seen a single blue and yellow Ukrainian flag flying anywhere here…Ive never seen or heard a single mote of support for the present day Ukrainian cause-except online- and yet my govt. Is risking nuclear catastrophe , wasting tens of billions it claimed not to have, to uphold this artificial creation…Very suspicious
Here in the Netherlands it’s hard to find any building or public space not draped in the UkroNazi flag. I find it outright offensive to look at. Not one of them have any clue about what the flag currently represents. They only fly it to show the world they are on the “good” side… -Look at what a good person I am!!! -I fly the Ukie flag on my house, on my car, on my clothes and wave it everywhere I go!!!! -I’m really that good of a person!!!
It’s like the Dutch are competing in showing off their goodness by draping everything in that flag, which they have no connection to whatsoever. Before Russia entered the conflict most of them couldn’t find Ukraine on a map, even if their life depended on it.
Someone said the true world (opposite the free and civilised world) has set up a duffer line for the countries in north, Benelux, Scandinavia, Poland, Balticum, etc as imbecile countries beyond normal mental reach.
I see it as obedience. They want to show the Authorities, Klaus Swab, IMF, Blackstone, Nato, Brussel, Das National sozialismus Partei, that they are 100% poodles, why they deserve promotion and funding.
First time poster, long time lurker
Dutch Embassy annual National King’s Day Party here in Hungary sported, after the national anthems of NL and HU, a Ukrainian soprano singing the Ukr anthem. in very bright spotlights as opposed to the NL and HU anthems
Not only that. Special guest was Marki Zay – Hungarian leftist opposition front runner politician and EU/ US stooge. Hungarian sitting government not invited apparently.
Virtue signalling at state level.
I think Batiushka sums it up the flag flying perfectly. Some are commenting flags (or lack of them) where they live. I live in an urban setting in the bay area, almost entirely Black and Brown environment and I have yet to see a single Ukranian flag/emblem/sign anywhere. When I have had occasion to visit the white part of our city I see them frequently, I would say typically one on each city block.
assuming both environments equally educated and equal amount of virtue signaling, it seems to me it’s a conscious decision on our part. I’ve yet to encounter in person a single american who buys into the Empire’s narrative, most indicate domestic concerns largely or entirely should take precedence, among B/B people overwhelmingly so.
Christya Freeland flies the Blood and Soil Flag, Deputy PM of Canada!
Western people who wave Ukrainian flags are not naive, nor zombies: they believe their Western civilization is being defended in Ukraine.
They did not bother to wave Iraqi, Lybian, Yugoslav or Yemeni flags, because it is their civilizations (or allies) waging those aggressive wars.
Absolutely correct analysis.
I reside in downtown San Francisco. I have noticed there are a few houses that have the flag image where once they had BLM in the window. In my thought these are MSM brainwashed liberals. As an aside, in attending for the first time a Passover Seder held by the Chabad of San Francisco the Rabbi attacked Putin and Russian invasion of Ukraine for half the talk before the meal. Even the Reform Synagogue my wife belongs to-all Covid restrictions all the time with PCR test and or proof of vaccine-routinely denounces Russia and they too were hysterical over Black Lives Matter.
Most Covid-masks are BLUE and with a bit (well a lot, actually) of yellow highlighter I could make myself a Ukrainian flag coloured Covid-mask and then be seen as either uber virtual signalling by teh zombies!
Or by the congnoscenti as “taking the piss” to the max…
I think I may be onto something! Ukrainian flag masks for when you feel the need to be (or look like, for “protective colouration”) an Uber-sheeple…
why are people unable to carry on a serious conversation on this extraordinary platform without someone bringing in extraneous nonsense. “uber-sheeple” to refer to those who do not want to risk death in a pandemic? an accurate comparison would be with people who buy into the Biden administration narrative about Ukraine, those are sheep. People who have lost loved ones to disease may be overly cautious, but we are not sheep.
Please close this conversation – its going off-topic. Mod.
Ok, I almost shared it, since it is an almost good text. IMHO you just went wrong when talked about COVID, since it is a hole other matter.
I really liked that he threw COVID into it. Shared.
Someone’s probably mentioned this before but the author has missed out on British (mainly English ) NAZIS. Your street scum, like Tommy Robinson who’s a Mossad agent and the Commanders sitting in the House of Commons & unCivil Service. Hell, English Banks launder Nazi money.
Please. There are no British Nazi’s outside of a few mental patients.
There do, to my utter surprise as a UK citizen, seem to be some nazi sympathisers right now in government squandering my country’s means of defence on supporting some known nazis in a far away country…
Unfortunately, only non-conformists like myself believe in the Azov battalion, most of my countrymen think that Ukrainian nazis are like our homegrown type, powerless and isolated mental patients.
That’s probably why the Author missed out such people in my country. They are in the main powerless and irrelevant, and do NOT get to hold mass torchlight parades like they do in other countries…
No Ukrainian flags in my part of London. There may be some, but I haven’t seen any. I did see a Ukrainian registered truck with ‘aid relief’ or similar on it.
Like the last paragraph!
That is why I do not wave flags!
