• @[email protected]
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      681 month ago

      Yes, the sanctions against Russia, as mentioned by Linus. The change also said the maintainers “can come back in the future if sufficient documentation is provided”.

      My guess is that the Linux Foundation must ensure that none of the people they work with are in any way associated with any organisation, person or activity on the sanctions list. And that they preemptively removed all maintainers that might risk violating the sanctions while they work with them to establish whether they might be covered by the sanctions or not.

      Regardless of what you or they think of the sanctions, they are the law, and I don’t think anyone wants the Linux Foundation to have to spend their money on lawyers and fines because they had a maintainer who also worked on a research project funded by a sanctioned entity. (If that is how it works, IANAL)

      • @proton_lynx
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        OK, that’s the first reasonable explanation I’ve come across. I wish Greg Linus didn’t reply in that kind of “angry” tone, because for some of us it’s not that obvious.

    • @seaQueue
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      551 month ago

      Compliance with sanctions from the US and EU IIRC

      • sunzu2
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        191 month ago

        Sanctions apply on OS development?

        I dont know ennough on the topic, does this ecen check out?

        • pelya
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          341 month ago

          Yes they do. See the long-standing debate over the ban to export crypto algorithms to Iran.

        • @[email protected]
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          271 month ago

          As they said in the article, they are just listening to their lawyers. I would assume those lawyers are correct.

              • Hildegarde
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                161 month ago

                Lawyers will also usually advice the safer option. Even if your actions are legal, if its boarderline enough you have to defend your actions in court, its expensive and risky.

            • @[email protected]
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              31 month ago

              Lawyers will be honest or dishonest, just depending on what’s best for the person who is paying them. Their jobs are dependent on getting good outcomes for their clients, so they can most definitely be trusted if you are the one paying them.

            • @daggermoon
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              01 month ago

              Lawyer slander is so fucking stupid. Would you not want a lawyer on your side if it was your ass on the line? A lawyer’s job isn’t to judge wrong or right. It’s to convince a judge or jury of one’s innocence. A lawyer has to defend the morally fucked the same as they do the innocent. You can’t have one without the other.

              I know this isn’t a criminal proceeding or anything of the sort but I sense that’s what the comment was referring to.

          • sunzu2
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            -331 month ago

            That’s a generic fuck you, I don’t need to explain myself.

            Which does make me question their reasoning even more tbh

    • Leaflet
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      171 month ago

      Reuters reports:

      Finland is experiencing suspicious acts of sabotage and disruption and believes Russia is engaged in broad-ranging influence operations against it and other European countries

      Since Linus is Finnish, this literally hits home for him, hence (probably) his reaction.

      • @[email protected]
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        111 month ago

        Yes, but this action sounds as effective against Russian espionage as burning any clothes that has red blue and white in them.

    • @[email protected]
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      -541 month ago

      Nobody has stated any actual reason. Based on Linus’ comments, Russophobia is the likely answer.

      • @[email protected]
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        271 month ago

        Phobia, by definition, is uncontrollable, irrational, and lasting fear for something. In the current geopolitics situation I’d say that it’s not uncontrollable and very much not irrational. Fear, as a fellow Finn, might be a bit strong word, but it’s a definetly a concern.

        When I first read that I thought that the response is a bit harsh, as Russian (and Soviet Union) individuals have traditionally been a big part of open source community and their achievements on computing are pretty significant, but when you dig a bit deeper on that, a majority of Soviet era things are actually built by Ukrainians in Kyiv (obviously Ukraine as a country wasn’t a thing back then).

        Also, based on my very limited sight on the matter, Russians are not banned from contributing, but this is more of an statement that anyone working for the government in Russia can’t be a part of kernel development team. There’s of course legal reasons for that, very much including the trade bans against Russia, but also the moral part of it, which Linus seems to take a stand on.

        Personally I’ve seen individuals at Russia to do quite amazing feats with both hardware and software, but as none of us are in a void without any external infcluence nor affect, I think that, while harsh, the “sanctions” (for a lack of better word) aren’t overshooting anything, but they’re instead leveling the playing field. Any Joe Anynymous could write a code which compromises the kernel as a whole, but should that Joe live in Russia, it might bring a government backed team which can hide their tracks on a quite a bit different level with their resources than any individual could ever even dream about.

