by jimbohn | 2025-11-26 21:32:56+00:00
>Of course. You're allowed to choose your narrative and favorite scapegoat

No, that's not it. You are operating under the assumption that every culture is equal; it is not.

>I have much more in common with them than I do with any geopolitical warrior

Since this isn't your first ad hominem, let's get some facts straight. Apparently, you have: 1) Baltic and Ukrainian friends and colleagues, 2) Russian and Belarusian friends and colleagues. "Same with Israelis and Palestinians".

This isn't an attempt at doxxing or anything (you linked to some papers you co-author), you are a Serbian researcher working in Germany. None of your co-authors apparently have these origins, nor any manager/high level people in the company you are working for. I am sorry, but I struggle to believe you have these kind of colleagues, especially in such a nice area like ontologies, protege, etc. AND that happened to discuss with them in depth the russian situation.

I have a similar experience when it comes to Israelis and Palestinians, Belarusians, but not russians, I am sorry. The Ukrainians I know hate russians with a passion.

>Aside from the fact that this is a company, not a country, and there's no discussion of hiring let alone getting anyone

I agree, didn't imply that.

>If that's true, why wouldn't these apparently openly hostile Russians join their preferred army? Or do you think they are a fifth column in your country?

It's very simple, life in the west is better. That doesn't mean they believe in its values. Also, once the 3-day SMO got a bit too real a lot of moscow/peter russians decided to bail out. Would they have left if the 3-day SMO succeeded? I don't think so, they would have been happily chanting "russia strong". Yes, some of them are fifth columnists.

If you are still in doubt if the level of infiltration in Europe is through the roof, I don't know what to tell you. But the issue is that, even the majority of the non-fifth columnists harbor pro-imperialist russia values and resentment towards the so-called west. You'll never get a straight answer from them when it comes to these issues, in my experience.

>Be open about your conclusions

Please don't imply things. I am already open about my conclusions. My conclusion is that russia and russians are culturally unfit for being accepted into democratic societies en-masse due to centuries of brutal regimes known for their hybrid warfare and espionage. I think we should re-vet all "refugee" russian visas we have in europe, and reconsider the influence we allow oligarchs to have because they bring some blood money with them.

>How do you feel about people from Saudi Arabia [...] >Their governments and/or minority groups have certainly been controversial in various countries and centuries, to say the least. >It's not an abstract subject, it's a question of principles and nuance.

Nothing against them, not sure why you ask. It's you who decided to bring the abstraction up a notch in your previous comment, when saying "'Enough of them' really applies to any minority". And here's my disagreement. Russians aren't ANY minority, nor for their history, not for their culture, not for the implications of having a russian minority in your country. A minority is NOT fungible, because culture is NOT fungible, and history is NOT fungible.

>My country has been subject to plenty foreign conquerors, adversaries (real or not) and undue influence, including that of various Russian governments. Yet I don't see how the members of those other countries are guilty for that, nor how my hatred for them gets any justice for the pain of my ancestors (or the pain that my ancestors caused).

Serbia has never been under russian rule. Like other countries, it has its foreign invaders, adversaries, etc. But, again, NOT all adversaries are the same, because what they did during their history, what they promoted, and for how long, is not the same. Russia is likely in a unique position when it comes to the integral of applied brutality over time/people. It's not putin, it's not "the government", it has been like this forever.

>And you don't seem like you have personal grievances that would at least explain your views.

If by looking at past data (history, books, etc.) and current data (current state of russian society, their behaviour towards conquered Ukrainians, their nuclear-bomb threats every 3 days) you conclude that everything is fine and dandy with the russian people, so be it. That is not my conclusion. I do have personal grievances because the future of the values (and countries) that I believe in is at stake here, for real. I dislike people who are morally "flexible".

I've written a lot in this HN thread. I'll summarize my opinion:

- Culture and civilization are not fungible, thus not all cultures and civilizations are equal.

- I do not separate the responsibility of the russian people from its government. It has been too long.

- Vast majority of russians that live in the west harbor anti-west resentment and hold imperialist values. Those that left after the 3-SMO fiasco left because they risked their skin, not for any political reason. Will likely move back once this is over.

- I think Kagi having a Serbian HQ and working with Yandex is a signal about its moral compass. In hindsight, the latter is worse than the former.