Ukrainian city demolishes monument to Russian general who beat Napoleon.

[JackRiddler]

70. Forget it, "Ukrainian" is a transcendent entity.

Never mind that at the time there was only the Russian empire and the French invasion, and this is a general that helped to repel it, in an event of great historical significance no matter whom you would have preferred at the time. Never mind how many times the borders and the names of the places have shifted. To those who are now deciding to take up sides that didn't even exist for most people until quite recently, it's all about how "Ukrainian" neo-nationalists (following a fascist-led coup d'etat!) are going to define "Ukrainian" territory and "interests" retroactively, as if there is an eternal "Ukraine" within the borders of today (or maybe a Greater Ukraine that needs a bit extra: why not?) that magically extends back into periods when there was no such thing. And as if this construct is now for "Ukrainians" (suddenly defined not as citizens of a state but as an ethnocultural category) and not for the "Russian" citizens of Ukraine who, of course, are about as numerous and belong in the same country. They're now foreign, it belongs to the ethnic-in-the-making "Ukrainians" - especially the ones waving some damn flag and claiming some just-invented tradition. The louder and more aggressive and more ready to beat on random liberals and peaceful cohabitors they are, the more righteously "Ukrainian" they will become.

For all of these references above in quotes, by the way, you can fill in a lot of different nationalisms, including "Russian." Nationalism is a plague that infects many peoples in much the same way, but ends up putting these very similarly afflicted peoples at each others throats as if they are suddenly so unbelievably different.

Here's to the Yugoslavians of 1991 - the substantial number, mostly young, who had never given a thought to whether they were "Croatian" or "Serbian." Who were then shanghaied into one side or another under threat to their lives. Let it not be so again!