        So, while that decision might slow down some implementations and it might include some of the most capable of developers, the fear that one of them might corrupt the whole project isn’t unreasonable and, with ongoing sanctions in place (and legal requirements that follow) the core dev team might not even have a choice on this.

        In current global environment we’re living in, I’d rather have a bit too careful management than one which doesn’t take things seriously enough. We already have Canonical and others to break stuff way too often, we don’t need malicious government to expand on that with nefarious purposes which could compromise a shit on of stuff on a very fundamental level if left unattended.

        • @InverseParallax
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          1 month ago

          Fear, as a fellow Finn, might be a bit strong word, but it’s a definetly a concern.

          I mean, if my country suffered through the Winter War, I’d consider that a very rational fear.

          I’m sure Jews are pretty nervous around German hyper-nationalists too.

        • @[email protected]
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          -181 month ago

          Phobia, by definition, is uncontrollable, irrational, and lasting fear for something. In the current geopolitics situation I’d say that it’s not uncontrollable and very much not irrational.

          Russophobia is the fear or hatred of Russia or people from Russia. Etymology is not semantics, as anyone should already know.

          When I first read that I thought that the response is a bit harsh, as Russian (and Soviet Union) individuals have traditionally been a big part of open source community and their achievements on computing are pretty significant, but when you dig a bit deeper on that, a majority of Soviet era things are actually built by Ukrainians in Kyiv (obviously Ukraine as a country wasn’t a thing back then).

          This is simply false. Soviet contributions spanned a large array of ethnicitied and nationalities and Ukraine was a minority in their regard, as were all ethnicities and nationalities.

          Though I don’t see why your point would matter. Is Russophobia only bad if Russians have made enough contributions to your field of interest?

          Also, based on my very limited sight on the matter, Russians are not banned from contributing, but this is more of an statement that anyone working for the government in Russia can’t be a part of kernel development team.

          To my knowledge, nothing at all has been said about working for the Russian government or: this issue. It I’d a blanket exclusion of all Russians from the maintainer list.

          Personally I’ve seen individuals at Russia to do quite amazing feats with both hardware and software, but as none of us are in a void without any external infcluence nor affect, I think that, while harsh, the “sanctions” (for a lack of better word) aren’t overshooting anything, but they’re instead leveling the playing field.

          Presumably you support much harsher sanctions against all Americans, Brits, Germans, French, and Israelis, then. Are you any of these things? Perhaps you should start advocating for sanctions on yourself.

          Any Joe Anynymous could write a code which compromises the kernel as a whole, but should that Joe live in Russia, it might bring a government backed team which can hide their tracks on a quite a bit different level with their resources than any individual could ever even dream about.

          That is in no way unique to Russia and we already have plenty of examples of US, Israeli, and other Western countries compromising systems and software. Do just a little bit of critical thinking.

          • @InverseParallax
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            91 month ago

            Russophobia is the fear or hatred of Russia or people from Russia.

            Ok, seems logical so far.

            Linus is Finnish, maybe this is also a lesson: “Don’t brutalize random neighboring countries because in the future they might be in a position to fuck you in the ass.”?

            I mean, the Winter War is kind of not a fond memory for them, though everybody loves some Sima Häyhä, one of the most righteous men of the 20th century.

            • @[email protected]
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              -121 month ago

              Linus is Finnish, maybe this is also a lesson: “Don’t brutalize random neighboring countries because in the future they might be in a position to fuck you in the ass.”?

              I will dispute your framing, but why does it justify collective punishment and hatred if all people from a country?

              I mean, the Winter War is kind of not a fond memory for them, though everybody loves some Sima Häyhä, one of the most righteous men of the 20th century.

              At the time of the Winter War, Finland had existed for about 20 years, same as the USSR. Both emerged out of the Russian Empire. The USSR sought land and space for military defense against its Northern flank near St Petersburg, which was vulnerable, as well as, ideally, ports to seal from water invasions. Finland rejected every attempt at land exchanges, which was of course their right, but the USSR also, correctly, predicted that Finland would facilitate the Nazi advance and that this land was necessary to repel their war. Faced with an existential threat, they invaded Finland and took much of the land they needed and the war unfolded there exactly as predicted, with Finland rapidly becoming Nazi collaborators and putting down most of its internal resistance. The Continuation War followed, of course. To this day, they teach false histories about this, via the usual government censorship and creation of school curricula.

