Yes, the poor Germans are having a hard time. And all they wanted was peace.
What!
That’s right. If everybody had done what Hitler wanted, there wouldn’t have been any war. — Shadows in Paradise by Erich Maria Remarque
Yes, if only everybody had done what Vladimir Putin wanted, if only everybody had just left Putin to carry on with his attempt to wipe out Ukrainians from history, there wouldn’t have been a war.
Just bloodbaths, executions, torture and mass graves. But never a war.
Russia had its latest fake election over the long weekend and it’s hard to believe, but the winner was … Vladimir Putin!
Putin, the war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court for the abduction of Ukrainian children “won” with a “landslide” victory in Russia’s sham of a presidential election.
I’m genuinely surprised he got only 87% of the vote — I’m sure that his support is around 287% — a number that would have reflected the “unbelievable success” of this circus election more accurately.
The second day of this rigged election was the second anniversary of a very dark day for Ukraine.
On 16 March 2022, Putin’s terrorist pilots dropped bombs on the Mariupol drama theatre, killing at least 600 people. As Mariupol is still under occupation, we do not know the precise number, but we do know there were about 1,200 people in the theatre, seeking shelter from the constant bombardment of the city. There were pregnant women, there were the elderly and, of course, there were children, too. People took their children to one building so that, as they thought, it wouldn’t be bombed if they made it known they were sheltering younglings.
Photos of the collapsed theatre, alongside the word ‘дети’ (Russian for ‘children’) in huge letters, were transmitted across the world. These huge letters spelling out “CHILDREN” were written on the asphalt at the front and back of the theatre. Russian pilots used them as targets.
The sadist who gave the orders to murder as many Ukrainians as possible and level a huge theatre with kids taking shelter there is the newly “elected” president of Russia.
Elections in Russia… An oxymoron if ever there was one. The so-called elections weren’t free or fair. All of Putin’s true political rivals have been murdered over the years: Alexander Litvinenko, Anna Politkovskaya, Boris Nemtsov, Boris Berezovsky, Sergei Yushenkov, Natalya Estemirova, Sergei Magnitsky…
Most recently, Alexei Navalny. He died on 16 February in the Arctic prison where he was serving a ridiculous 19-year sentence for made-up offences.
When the ANC’s closest allies killed their own Mandela in Navalny and we looked away
All were either poisoned or shot — two of the favourite KGB execution methods.
It is a very Russian way of dealing with opposition: they can’t challenge Putin if they’re all dead. And, of course, none of the candidates who had spoken up against the war was allowed on a ballot.
Over the years, Putin has grown so terrified of any opposition or the slightest rebellion against his corruption that even his most faithful supporters are now quickly eliminated.
Remember Yevgeny Prigozhin? That most loyal Putin ally, the head of the Wagner Group and a beloved Russian “war hero”, died in a plane crash with high-ranking Wagner commanders soon after it became evident that people, and more importantly, military personnel respected him and were ready to follow him.
Pro-Putin propaganda
I saw a post on the first day of the election by Putin’s top propagandist, Olga Skabeeva. She took the tweet you see on this screenshot and only translated the top part of the text into Russian, completely changing the message.
The leading supplier of weapons to Russia, the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has the same sort of elections: the founding and ruling Workers’ Party of Korea holds 87.5% of the seats in the Supreme People’s Assembly — neck and neck with Putin’s share of the vote.
As for the terrorism that took place in the occupied territories — unfortunately, we’ve seen it all before. Their main goal, as always, is to threaten people into compliance. Casting a vote while a fully armed soldier is standing a metre away — that’s true democracy, Russian-style!
The world on the right side of history, those who are standing with us against this evil, will never recognise Russia’s “elections” in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
“The EU will never recognise them. Crimea, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk are all Ukraine. All those involved will be held to account,” said the spokesperson of the European Commission, Peter Stano.
As for the Russian citizens…
We’ve seen images of a handful of people setting the voting booths and ballot boxes on fire and we’ve read reports of people pouring green dye into the ballot boxes. Only a handful, though.
Russian citizens, the ones who believe Putin and his henchmen, will get a sobering reality check one day, and the world will become a very dark place for them. Their thinking that they are “protecting” their territory by attacking a neighbouring country will be altered once the reality sinks in.
They have chosen, despite the widespread acknowledgement of falsehoods and corruption, to maintain a facade of normalcy. They aren’t victims, they are willingly participating in the genocide of our nation. They are willingly protecting and supporting their murderous dictator. DM
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What a brilliant piece regarding this diabolical individual called Putin. I wonder if Cyril and Naledi have read it? Maybe not. It’s difficult to read when your head is in the sand.
Naledis own party will most likely be electing themselves into power some time in the future, with their top dog at that point electing himself/herself as leader. I hope I am way off the mark here, but from the last 30 years of scandals, nothing surprises me about our bunch nor the company they keep.
Keep at it Ambassador! Don’t stop until that insane murdering psychopath thug is defeated and destroyed.
Congratulations to President Zelentsky for cancelling the elections in Ukraine scheduled for 2024. Cancelling the elections shows that Ukraine is more democratic than Russia. Cancelling the elections shows that Ukraine is democratic enough to join the EU!
A solidly Russian supporter as always…pathetic Max.
Blood on your hands too!
