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kleinbl00  ·  282 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Putin’s Puppets Are Coming to Life

I would like Zygar to be right. I don't think he is. I read his book - it's basically Plokhi's book but with more apologies and justifications for the Russians being rank bastards going back to the Vikings. His forward and afterward are both pretty much pleas to his friends in Kyiv to stop calling him a monster. And the book, in general, is "Russia didn't solely fuck up Ukraine, there were ex-Soviet Ukrainians who were just as wretched." An interesting point emphasized by both Zygar and Plokhy is that the power structures of the USSR were rife with opportunistic Ukrainians who both recognized that there was no future in Ukrainian politics and also that the Russians, in general, suck at castle intrigue.

The main difference I see between Ukrainian writers on Russia and Russian writers on Russia is the Russians tend to be "we don't have to be dicks" while the Ukrainians are at "but you always are."