Batiushka, these people who rescue cats, feed the birds and donate for war refugees represent the best of the human spirit in our dark times. To denigrate that basic decency by calling it hypocrisy (two wrongs don’t make a right), virtue signalling or naivety only speaks volumes about yourself really. Just like Putin’s faux nationalism that cannot be further apart from the genuinely kind Russian soul. You know, that true soul of a nation that czars,clerics, communists and intellectuals alike tried and failed to define and package in various ideologies. If you or any of this blog’s readers are indeed Russian you will understand that you don’t need myths and narratives of epic struggles to be told who you are .
Bravo!!! All true. Unfortunately, the vast majority uses their t.v. for a brain in the west. So brainwashed and pathetic are they. The west is beyond saving at this point, which saddens me. The caliber of our leaders says it all. For instance, Canadians continue to elect bubbleheads such as Justin (Sinbad the sailer man) True-D’oh. I weep :(
So many good people here, I love the comments today, so real and honest. In CANADUH, speaking in favor of Russia causes hysterics from my brain-dead fellow citizens. I was asked to donate to Ukraine while at the grocery store checkout. I replied ” no thanks, but I would donate to Russia”. Icy stare lady got all flustered, and said “I’m Ukranian”, to which I replied ” aren’t you Canadian”? Silence.
“Let us suppose that one or two flag-flyers are actually of Ukrainian origin. Their Galician (west Ukrainian) grandparents came here in 1945 as Polish citizens.”
Ukrainians have been coming to Canada since the late 19th century, settling mainly in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. As in the USA, they, along with an assortment of other Europeans, came to work on the railroads that were pushing west. When they reached the prairies they found land which resembled Ukraine, and took up farming, using the money they’d earned and the land grants being offered to establish settlements. Chinese were later brought in to finish the most difficult part of railway construction, crossing the mountains.
https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/history/ukrainians-in-canada-1900-1930.html
https://ukrvoice.ca/documentation/Ukrainian%20Voice%2005-06%2017%207.pdf
I have a coworker whose family is from that era. He has no idea what’s happening in Ukraine, doesn’t speak the language, and relies entirely on what he hears from relatives and Canadian media, which are completely captured by the NATO narrative. We get along well enough, but I have to avoid speaking about Ukraine as he just gets angry and refuses to face facts.
I also have a Ukrainian friend who grew up in the USSR and moved to Canada in the 90’s to escape the hard economic conditions following the breakup. He has a completely different view of the situation and knows exactly what’s happening. He and I often talk about events over there, and he’s amazed that I understand the history of his former home, since he hasn’t met any other Canadians that do. As in America, ignorance of the outside world is unfortunately very common in Canada.
From what I see, the historic Canadian Ukrainian community is largely misinformed about current events, and are taken advantage of by unscrupulous politicians who are only interested in their votes. Some may be descended from nationalists, but the majority aren’t, and like most other Canadians are simply misled by their own naivety and disinformation propagated by our captive media and government.
Good essay. I’ve seen two houses that started flying Ukrainian flags over the past few months. I have determined that at least one of them is just an idiotic Clintonite-style Democrat with no ties to the Ukraine. We do technically have a few Western Ukrainians where I live, that can actually speak the Ukrainian language. I also saw a young man a few years ago that was very clearly a Banderite. The Tryzub on his shirt was surrounded by runes. And we all know that the Ukrainian language is not written in runes!
The Ukrainaians that camevto Canada sometime after WW II, hated Russians and anything Russia. Krushchev was one of Stalins generals(?) in the Ukraine during the Holodomors so maybe the emigrants had a good reason to hate and they passed this down to their kids and grandkids, and there it stays regardless of the fact that things change. “Don’t confuse me with the facts: my mind’s made up”. “Grandpa voted for Eisenhower cuz Lincoln won the war”, type mentality, coupled with the old Canadian mantra, “so, what can you do about it?”
People believe what they want to believe. “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest”. I say, “but I have some facts” to which I hear: “there’s no way you’re gonna convince me that Putin isn’t committing genocide in the Ukraine.” I wake up every morning to hear CBC bashing Russia: “the civilians have been trapped in there for weeks” as if it’s the Russians that are to blame. My facts fall on deaf ears as “Russian propaganda”.
I’ve seen the light: I cannot save them.
Makes me sad to admit that my children have been captured by the system of control by the [DS]. They are convinced that they are so right and that we (their mother and father) are deceived by the White Hat conspiracy theory.
Good piece by Tucker Carlson. It’s not about Ukraine.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wGvO8b-tiaM&feature=share
The Zombies make up the bulk of the flag fetishists. Even the wife of a good friend turns out to have fallen into their camp. She simply turned off the critically thinking part inside her head and robotically goes with the herd. Quite sad it is.
From a purely colour co-ordination aspect + coolness and hip factor levels it’s just a shit, bland flag that would look a lot better if it was set on fire.
Which is ironic….
” … people going along with the narrative are uneducated or naïve or stupid … ”
I thought that to.
After experiencing last two years, I changed my mind.
Suprising number of intelligent, educated people, followed the narrative blindly. And many un-educated people were much more sceptical, and less likely to just do as they were told. They couldn’t articulate it nicely, but they felt that something was not right and followed their gut feeling.
And now I observe similar reaction to Ukraine narrative.
I made a Ukraine flag.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Avuke1C95zhIiINCMiWTgJaDUHvZjw?e=5QkoYy