Well said Geoff. He is a true pariah.
Elections in the middle of the war? Don’t be ridiculous.
Oh come on! Did Britain have elections during WW2 ? Did the USA have elections during WW2? If your historical knowledge is a little short then I can answer for you: NO. But did they go on to have free and fair elections after the war – yes they did and in fact Churchill, who had led the UK throughout the war, lost elections after the war. What Putin is doing is something else completely – you may as well call him Czar Putin. Just like Hitler – now responsible for the deaths of not only Ukraininas but 100 of thousands of young Russian soldiers. The only word for him is terrorist.
Yes the US held an election in 1944 during WW2. Check your facts before you throw insults around, they may apply to you.
Max really, Ukraine is fighting for their survival, how do you propose they run a free election?
How do they hold campaign meetings whilst the Russians target civilians?
Please explain
Check the facts Max. USA was not being bombed and shelled and there was no enemy military on the US mainland.
In Max’s defence, Michael claimed that the USA did not hold an election during WW2. And Max was correct that they did and Michael should indeed check his facts before making his statements.
Conceded. I was only aware that Roosevelt was in the presidency from the beginning of the war to the end of the war.
In a functioning democracy, it is important to carefully consider whether an election should be suspended in times of war. What is crucial is the extent to which the home country itself is in distress or whether hostilities are taking place on its own soil. In this respect, it is clear that elections could take place in the USA during WW2, but probably not in the UK, and certainly not in Ukraine in the current war. Ozinsky’s post is a propaganda justification for Putin’s sham election. It is sometimes difficult to react calmly to such provocations. As brazen as agitators like him are with the truth, it’s easy to fall into their trap by not properly backing up your own arguments.
It is correct that ‘facts’ can be used selectively to pursue a point of view that suits the ‘agenda’ of the one making the argument. It is all about ‘winning’ the point. I remember clearly Neville Alexander opening a public discourse with the observation … “there is no such thing as objectivity” ! What the arguments reveal is what ‘values’ one holds dear.
The UK House of 1935 extended its life until 1945, when Britain was no longer under threat.
For Ukraine to hold elections while being under active attack by a country with a long tradition of attacking civilians (Aleppo, Georgia, Grozny etc.) would be, to put it mildly, difficult.
It’s difficult to hold elections in the middle of war, especially when you’re fighting for the survival of your nation, against a bloodthirsty would-be fascist….
You and the ANC with your support for genocidists like al Bashir, Haniyeh and Putin are disgusing.
Did you possibly forget to add Netanyahu (and similarly inclined others) to the list ?
How do you have proper elections when a scumbag like Putin is willing to slaughter civilians wherever they gather? Only the mindless or the bloodthirsty would demand elections in Ukraine knowing Putin would use lines of innocent people under barbaric attack as cannon fodder.
Cancelling elections in the middle of a war where election venues become Russian targets is far better than a sham election where the results could have been announced in advance.
Of course, the ambassador represents her government’s position, but she supports her opinion with known facts. Anyone who argues against this should respond to their arguments and try to refute them. If he instead points to the suspended election in Ukraine, he should cite and attempt to refute Zelentsky’s reason for doing so. This would be an honest argumentative dispute. But what he does is pure whatsabout rhetoric.
Well done Mrs Ambassador for clearly exposing the complete & utter fraud, crook and bestial mass murdering monster that the evil Putin and his equally odious henchmen are. This is incest at its highest – stealing the election once again goes hand in hand with stealing the country blind. I suppose wayward degenerates like the anc & co and mentally challenged like Ozinsky etc. would consider it free & fair, and the right way to emulate it, much like Zimbabwe.
You seem to forget that when Madiba called out Mugabe for his abuses, he was ‘vilified/slandered’ for doing so.
All those thousands of dead Ukrainian citizens, not to mention dead Russian soldiers in Putin’s power grab attempt. Zelensky is an outstanding and courageous statesman who refused to accept this barbaric invasion of his country. Pity South Africa’s president is the exact opposite. A whimpering ditherer who bows and scrapes to his ‘collective’ buddies in his cabinet and, along with the awful Naledi Pandor, beats a path of disgusting servility to Vladimir Putin’s door.
Putin’s day will come. Sooner or later. But it will come, the sooner the better.
What about Netanyahu … and his backers the US and UK et al ? I am looking forward to Nuremberg II !
If we want to understand Putin just study the the methods and tactics used by Hitler and Stalin.
Here is a simple hard facts on Putin’s election.
Seven hundred observers from 106 different countries (including SA) found the elections to be free and without interference.
And as for Ukraine, well, let’s just ignore history, real world events, and blame one guy in Russia!
Credit where it is due. I am sure he worked hard for the win. Elections don’t rig themselves.
Madame Ambassador, well said! Slava Ukraini! Fellow South Africans, let us rediscover our sense of shame – and sever ties with Moscow and the illegitimate cabal in the Kremlin. Let us see clearly that Russia’s superpower is violence, misery, and poverty – for its own people, and for those in its sphere of influence. By fear and deprivation it asserts its control – the largest country on earth a vicious dwarf on the world stage. Conscientious Russians, well meaning South Africans, have still a chance to redeem themselves, to keep the light of humanity alive, even if only in their own hearts – by saying no to tyranny at home and in the world at large.