              Sima Häyhä was hated by many early on and received many personal death threats to his face. His rehabilitation in pop culture is more of a thing from the 70d and 80s. Finland collaborated with Nazis and built death camps and was subsequently liberated by the USSR. With fascist groups disbanded and banned and the USSR elevated to the status of primary protagonist of winning the war against the Nazis, those who had supported the previous fascist-friendly/just plain fascist government became pretty unpopular for some time.

              • @hitwright
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                -41 month ago

                This country attacked me. Should I allow their enemies to reach them through my territory? Sure.

                “USSR correctly predicted this!”

                The timeline is fuwky wucky in your argument mate

                • @[email protected]
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                  01 month ago

                  Ah yes, the famed “reluctant” Nazi collaborators that just had to help Nazis and build death camps to get revenge on the Russkies.

                  I wonder why all of these liberals here keep making excuses for Nazis and Nazi collaborators.

                  • @hitwright
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                    -11 month ago

                    For USSR being the victor in WW2. Why these Finnish “russian death camps” not in most of history textbooks?

                    Also it’s not unreasonable to hate the aggressor. So even if they were building death camps to get revenge on Russkies. It’s not like tribal collective punishment isn’t engrained in our blood.

                    Why do you even want to defend an empire?

        • pelya
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          311 month ago

          The security issue is very likely scenario. If you’re in Russia, you can go to jail at any moment on totally bogus charges. It is very easy for FSB to pressure some random kernel maintainer into adding hard to detect backdoor into their code, it will be XZ situation all over again.

          • sunzu2
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            71 month ago

            thank you… now this makes sense.

            so presumably this applied to Russians nationals living within Russia.

            If that’s accurate, the measure is proper IMHO

        • @[email protected]
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          -541 month ago

          Liberals love collective punishment and have been in a Russophobic bender for decades, with an uptick in recent years. They hate all Russians and repeat racist rhetoric from Ukrainian Nazis.

            • @[email protected]
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              -211 month ago

              Liberalism is primarily an international term. You are very confused if you think it is just about US “left” politics.

              And I said that there are Ukrainian Nazis whose racism is repeated by liberals. This is a simple fact.

              • sunzu2
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                91 month ago

                Ukrainian Nazis

                this propaganda is no longer any good bro… 2014-22, it was decent engagement slop for the westoid but it don’t work. why are y’all still using it?

              • @TheGrandNagus
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                1 month ago

                I’m well aware that liberal is an international term.

                However, it is used very differently in the US to everywhere else. In the US, liberal is used to pretty much mean “left wing” or “relating to the Democrat party”.

                People in the US wouldn’t describe an expansion in gun rights as something the libs would want, for example.

                Nor would people in the US agree that liberal people want more freedoms for businesses.

                But those are parts of liberal ideology elsewhere.

                And I said fuck off with your Ukraine Nazi bullshit. Stop parroting Russian propaganda, gimboid.

                • @[email protected]
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                  1 month ago

                  When he says “Liberals love collective punishment…” he is not saying left wing, he is saying loudly right wing.

                • @[email protected]
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                  -21 month ago

                  I’m well aware that liberalism is an international term.

                  Yet you assumed I made a US-specific reference when I did in no way do so.

                  However, it is used very differently in the US to everywhere else. In the US, liberal is used to pretty much mean “left wing” or “relating to the Democrat party”.

                  Yes I know. I was not using it in that sense.

                  And I said fuck off with your Ukraine Nazi bullshit. Stop parroting Russian propaganda, gimboid.

                  It is not bullshit. There are and have been Ukrainian Mazis and liberals falling over themselves to repeat their racist and chauvinist talking points.

                  • @TheGrandNagus
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                    1 month ago

                    You absolutely were using it in that sense.

                    There is literally nowhere on planet earth where humans live in any large number where you will not find Nazis.

                    Claiming that Ukraine is rife with it in any meaningful sense is very much a Russian talking point, and even one of the defenses given by Russia in starting their war/genocide.

                    Stop repeating Russian propaganda.

                    Honestly, what is it with lemmy.ml and people who love Russia?

          • @InverseParallax
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            51 month ago

            I mean, I hate most Russians, but only since they invaded Ukraine.

            Russia whines endlessly about ancient wrongs against them, the Finns have a lot to remember about Russia too.

            • @[email protected]
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              -51 month ago

              Presumably you also hate most Americans and Israelis, then.

