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Comment by ls15 | Hacker News Reader

> Finally, the defamation against everything Russian in the west reached such proportions

Do you have any credible source that shows the level of these proportions? At least here in Germany, I think that people can well differentiate between Russian culture and its corrupt elites. Politicians and media specifically point out this distinction over and over.

It is fair to attack criminal leaders, even from outside if needed (for example when pointing it out from inside is too dangerous). Feel free to attack Western criminal leaders as a mutual service. It will probably help the common people in the long run. I certainly won't take it personally or see it as an attack on everything Western.

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I can list the desecration of monuments for Soviet soldiers all over Eastern Europe, the defamatory remarks made by the leaders of Baltic states, ignoring human rights violations of russians by the west, comments section of western press (especially some countries), where it is allowed to describe russians in most denigratory terms, cancelling of courses and cultural programs (after the war broke), the *explicit* permission of facebook/instagram to allow hate speech aimed at russians (later they kind of limited it, but the whole point is the ambiguity and vagueness of these permissions). And it is not just that.

Unrelated, but since you are german: the fact that Germany, of all countries, supplies weapons to kill russians, with your kanzler Scholz being a grandson of SS official, is a heavy one.

Guess what: monuments for Confederate soldiers have been coming down all over the American south. There has been a great deal of resentment, but only the already unhinged refer to it as persecution of Southerners. When in the 1960s the IRA destroyed the Nelson Column in Dublin, nobody in the press referred to it as Irish persecution of the English.

It is odd, perhaps disingenuous to refer to "comments section of western press". Anyone can write anything, and many often do.

I can see scenarios where common Russians get unfairly treated, because they are wrongly associated with their criminal leaders. I feel for the Russian truckers who are blocked, because they cannot pay for gasoline anymore. There was a story about a clinic that is refusing to treat Russians - that's clearly excessive. That's why we need to point out over and over, that Russian individuals are not necessarily supportive of Putin's war, but can be Putin's victims as well. However, I would not expect too much empathy in times when the Russian army is bombing children, pregnants and elderly people out their homes.

> Unrelated, but since you are german: the fact that Germany, of all countries, supplies weapons to kill russians, with your kanzler Scholz being a grandson of SS official, is a heavy one.

Every German's grandfather was a nazi. Like every Russian's grandfather was a stalinist. I'd love to demote Scholz for his corona politics, but in this case, he is clearly not the aggressor.

As far as I am aware, Germany is providing defensive weapons, not weapons to attack Russia, but weapons to defend civilians on Ukrainian ground against attackers. If the attackers get killed in the process, it is a consequence of them conducting attacks and could be avoided by not conducting attacks. Hardly can call them victims in this scenario. Only their mothers will mourn them, but nobody will ever see them as heroes (without propaganda).

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