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John, how could this mass brainwashing happen in such a short time, do you have a theory? To me it's truly mind-boggling for the very historical and cultural reasons you note.

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Much like in Nazi Germany -- Kiev used a combination of terror tactics and appeals to a mythical past to instill a sense of national pride. Again, I had a front row seat to all of this. I'm now rather embarrassed to admit this, but one of my Ukrainian clients was a small foundation that publisheed pseudo historical materials, such as a book about the Ukrainian "aristocracy" of the 10th and 11th centuries; not to mention the fact that human civilization 'began' in Ukraine about 40,000 years ago. I thought it was all quaint until I realized that they wanted to slaughter anyone who wasn't Ukrainian. And as far as terror tactics -- there were death squads going around eastern Ukraine enforcing state nationalist ideology among those who were unrepentant. At least 14,000 were murdered or disappeared from 2014 to 2022. And on the eve of "the Russian invasion", Kiev had planned for a massive invasion of Donbass and they were going to go and kill as many people as possible.

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I see, the history creation textbook at work again. Thanks!

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Dec 4, 2023Liked by John Varoli

Well said, but surely the ethnic Ukrainians, fellow Slavs to the Russians, fellow Orthodox too, speaking slavic languages that are almost inter-comprehensible can one day be friends?

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Many Ukrainians do secretly support Russia, which is why the 50 countries of NATO face such difficulty in Ukraine. Even western media report that Ukrainian soldiers complain that the Russians are often “tipped off” by other Ukrainians. But yes, overall there is a rift and that will require time to mend and heal.

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