              Personally, I only hate those who take an active role in a major injustice and am merely frustrated with those who are passive, and I do so consistently across nationalities.

                • @[email protected]
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                  -11 month ago

                  I think Palestinians have a right to be angry at Israelis, even to the point of potential violence.

                  And yet, by and large, Palestinians, facing genocide, focus their fights on soldiers and military equipment while showing empathy towards those Israelis who aren’t actively expressing racism towards them.

                  But yes Palestinians do have every right to resist occupation and genocide through violence.

                  But this was not my question. It is whether you consiste tky believe in and apply the rhetoric you are using or whether you are, note likely, swept up in the current hate-on towards all Russians.

                  Much in the same way I think Russians have long passed a historical threshold for which we should consider whether they are compatible with civilized society.

                  This reads as very racist and draws on orientalist tropes. I assume you picked them up from the upsurge in fascistic rhetoric, including from Ukrainian Nazis whose rhetoric has been amplified and anonymized/filtered through mainstream repetitiom, and have not discovered this talking point de novo.

                  We gave them a shot after the USSR fell, they didn’t take the opportunity to clean up their act.

                  tf are you talking about. The fall of the USSR came with a mass expropriation if wealth and industry and social programs at the expense of tens of millions of lives. Attempts to join the imperial core were rebuffed, it was placed in permanent shock therapy territory and systematically excluded. They did exactly what Western interests wanted them to do. This is the Russia your ideology created.

                  So now we’re going back to it, confrontation.

                  There was never a pause in imperialist escalation.

                  Only this time we’re not 2-3x stronger than them, we’re 10-20x. I like those odds.

                  I see that rather than ask yourself whether you consistently apply your logic, you are here just revealing that you are a nationalist that truly does not care and is now excited for a world war.

                  • @InverseParallax
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                    11 month ago

                    I’m excited for Russia seeing justice.

                    And a world War?

                    With Russia and whose army? Because theirs can’t handle Ukraine on their own. Their missiles explode on the launchpad, their submarines sink themselves, their only aircraft carrier has more Russian kills than enemy.

                    Oh, you honestly think China will save them? That’s absolutely adorable.

                    That shock therapy? That was their own oligarchs looting Russia wildly, which is why corruption has destroyed the Russian military so completely.

                    Russia has historically felt their only safety came from the perception by others that they were strong. That perception was utterly shattered by Ukraine, forever.

                    There is no way this turns out that is not disastrous for Russia, but then again I guess they just call that ‘history’. Personally I’m looking forward to it with anticipation.

                    Not thirsty for blood, thirsty for justice, as are much of Europe that were victims of Russian imperialism under the name of ‘buffer states’. Now those states are stronger than them and everyone is desperately eager to watch them suffer.

                    I could make a fortune selling popcorn in eastern Europe.

                    Russian hatred? We call that ‘being European’.

              • @just_another_person
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                41 month ago

                I didn’t think that being murdered by Putin’s thugs is specifically Homophobic, but do let us know in the comments.

                Like and Subscribe.

                • @Warl0k3
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                  51 month ago

                  It seems pretty clear that the negative implication is putin’s regime abusing his authority for sexual favors (especially given all the mass rapes by russian forces in ukraine…) and not that said favors are bad because theyre gay. It’s telling that they assumed it was based in homophobia, though.

          • @AbidanYre
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            31 month ago

            Hmm yes, we all remember when noted liberal Mitt Romney said Russia was the biggest geopolitical threat facing the US.

          • davel [he/him]
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            Reporter: [REDACTED]
            Reason: Ukranians aren’t nazis

            The ones that are, are.

            Reporter: [REDACTED]
            Reason: Misinformation, hate speech against UA

            Only love speech for Banderites, please.

      • @faltryka
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        111 month ago

        All it takes is reading the article to see why it was done. You clearly did not do that and instead inserted your own agenda.

        • @[email protected]
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          -91 month ago

          I did read the article and drew the conclusion I just stated. Feel free to offer your own take.

          • @faltryka
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            71 month ago

            While he certainly wasn’t sensitive about how he said it, he did state is was sanctions related.

            • @[email protected]
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              -111 month ago

              He was not clear on that at all. For all we know it could be an excuse among the several vague ones he gave or a reference to pressure from Feds.

              • @faltryka
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                81 month ago

                And FYI for the actual innocent bystanders who aren’t troll farm accounts - the “various compliance requirements” are not just a US thing.

