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In 2022 on my podcast I had my buddy Romeo Kokriatski on. For those who dk, he's the co-host of the Ukraine Without Hype podcast, which is a must listen for English-language updates on Ukraine.

In our first or second chat on I said that my fear for Ukraine is not Ukrainians' resolve, but Europeans' cynicism.

Germany led the way on that, effectively making it harder for Ukraine to defend itself for a long time.

Quick thread

The Germans then unblocked their initial block, and then reinstated it some months ago. This has been the general policy towards Ukraine. Now the Far Right in Europe is making it even more dangerous for everyone, Ukraine first and foremost, but Europe too.

euronews.com/my-europe/2024/07

euronewsFar-right MEPs vote en masse against pro-Ukraine resolutionThe statement, the first substantive business of the new European Parliament, received 495 votes in favour and 137 against. #EuropeNews

If Russian imperialism is not defeated, we could be seeing an acceleration of Putin's genocidal ambitions. From the start the Ukrainians clearly understood that their right to exist was not unconditional in the eyes of the West. Ukraine had to 'prove' its right to exist dozens of times, and still it is not enough.

Elia Ayoub (he/him)

It reminds me of this recent poll which shows that overall Europeans are skeptical that Ukraine can win. It's been 2.5 years of Ukraine successfully resisting the Russians and even winning multiple times, and still this isn't enough to earn the confidence of Europeans. By contrast Ukrainians are overall confident they can win, and they are the ones who have paid the ultimate price.

politico.eu/article/europe-ukr

POLITICO · Europeans skeptical Ukraine will win war, polling showsBy Elena Giordano

Is this an alliance? What kind of alliance is it if you, as the people facing extermination, also have to be constantly persuading the only people who will send you the means to defend yourself time and time again? The West thought Ukraine would fall within days. So did Russia. They were both wrong.

So what do Ukrainians need to do exactly to prove that they have a right to exist?

If a fraction of what Ukraine has gone through had happened to the more 'important' nations, no one would be having this discussion. Not a single European politician would be publicly debating whether Rome deserves to not be annihilated.

And yet this is the discourse now, and the very existence of Ukraine remains up for debate.

Oh they can just give up a bit of territory here and there. No biggie. Again, please name me one Western country that would be fine with giving up a fraction of their territory, let alone a sizeable percentage of it? Especially knowing that getting captured means your people face death or enforced disappearances.

How many Western European children being abducted by a hostile empire would be tolerated? Would we be seeing debates around how expensive it is to save these children? How expensive it is to save Paris from being burned down? How expensive it is to prevent the Czech army from being obliterated? Of course not, these questions are just reserved for the lesser 'European' countries.

If Russia loses, Ukraine gets freed. If Ukraine loses, Ukraine gets annihilated.

There is no moral equivalence here, and to put all of that up for debate as we have been seeing more and more in the EU, or among MAGA Republicans, is extremely concerning.

This as the pro-Putin far right makes gains in Germany and France? How the hell are we still at the stage where the very real threat of fascism needs to be explained? It hasn't even been a century.

PS if you slide in my replies with some pro Putin bullshit I will block you