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Comment by locknitpicker | Hacker News Reader

> My understanding is that increasingly “adversaries” who may or may not be Russia simply pay local gangs/thugs/idiots to do it.

Yes, and the playbook extends to some anti-war orgs throughout Europe who play the role of useful idiots by advocating things such as a) pressure your government to stop supporting Ukraine, b) force Ukraine to capitulate and agree to Russia's demands. They do so under the guise of "no to war, yes to peaceful negotiation" but the way they neglect Ukraine's best interests and push Russia's maximalist agenda is pretty telling.

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And the West can and does return the favor. Perhaps Poland should fund the destruction of some Siberian pipeline pump stations? Article 5 against Russia is not going to get consensus anyway, so making it formal just increases the risk of escalation.

> And the west (...)

Frankly, "the West" doesn't care about Russia. They were a gas station masquerading as a country, but now they aren't even a gas station. Let's just fund Ukraine to the gills and in no time they won't even be good for petty vandalism.

Try telling this to the far-left.

> Try telling this to the far-left.

Russia has indeed been funding and supporting fringe/extremist organizations throughout Europe.

https://www.euronews.com/2025/10/29/from-moscow-with-chaos-h...

However, even those parties that toe Moscow regime's line don't want to be caught supporting it directly due to the expected backlash.

That goes to show how much "the west" cares about what Moscow says.

I'm not necessarily referring to fringe organisations.

The best example of this that I can think of is the recent Die Linke electoral victory in Berlin. They have the same policy on European security as AfD.

It's a clear example of Horseshoe Theory. Pseudo-intellectuals in Germany may argue that the position is not the same because the motivations are not the same, but if you're sitting in Ukraine, feeling the walls shake, and seeing your pets tremble in terror, you really couldn't give a shit what some leftie in Germany thinks — the result is the same as the openly pro-Kremlin German far-right.

> stellen uns auch gegen die Waffenlieferungen an die Ukraine.

https://www.dielinkebt.de/themen/a-z/detailansicht/ukraine/

It’s easier than that. We’re helping Ukraine every day, and all Russia can do to retaliate against countries helping Ukraine is carry out acts of sabotage.

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