Ukraine officially recognized the Northern Territories as part of Japan
president.gov.ua
president.gov.ua
https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/treba-zvilnyati-vid-ros...
It starts:
Dear Ukrainians!
An important decision was made today. It's fair. Legally perfect. Historical.
Ukraine confirmed its respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Japan, including its Northern territories, which are still under Russian occupation.
Today, I signed the relevant decree. There is a corresponding statement of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. And we call on everyone in the world to make similar decisions.
Russia has no right to these territories. Everyone in the world knows this well. And we must finally act.
We must de-occupy all the lands that the Russian occupiers are trying to keep for themselves.
Its not the same topic (as it is today's address of President of Ukraine), but it does include excerpts from latest presidential decree.
Main link directing to Decree of the President of Ukraine №692/2022 (in Ukrainian), signed today:
> 1. Ukraine confirms its respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Japan, including the Northern Territories, which are still under occupation by the Russian Federation.
> 2. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, in accordance with the Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of Japan on the establishment of diplomatic relations (in the form of an exchange of letters) dated January 26, 1992, in its activities, proceed from the position specified in Article 1 of this Decree. The Northern Territories are an integral part of the sovereign territory of Japan.
[0]https://zrzutka.pl/bayraktar [1]https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/lithuania-transfer-crow... [2]https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/czech-citizens-raise-13... [3]https://u24.gov.ua/dronation [4]https://twitter.com/ItsBorys/status/1578207951365480448 [5]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/12/ukraine-reveal... [6]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjUHY2XgIxE
Not to discount the possibility that they've simply knocked this out of the park themselves, but the "West" sure seems to be providing them a lot of soft support in addition to equipment, and some of that might be that kind of thing (I'm assuming Ukraine wouldn't be paying such a bill themselves, under these circumstances). The US government has been known to engage Madison Avenue & co. themselves, including for war-propaganda purposes, and not in the distant past.
From a European perspective, the online 'propaganda' has a very distinctively Ukranian, genuine and non-american feel to it.
Again, I'm not saying the Ukrainians didn't do this themselves. They may have. Or there may be some obscure books few people read in 30 years that tell the story of the companies NATO paid to prep the Ukrainians to win the propaganda war.
I'm pro-Ukraine (of course?) but I doubt there's anyone who's dipped more than a toe into poli sci and international studies who's not had this through cross their mind, on seeing how fast, consistent, excellent, and on-all-fronts Ukraine's public information warfare has been. It's not exactly a way-out-there possibility. And if they did it's not like that's necessarily a bad thing. Just... don't be surprised if there are some pieces about how much more there was behind the scenes to make that happen, in Foreign Affairs or something, that only politics nerds will ever read, in a few years.
They still upload combat footage to diverse repo, but nowadays its less accessible and more delayed, sometime 5 days "late".
If you want - you can try your luck finding it, it was here, on HN.
is it less possible that regular people do this on their own than people do it because of some PR company and US government support?
you think it’s unlikely to have one adequate foreign minister and crowdfunding campaigns?
[0] https://war.ukraine.ua/country-and-society/ukrainian-meme-fo...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NAFO_(group)
[2] https://www.cyberscoop.com/nafo-fellas-and-their-memes-ukrai...
[3] https://nationalinterest.org/feature/how-ukrainian-meme-war-...
[4] https://www.coffeeordie.com/ukraine-war-memes
[5] https://nationalinterest.org/feature/how-ukrainian-meme-war-...
[6] https://www.boredpanda.com/ukraine-support-memes/
[7] https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/9/6/ukraine-latest-w...
[8] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/18/ukraine-war-...
[9] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/19/world/middleeast/ukraine-...
[10] http://www.zhu.edu.ua/journal_cpu/index.php/der_sc/article/v...
[11] https://mwi.usma.edu/on-trolls-and-nuclear-signaling-strateg...
[12] https://www.politico.eu/article/nafo-doge-shiba-russia-putin...
Here's something that got a lot of attention in Sweden yesterday: A small housing co-op/tenant-owner's association (BRF Vinkelhaken 12 in Stockholm) decided to donate $3500 to a Ukranian defense cause. In return they got a video showing a signed shell being fired towards the invaders at the front.
Of course something like this will go viral in the source country because of the sheer absurdity of a co-op building "arming" a country being invaded by Russia. Genius.
Screenshot: https://static.cdn-expressen.se/images/00/b5/00b54a16e2314e6...
The $3500 supposedly formally paid for logistical supplies, not the shell (it should be cheaper than that), but does the distinction really matter?