                If you haven’t heard of Russian sanctions yet, you should try to read the news some day. And by “news”, I don’t mean Russian state-sponsored spam.

                • @[email protected]
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                  -51 month ago

                  The “various comoliance requirements” are unstated. Everything here is being left to a vague implication.

          • @Bookmeat
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            -31 month ago

            This is not collective punishment.

            • @[email protected]
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              51 month ago

              Of course it is. It is punishing all members of a nationality for the actions if their government.

              • @Bookmeat
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                -11 month ago

                I didn’t realize all Russians were in the Linux kernel maintainers file. Silly me.

                • @[email protected]
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                  31 month ago

                  A trivial bad faith reading. Think about it for a few seconds more: what qualified their removal?

                  • @Bookmeat
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                    -41 month ago

                    Read a newspaper some time. You might learn a thing about that.

          • @just_another_person
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            -41 month ago

            We aren’t talking about “all Russians”. What thread are you watching?

            • @[email protected]
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              91 month ago

              Of course you are. This thread is about people getting kicked off the maintainer list for simply being Russian and y’all are bleating “good, fuck Russia”.

              • @just_another_person
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                Yes. I am saying that the Russian people who were maintaining anything in the Linux kernel commits have a very real threat of not only being compromised to do ill, but also have their identity on the commit chain being taken over by state actors.

                What in the hell are you arguing for here?

                  • @just_another_person
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                    01 month ago

                    If I’m saying this, and the founders and mainters of the Linux Kernel agree, it really seems like I’m not wrong here.

                    Might be time reevaluate some stuff.

          • sunzu2
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            -51 month ago

            Being obediet dogs like germans during nazi regime.

              • sunzu2
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                81 month ago

                Becuase russia and israel are causing seriouss issues currently.

                Before you do america too… Decent part of america was not larping the war either. It is shameful what we did in middle east for israels benefit.

                Hopefully never again but who are we kidding…

                • @[email protected]
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                  Before you do america too

                  Yes this is the obvious cognitive dissonance that arises from my question. The US has invaded and bombed countries, couped countries, plunged millions into poverty and death, consistently for decades. Buy I don’t see any if you saying, “Fuck America” and trying to kick all Americans out of your spaces.

                  The US is backing Israel’s genocide to the hilt righy now. It would not happen without American support that Israel depends on. And most European countries are backseat supporters if that agenda. Where is your bleating for villification of every person from all those countries?

                  Decent part of america was not larping the war either.

                  Which war? There have been so many US-bscked wars in recent years that I have no idea which one you would be referring to.

                  But I am confused about the qualifier. Who had said anything about larping? This is collective punishment and chauvinism against all Russians.

                  It is shameful what we did in middle east for israels benefit.

                  Can I get a “Fuck America”?

                  Hopefully never again but who are we kidding…

                  Not just never again, it is happening right now, under Dems, with support of their candidates that is part of the admin doing genocide. Every pro-Harris post on this site is a tacit endorsement. Should we ban them?

                  • sunzu2
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                    11 month ago

                    Buy I don’t see any if you saying, “Fuck America” and trying to kick all Americans out of your spaces.

                    Fediserve is US centric platform, nobody going to be saying fuck America.

                    However, the sentiment here is pretty strong against the current situation both socio-economics wise and support for Israel… I don’ think this a mainstream opinion quite there yet but people getting wiser on these issues.

                    I meant decent part of US population did not larp ME wars in early 2000s.

                  • @[email protected]
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                    11 month ago

                    Every pro-Harris post on this site is a tacit endorsement. Should we ban them?

                    There it is, .ml maga losers raising their heads off the mud again

              • @TheGrandNagus
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                31 month ago

                Because Russia has invaded another country and is currently committing a genocide. Christ 🤦‍♀️

                • @[email protected]
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                  -81 month ago

                  Russia is not committing a genocide. However, the US and Israel are have been invading Lebanon and Syria.

                  Do you support removing all Americans from the maintainer lost? Can I get a “Fuck America”?

      • @[email protected]
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        -21 month ago

        He just applied Russians’ favorite soviet era saying “those who is not with us is against us”

        • @[email protected]
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          -51 month ago

          Who did that? And that is a cartoonish an embarrassing thing for you to say I’d a soviet saying, let alone a popular one.