Which mods/admins were being Power Tripping Bastards?
@PugJesus
What sanction did they impose (e.g. community ban, instance ban, removed comment)?
Community ban, comments wiped from modlog
Provide a screenshot of the relevant modlog entry (don’t de-obfuscate mod names).
Provide a screenshot and explanation of the cause of the sanction (e.g. the post/comment that was removed, or got you banned).
Unable to find comments in modlog
Explain why you think its unfair and how you would like the situation to be remedied.
I was community banned after the mod falsely smeared me as doing genocide apologia. Not just me but also the hosts of the Blowback podcast Brendan James and Noah Kulwin, as well as Noam Chomsky. According to PugJesus, we are all actually pro genocide.
Context:
In this post about the victims of the Iraq War, I shared Season 1 of the Blowback podcast as it does a phenomenal job covering the war and aftermath while humanizing the victims. PugJesus falsely smeared them as "campist cretins" to discredit the entire podcast. I pushed back.
PugJesus brought up a previous discussion where they also tried to discredit the Journalists and Podcast based on tweets. Here, as with the more recent post, pushed back.
The tweets in question:
According to PugJesus, this is evidence that Brendan James and Noah Kulwin are pro Russia and pro Ukrainian genocide. I completely disagree.
To clarify my position. I have always maintained the position that Ukraine is fighting a war of self defense and fighting for their sovereignty. I have always maintained that Putin's war is illegal and unjustifiable; and that what Russia should do to pull out completely and enact reparations. I have always maintained that I am in complete support of supplying arms to Ukraine, same as any other people fighting against Imperialism and/or Colonialism. I also consider Putin's invasion justifies the need of a European security pact, although I'd prefer it to be one without the US. And yes, Putin's war is a genocide, as multiple genocide scholars have expressed.
I do not consider the US to be a benevolent and altruistic actor. Instead I consider the US to not have the best interests of Ukraine at heart; using the opportunity to expand NATO for the benefit of US Hegemony and to extract capital out of Ukraine. I believe those are worth criticizing and not remotely "genocide apologia"
The two contentious points are as follows
Has the US escalated the conflict to further its own foreign policy goals? Or is saying so genocide apologia?
From the evidence I have seen, yes the US has escalated the conflict. That does not mean Ukraine is to blame, which they aren't. Nor does it mean Russia hasn't escalated the situation more than the US has, which is an easy argument to make and has merit. All it means is that there are actions by the US worth criticizing as they at the expense of Ukraine.
Sources:
- Chomsky and Barsamian, In Ukraine, Diplomacy Has Been Ruled Out
- Noam Chomsky & Vijay Prashad: U.S. Must Stop Undermining Negotiations with Russia to End Ukraine War
- Senators say Israel blocking transfer of US-owned Iron Dome batteries to Ukraine
- The Russia-Ukraine Crisis: A Scorecard on Biden’s Response
Has the US used the conflict to exploit Ukraine financially? Or is saying so genocide apologia?
I think the US has certainly exploited Ukraine, in particular with the usual neoliberal model of loans and privatization via the IMF and World Bank. This is a criticism of the US and of Neoliberal economics, not of Ukraine who's facing an existential threat.
Sources:
- Ukraine’s Debt: an Instrument of Pressure and Spoliation in the Hands of Creditors
- US corporations cash in on Ukraine’s oil and gas
- Ukraine moves closer to large-scale privatization breakthrough
Of course both these criticisms are peanuts when it comes to Trump's complete alignment with Putin's foreign policy aims.
I'm no expert on Russia/Ukraine, if anyone has sources I've overlooked please share. My main concern is the discrediting of Blowback and the Journalists who host it, who have done phenomenally detailed and sourced work on the Iraq War, Cuba, Korea, Afghanistan, and Cambodia. Likening them to "pro-genocide" is disingenuous at best and discrediting their work on that is an injustice.
The user does exactly what you asked the user to do??
OP claims to support Ukrainian sovereignty, but at the same time believes that Ukrainian foreign policy should be subject to a russian veto under the auspices of "no NATO expansion".
this is a bad faith interpretation of what they said
There is not a bad faith argument.
They do not believe Ukraine should have an independent foreign policy and russia should be allowed to determine what organization Ukraine is allowed to apply.
This is open support for russian imperialism.
they didn't say that.
I support Ukraine's sovereignty unconditionally. Russia has no right to invade. NATO expansion is absolutely not a justification for invasion. Russia to engage in diplomacy was the correct response, but Putin is a bloodthirsty imperialist
What does this mean? What incentive would russia have to engage in good faith via diplomacy. You don't understand the russian mentality if you think it will just magically happen.
Still very much looks like you're pushing russian propaganda.
It means that if Russia has security concerns like they claim, then diplomacy is the correct way to respond and address them, not an illegal invasion. Putin didn't because he has imperialst foreign policy aims
Countries around the world are subject to member countries will it does not reduce their sovereignty that is just how this organizations work
The U.S, Germany, Belgium, Slovenia and Spain are all against Ukraine joining NATO
Russia is not a member of NATO.
Stating russia should have a foreign policy veto over Ukraine is support for russian genocidal imperialism.
You are saying that Ukrainian sovereignty in all matters should be subject to russian approval.
You and OP are supporting imperialism.
no but the aforementioned countries are and they have prevented ukraines membership into otan
there is no veto in otan you are confusing this with the united nations
i denounce the violence but i must ask you why do you call it a genocide when the international criminal court has not done so?
you are a disingenuous liar i have said nothing of the sort as there is plenty of proof that many other countries do not want ukraine in nato
russia should not have invaded ukraine, fuck putin, and how is this imperalism?
the only country trying to extract resources from ukraine is the united states
Russia invaded Ukraine
Don't play dumb with me.
You support russian imperialism and believe the russians should have control over Ukrainian foreign policy. You admit as much by parroting russian propaganda about "NATO expansion".
And now you are trying sow doubt about the genocidal nature of the russian invasion! Why am I not surprised?
what doubt am i sowing by calmly explaining how international politics work to someone that did not even know OTAN doesnt have veto powers? you cannot even define a basic term like "imperalism" and resort to childish insults. a sad day for western keyboard warriors