There’s currently a wave of articles in the NRC going on about feminism, for the millionth time, about violence against women, because one teenage girl had been killed. Meanwhile, in Palestine we have hundreds of thousands of women and children dying of a genocide and it’s being completedly ignored.

If you know about the articles in NRC, you also know that they have many articles about Gaza, and yet you choose to lie about that. Why would you even think you can lie about that when I also have access to those articles?

https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/08/23/wanhoop-in-gaza-stad-door-israelische-invasie-de-huidige-belegering-zal-leiden-tot-complete-vernietiging-a4903870

https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/08/21/na-de-daverende-klap-van-de-raket-opent-israel-het-offensief-in-gaza-stad-a4903685

https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/08/21/massa-arrestaties-in-het-verenigd-koninkrijk-wanneer-is-pro-palestijns-protest-terrorisme-a4903712

https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/07/29/europees-geduld-met-israel-slinkt-maar-over-een-bescheiden-sanctie-is-eu-het-nog-niet-eens-a4901657

https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/08/13/worden-de-palestijnen-diplomatiek-wisselgeld-voor-zuid-soedan-a4902927

This guy makes one mistake in his reasoning. He’s absolutely right about Trump not offering a real peace deal, but he talks about the conflict as if it’s something the US forced on Russia, which is of course not true; it’s Russia, and specifically Putin, who chose to start this war and invade Ukraine. He talks about NATO expansion as if that’s something the US is pushing, but again, countries want to join NATO because they feel threatened by Russia.

Russia started this war because NATO rejected Ukraine’s membership, leaving Ukraine vulnerable. But it wasn’t a definitive rejection, leaving Putin to think he had a closing window of opportunity to invade Ukraine, which is why he rushed into this foolish war. Harder guarantees for Ukrainian security would have dissuaded Putin.

EU, meanwhile, never wanted anything like this, and even remained in denial after the invasion started. The EU just wants to trade with Russia and treat it as a normal country, a trading partner. Even after Putin invaded, they kept buying Russian gas for quite some time and some countries really didn’t want to stop. Because gas is more important than human lives, to some.

Freezing the conflict is a bad idea; there needs to be a permanent peace, but there can only be a permanent peace if Russia stops invading its neighbours (this wasn’t the first time), and Putin made it clear he has no plans to stop. He’s frequently talking about Lithuania, Moldova, and more recently Azerbaijan.

It’s pretty clear what the problem is here. It’s Russian imperialism. Putin’s dreams of empire. His unwillingness to accept other nations as equals.

Mixed economy is the word for it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_economy

They exist, though. They’re worth listening to. Critically, of course, as with all media.

social democrats are capitalists,

Yet they are also socialists. By definition. They’re trying to find a balance, and have at times been quite successful.

Seriously, read up on the history of socialism. There’s a lot more to it than you probably think.

Learn what? Most people here just repeat shallow dogma. Brainless zingers like that, no actual info. Nothing new at least. Bully people into accepting the propaganda. That’s not how people learn.

I have learned quite a bit here, though.

I guess that answers that.

I always start out believing people are capable of critical thought and self awareness, until they prove otherwise. Plenty of that in this discussion, unfortunately.

Should I just accept that you’re incapable of critical thought or grasping meaningful nuance?

The difference between you and I is that I’m not fooled by the corporate proxy that is western media.

And that’s only something you’re reading into this. I’m well aware of the problems with western media. Some of them are notorious for their lies, many are corporate controlled, and especially in the US, refuse to even acknowledge anti corporate sentiment (see how US media struggled to make sense of Luigi Mangione, for example), but they’re fairly transparent about it, and and sometimes they really are telling the truth.

With some critical thinking, you can actually discern the truth out of that, without having to resort to Russian state media’s reports on the disastrous war Russia is waging.

Ah, you see your precious government defrauded. That’s what’s upsetting you. I’m pointing out the brutality of the Russian war machine, I’m pointing to a lot of different sources about various kinds of violence, but it’s the fraud that gets you.

You haven’t even addressed any of the other links I shared, because you’re not here to learn, but to spread propaganda.

I don’t even live in the US. I live in Europe, and I’m concerned about the freedom and safety of my fellow human beings, and I’m disgusted by how US imperial interests have suddenly decided to embrace Putin and is turning against Europe.

My side is not enjoying global hegemony. I only wish Europe asserted itself against wannabe hegemons like the US and Russia, but political leaders here are too cowardly for that.