Although, frankly, I sometimes do wonder if I'm not a hypocrite. I want to defend the image of myself as a person who would never support killing. But in this case, it means innocent people will die attacked by Russians if everybody has the same outlook like me. So I have this doubt, and I don't believe is an easy decision for anyone in the West who really understands the consequences.
Modern wars are fought with blood, money, and message. Putin picked a fight with an opponent that is beating him on 1 and killing him on 3, and the international community is stepping up to provide 2 (partially because of how good Zelenskyy and his team have done on 3).
I'm not sure who are the not-so-smart ones in Europe atm. Consider Germany buying gas off India (probably at a higher price than usual, haven't checked the numbers), which India got from Russia. Very smart. /s
Mass uprisings are probably near. It will become awfully clear which Kaisers are actually naked. Hint: It's not gonna be Putin.
But the thing that nobody can hide behind the propaganda is the fact that the war is still ongoing. Relative to projections before the invasion began, the fact that there is still war in progress is itself, alone, a glaring and unmaskable indicator that this did not go according to plan.
Do you know that in Italy already a right-wing party just got elected into government?
Do you have any idea about rising sympathy for the right-wing AfD in Germany?
Do you have any idea about rising energy prices and how they are about to mass destroy businesses? How people are beginning to struggle paying for their energy bills?
This oblivious attitude to what's going on is exactly going to be the reason for the downfall of the EU.
Why do I never see these types of people address the facts and numbers? All I see is mockery and complete oblivion to reality.
Probably the same thing the US did in Afghanistan up until the moment they suddenly had to gtfo.
Sounds good on paper except that it's a complete and absolute pipe dream in reality. Even without the war that transition would've taken at least half a decade if not a decade. Believing that this can now somehow be magically achieved even faster than originally planned despite what's going on is basically the definition of wishful thinking.
Also, I have no idea how you live, but I wouldn't be surprised if you have but yourself to feed, live in a small apartment and happen to be among the few with a good income. That's unfortunately not very representative of your average family household.
As for myself, I have a quite large family, and of course as all human beings we have worries about the future, but nothing really serious happened to us, and our lives are more or less as before. My electricity bill rose by 30% but it's still ridiculously small. I see no any signs of Europe falling despite of what Russian media are actively trying to tell their viewers. Maybe it's to stop emigration, but the ones likely to migrate (=young & talented) know better already. Many of them are staying only because they don't want to leave their older parents.
But I don't get how you can brush off fuel prices that have almost doubled since 2 years ago, almost double the butter and egg prices, rocketing energy prices, to just name a few examples as "ridiculously small" and "nothing really serious" when a good chunk of the populations live more or less hand-to-mouth and can barely afford such a drastic and sudden increase of living costs?
This to me is simply willful oblivion, and it's sad to see how people never learn from the past.
I don't think I'm particularly well off. I rent my apartment and I don't even have a car. I regularly meet with the members of my family living in different places and the amount of complaining hasn't increased considerably. There are more Ukrainians everywhere mostly women with kids, but they're nice people and many of them are working wherever they can, it's very good for our economy.
Take electricity prices in Germany: Used to be around 20-30ct/kwH, now beyond 50ct/kwH.
I mean just look at inflation this year, a staggering 8% and beyond - a new high since many decades. https://www.laenderdaten.info/Europa/Deutschland/inflationsr...
And all of this is only just the beginning.
I'm seriously wondering which data you are looking at?
Just took a long time to get a leader with the guts to do the needful and admit the country couldn't be remote-controlled.
National pride is a hell of a thing. Blinds people to reason.
This whole warfare is for resources (oil and gas). Both the US and Russia have investments in the black sea but Burisma and co (With US investments) are strangling the Russian energy companies slowly.
NATO/NAZis/Democracy/Freedom/Freeing DPR etc are all excuses by Russia and West while the primary reason is gas and oil
US has been rabidly pushing EU to cut off all Russian energy for years and years.
This war has taught me that even though there is only one truth to everything it’s impossible to know it unless you are there to see it with your eyes.
I'm curious about how a population across the political spectrum (i.e. not just marginal political ideologies) can justify siding with Russia in this situation.
I mean, is it really that Ukraine's intent to join NATO was provocative enough that Russia had no choice but to invade?
I'm only really curious to understand a potential non-western perspective here, not an argument.
With stuff like the tacitly endorsed odessa trade unions massacre which our bubble ignores or downplays.
It puzzles me that you find it puzzling. How hard was it to talk Americans into waging a war of aggression on Iraq or Afghanistan?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protests_against_the_Iraq_War
Not hundreds of thousands but millions went on the streets in major European streets. The invasion on Iraq was as bad as invasion on Ukraine, and it doesn't matter that Saddam was a cruel dictator killing his own people. There is absolutely no justification for that.
