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Russia's missile attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities is terrorism - Timothy Snyder [1]
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Date: 2023-05-17
Timothy Snyder has a good analysis of what Russia’s continuing strikes against cities in Ukraine are all about. This is a commentary about the most recent Russian attack in which all of the incoming missiles were intercepted.
..Though the scale was unusual, this was the eighth such Russian attack on Kyiv this month alone. It is an outrage among other outrages, a terror attack among other terror attacks. In this awful war, Russia claims the right to terrorize the Ukrainian population. It attacks Kyiv and other cities not because it seeks to destroy military targets, but because it wishes to kill and injure civilians, or to destroy infrastructure so that civilians freeze and starve. In this latest attack, Russia was trying to destroy Ukrainian air-defense systems, which save the lives of Ukrainians. They have been installed because Russia has spent the last year and more launching missiles at Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. Attacking air-defense sites is nothing more than an attempt to keep the Ukrainian civilian population as hostages to Russian missiles. It is like murdering the lifeguard to preserve the ability to drown children. The word "terrorism" gets overused, not least in Russia itself, where two artists were recently arrested on charges of "supporting terrorism" because of a theatrical production. This is how Russian propaganda works: we hesitate to use the word "terrorism" because the terrorists themselves use it to describe something that is not terrorism.
emphasis added
This is why we must continue to support Ukraine and give them the arms they need to defend themselves. Here’s how Snyder concludes this commentary:
..It is also good for Russia to fail. The longer this war goes on, the longer Russians are instructed that national pride means taking pleasure in the senseless killing of civilians from a safe distance. The missiles are fired from well beyond Ukraine, from ships and airplanes that face no danger. People are just pushing buttons. The propaganda is issued in Moscow. People are just looking at cameras. Russians know, though, that Ukraine is not supposed to be able to shoot down their missiles, especially the supposedly invincible "hypersonic" kinzhal. Frightening as it was for everyone in Kyiv, the city's successful self-defense is one small step towards the end of the war. Russian fascism depends upon a sense of impunity, on the belief that Russia is a master of violence before which the subhuman Ukrainians must cower and yield. The idea has to be rendered nonsensical, which is only possible through Ukrainian self-defense -- and Russian defeat.
emphasis added
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/17/2169881/-Russia-s-missile-attacks-on-Kyiv-and-other-Ukrainian-cities-is-terrorism-Timothy-Snyder
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