I see American media increasingly parroting Putin’s viewpoints, because of this American realignment, and that’s what you’re asking me to blindly accept? No, fuck that. You talk a lot about others being controlled by propaganda, but I don’t see an ounce of self awareness in you.

I’m sorry, man. Usually it’s better here. This is a weird day.

Lying? Because a Russian source talks about Russian soldiers shooting Russian soldiers in a different context than barrier troops? You’re just cherry picking so you don’t have to address the facts.

Do you seriously want to argue that atrocities don’t exist unless the party committing them admits they exist? You live in a very pleasant world.

I posted that as a reply to https://lemmy.zip/comment/21065746. Not sure how that went wrong.

Russia is no more a “brutal dictatorship” than the US is, or the UK, or any number of other capitalist shithole countries that call themselves “democracies.”

Surely you must recognise how ridiculous that claim is.

Sure, Trump would love for it to be true, and he’s certainly trying to, but even in the US, you can still publicly say this, while in Russia, you’d be headed for prison. Putin’s political opponents frequently fall out of windows or catch some polonium poisoning.

These things are not the same, and pretending they are, makes you blind to how much worse they can still get. Russia is absolutely more of a brutal dictatorship than even the US, but especially than most European countries.

I’m not denying the toxic influence of money either, but that’s still not comparable to the hold Putin has over his country and his media.

Read the rest of the discussion. To me, you come across as part of a mob trying to defend Russian state media. And yes, arguing that all of western media, despite its freedom of the press, diversity of ownership and various degrees of editorial independence, is just as bad as Russian state media, is defending it.

I’m not arguing that all of western media is perfect; much of it is corrupt (especially in the US, but that is not all of the west). But not all of it is that bad. And even the corrupt ones frequently disagree with each other. That gives us access to much more diverse reporting than Russian state media provides.

I am aware that making sense of that diversity requires critical thought, which is in increasingly short supply in recent years.

Also note that the link you shared, of Trump flanked by billionaires, comes from western media.

There are people here doing exactly that, and just a few comments up, you’re trying to defend Russian state media by comparing criticism of Russian state media with a movie.

Which is not a comparison that makes any sense at all. You start out grasping at straws and are trying ti recover from that.

It’s absolutely terrible that so many American media is owned by billionaires, but that’s not all of western media, and it’s still not the same as Russian state media.

I still don’t get why so many people here are so desperate to defend the state-controlled media of a brutal dictatorship.

Read your own link, man. It calls Democratic Socialism a wing of Social Democracy. Also, why do you not also share the article about Social Democracy itself?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_democracy

Now, you would be correct if you merely argued that many Labour movements dipped to moderate right with their embrace of neoliberalism in the 1990s, but outside of that, they’ve been moderate left. But SocDem has always been considered various degrees of left. Sometimes not even moderately so.

Pretty fucked to say that murdering journalists isn’t “brutally silencing dissent” just because other sources report on it, sometime.

Yeah. Is that something you wanted to deny? Or are you desperately trying to put words in my mouth when I said the exact opposite?

Besides, the western media have done everything they can to downplay it without losing credibility entirely.

Then you’re reading the wrong media. I’ve been reading about these atrocities constantly.

Bullshit

It’s happening. Dutch government just fell apart over this (and the Dutch government has been pretty awful in their blind support of Israel so far).

You need to come out of your bubble and inform yourself.

U see you defend imperialists and deny reports of their atrocities. You may call that “nothing”, but I don’t.

But sure, let’s get some nore sources:

https://www.foxnews.com/world/russian-war-hero-the-executioner-allegedly-ordered-troops-shoot-him-massive-payout-scheme-report (note: originally reported by a Russian source)

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russian-troops-raped-tortured-children-ukraine-un-panel-says-rcna49168 (UN reporting on Russian atrocities)

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4297872-shooting-their-own-soldiers-one-more-russian-act-of-barbarity-in-ukraine/ (US and many other sources)

https://metro.co.uk/2023/06/13/russian-troops-filmed-executing-comrades-trying-to-flee-frontline-18943873/ (Ukrainian drone, but it’s caught on video. Want to argue that didn’t happen?)

https://guardian.pressreader.com/article/281908777399398

Here’s Wikipedia on barrier troops: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrier_troops

Obviously you’re unlikely to see Russian media reporting on how they shoot their own soldiers as a matter of policy, and obviously the only parties close to the front lines as Russian and Ukrainian, but there is a variety of sources reporting on this, and Russia has a known history of using barrier troops.

But if you believe only Russian state media is telling the truth, then no amount of facts will convince you.