And history shows we were right: starting a war in Middle East doesn't bring peace but only more wars, and sometimes even evil we hadn't imagined like the ISIS. And I'm happy Americans finally left both countries, and they finally learned the hard lesson that this kind of aggression has only negative consequences.
I was just pointing out that if you know somebody who was pro invading Afghanistan (which in 2001 was like, 90%, so most people do) or Iraq you know somebody who would probably be pro-Ukraine war were they born Russian. It shouldnt be a mystery.
I lament the incompetence of the eu in securing sources of energy for us, but I’ve always seen the eu as incompetent so this is hardly surprising.
Nothing justifies the dead civilians but I guess war is war, what are you going to do.
Really? That “who gives a shit” attitude is extremely shortsighted, as well.
Now as Russia runs out of modern equipment and starts pulling WW2 lend lease things out of storage, the war in Ukraine will become US-US proxy war.
the things you see are the opposite of what the Russia and nato skeptic side says?
I wasn't aware of the controversy until now and I assume most people didn't either. This declaration will likely raise awareness but I'd be surprised if it did much else.
[0] https://twitter.com/app4soft/status/1288133055639683072
It was colonized using interned Ukrainians, Poles, and other captive Eastern Europeans.
I spent my early childhood in Vladivostok. The city, and the region has a very different air than the rest of russia.
Even places considered "oriental" in russia, like Siberia, or Astrakhan feel much more like the rest of central russia, than parts of russia east of Blahoveschensk.
in moments like this I question why I have been on this site for 10 years.
anyway, if someone wants to learn more about Ukraine - shoot me a message or give me a call. I think this is more productive than writing comments online.
I didn't think about why such comments are here. Just wanted to share that reading them on Friday evening was heartbreaking.
and all of the questions popped up in my head: why am I on this site for so many years? who are these people? did I work with the same people in all the tech companies over the years? why do they say those things? why don't they ask questions but make statements?
You think you find a sanctuary and then… more of the same.
This just confuses me.
For Ukraine, formally recognising Japan's claim to the islands might achieve a few things.
First, it might cause Japanese public opinion to change in favour of Ukraine, potentially increasing material Japanese support for the Ukrainian cause.
Second, it might cause Russia to divert military resources to the east, in order to forestall any attempt by Japan to re-take the islands by force (though this is very unlikely).
Third, it might be a bargaining chip in any future peace treaty between Ukraine and Russia. Most likely, both sides will have to agree to respect the territorial integrity of the other party, so Ukraine might withdraw its recognition of the Japanese claim as part of a deal with Russia. It's unliklely to be a significant factor, but every little helps in a negotiation.
I'm sure these are other reasons, but these are the ones that occur to me.
As an addition, technically Japan still is at WW2 war with Russia (which claimed itself as "the legal successor of the USSR"), because peace treaty still has not been signed since 1945.[0,1]
[0] https://time.com/6160029/japan-russia-wwii-ukraine/
[1] https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/1958/
In other news: Japan's Cabinet decides to impose more sanctions on Russia
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20221007_11/amp.html
I know it was all rubber stamped after the war, and modern European countries are very unlikely to push it any way, but given how the communist regimes are viewed now I don't know how much people would accept that.
Again, I don't think it'll cause any problems, but right now I would be avoiding anything at all controversial given that support for them might wane over winter if things get bad in Europe.
Last spring, the Ukrainian government tweeted the picture of Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito together, saying "Fascism and Nazism were defeated in 1945." Japan complained, and Ukraine apologized and took it down [1].
That is, Ukrainian officers don't really have a deep understanding of East Asian politics, and why would they - it's not their problem, and they have a much much bigger problem at home right now.
[1] https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/04/25/national/japan-...
So you claim is what at some place the majority of population is ethnic $nationality, so those people have a greater claim than $current_country to be successor of USSR's holding there. Right?
Now insert 'russians' and 'Donetsk|Lugansk' there and suddenly this whole sentence stops working for some reason.
That's blatant hypocrisy.
You got the joke then.
... but if you're already at war with the power you'd be upsetting, screw it, why not?
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan%E2%80%93Ukraine_relation...
Putin is doing this part just fine on his own. No need for external "help".
Now, what would really upset Russia would be some dissident group in St. Petersburg declaring the Independent Region of Leninburg Oblast. This would begin to undo the takeover of local power which Putin pushed through in 2002. Before that, the regional governments had real power within the Russian Federation. After that, they were subordinate to Moscow.
Much of Leninburg Oblast was once Finnish, after all.
Japan still claims the Northern Territories.