Let me start by saying I couldn’t care less if Putin is straight, gay, bisexual or otherwise. My philosophy is live and let live.
But looking at some of the anti LGBT rhetoric that comes out of Putin’s mouth ,one has to wonder why is he so afraid?
Is he afraid he might become gay himself?
Especially in the 21st century there have been a great number of political and religious leaders who passed, or try to pass, anti LGBT laws. A great number of them turned out to be gay or bi-sexual themselves.
Even in the 1920s and 1930s one of Hitler’s henchmen and enforcers of Nazi laws, Ernst Röhm, was gay.
It is often the case that people who are vehemently anti something, many times are that what they are so against.
Now I have no evidence that Putin is gay. He was married for 30 years but does that mean he is not gay? Of course not, I have several friends who got married and only later came out as being gay.
The fact that Putin is so aggressive towards anything LGBT makes me wonder is this because he has something to hide himself, has he put himself in a corner where he can’t come out.
This meme of Putin and Trump on a horse was meant as a joke, but isn’t there an element of truth in every joke?
The fact that Putin has used so many photo opportunities to show himself shirtless I find fascinating. Is it because he wants to attract women? I doubt there are women who find him attractive especially not without a shirt.
So why then? Does he want to attract men perhaps?
During the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 hundreds of visitors complaint that they checked into expensive hotel rooms only to find them decorated with seminude portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The portraits, showing Mr. Putin shirtless and riding a variety of mammals, adorn the walls of virtually every hotel room constructed especially for the Olympics and were created at a cost of over two million dollars, Olympic officials said.
Maybe this whole invasion of the Ukraine is perhaps to prove his masculinity to the world . A way to show he is a real Men’s man.
On Tuesday March 1,2022 Russian missiles damaged the Babyn Yar (also known as Babi Yar) memorial site. One might say what is the big deal? It didn’t hit a residential area, right?
Five people were killed in that strike which is an awful loss of life, any death cause by war is. But there is more to this. Babyn Yar has a huge historical importance especially in relation to genocide.
It was the site where over 33,000 people were massacred. In September 1941 by the Nazis.
On September 19, 1941, German forces entered the city of Kyiv (Kiev), the capital of Ukraine. Along with a large part of German-occupied Ukraine, the city was incorporated into the Reichskommissariat Ukraine which had been established on September 1 with Erich Koch as administrator.
Before the German invasion, some 160,000 Jews resided in Kyiv,Ukraine . Which was approximately 20 percent of the total population of the capital. Following the start of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, approximately 100,000 Jews fled Kyiv or were already serving in the Soviet military. By the time the Germans occupied Kyiv, there were about 60,000 Jews remaining in the city. Most of those who remained had been unable or unwilling to flee earlier. This included mostly women, children, the elderly, and those who were ill.
The implementation of the order was entrusted to Sonderkommando 4a, commanded by Blobel, under the general command of Friedrich Jeckeln.This unit consisted of SD and Sipo, the third company of the Special Duties Waffen-SS battalion, and a platoon of the 9th Police Battalion. Police Battalion 45, commanded by Major Besser, conducted the massacre, supported by members of a Waffen-SS battalion. Contrary to the myth of the “clean Wehrmacht”, the Sixth Army under Walter von Reichenau worked together with the SS and SD to plan the mass murder of the Jews of Kiev.
On 29 and 30 September 1941, a special team of German SS troops supported by other German units and local collaborators murdered 33,771 Jewish civilians after taking them to the ravine.
The commander of the Einsatzkommando reported two days later:
“The difficulties resulting from such a large scale action—in particular concerning the seizure—were overcome in Kiev by requesting the Jewish population through wall posters to move. Although only a participation of approximately 5,000 to 6,000 Jews had been expected at first, more than 30,000 Jews arrived who, until the very moment of their execution, still believed in their resettlement, thanks to an extremely clever organization.”
According to the testimony of a truck driver named Hofer, victims were ordered to undress and were beaten if they resisted.
The crowd was large enough that most of the victims could not have known what was happening until it was too late; by the time they heard the machine gun fire, there was no chance to escape. All were driven down a corridor of soldiers, in groups of ten, and then shot.
In the evening, the Germans undermined the wall of the ravine and buried the people under the thick layers of earth.According to the Einsatzgruppe’s Operational Situation Report, 33,771 Jews from Kiev and its suburbs were systematically shot dead by machine-gun fire at Babi Yar on 29 September and 30 September 1941.
The money, valuables, underwear and clothing of the murdered victims were turned over to the local ethnic Germans and to the Nazi administration of the city.Wounded victims were buried alive in the ravine along with the rest of the bodies.
The ravine at Babyn Yar was a killing site for two years after the September 1941 massacre. There, Germans stationed at Kyiv murdered tens of thousands of people, both Jews and non-Jews. Other groups of people who were killed at Babyn Yar included: patients from a local psychiatric hospital, Roma , Soviet prisoners of war, and civilians.
It is estimated that some 100,000 people, Jews and non-Jews, were murdered at Babi Yar
The killings at the Babyn Yar ravine continued until the fall of 1943, only a few days before the Soviets re-took control of Kyiv on November 6.
Putin invaded Ukraine under the premise that he wanted to rid the country from Neo Nazis. Yet the Ukrainian President is Jewish.
A spokesperson for the memorial told the Times of Israel that the air strike had caused damage to buildings in the Jewish cemetery located in the Babyn Yar complex, although a monument to the victims of Nazism was not affected. It may not have caused damage but it did desecrate the site and the surrounding Jewish cemeteries. If that isn’t an act by Neo Nazis then what is?
Putin’s logic appears to be to get rid of ‘Neo Nazis’ by committing acts of Neo Nazism himself.
The song Russians has been going around in my head the last few weeks. Leaving aside the political message it is a beautiful song.
The melody was inspired by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev’s Romance melody from the Lieutenant Kije Suite.
In 2010, Sting explained that the song was inspired by watching Soviet TV via inventor Ken Schaffer’s satellite receiver at Columbia University:
“I had a friend at university who invented a way to steal the satellite signal from Russian TV. We’d have a few beers and climb this tiny staircase to watch Russian television… At that time of night we’d only get children’s Russian television, like their ‘Sesame Street’. I was impressed with the care and attention they gave to their children’s programmes. I regret our current enemies haven’t got the same ethics.”
Sting’s bandmate , Police drummer Stewart Copeland . the son of a CIA operative had a very different outlook. But as Copeland explained, no matter how cogent his arguments, Sting could refute them with an indefensible lyric like “Russians love their children too.” Said Copeland, “You can’t argue with a poet.”
The lyrics have dated a small bit mainly because of the names of the political leaders. But if you change those names to the current leaders, which I will leave up to yourselves to do’ it is quite a current song that reflects the reality at the moment caused by the Ukraine Russia crisis.
“In Europe and America there’s a growing feeling of hysteria Conditioned to respond to all the threats In the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets Mister Krushchev said, “We will bury you” I don’t subscribe to this point of view It’d be such an ignorant thing to do If the Russians love their children too
How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer’s deadly toy? There is no monopoly on common sense On either side of the political fence We share the same biology, regardless of ideology Believe me when I say to you I hope the Russians love their children too There is no historical precedent To put the words in the mouth of the president? There’s no such thing as a winnable war It’s a lie we don’t believe anymore
Mister Reagan says, “We will protect you” I don’t subscribe to this point of view Believe me when I say to you I hope the Russians love their children too We share the same biology, regardless of ideology But what might save us, me and you Is if the Russians love their children too”
History of Sorts 
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