Latvian NAFO Fella reporting on the war in Ukraine since 4:04 AM, February 24th, 2022.
Self-appointed chronicler of the Russian-Ukrainian war of 2022-20XX.
🧵...
After a fair bit of deliberation & convincing by some followers I have decided to create my own Patreon page.
This wasn't an easy decision & I'll explain my reasoning as well as what this means for the future of my content below.
@russiansiscon
This is why people say all Russians are guilty.
You not only condone these actions, but celebrate them.
Especially when they suit you.
Soon enough you will see hell from your own window.
Though I suspect then it won't be so funny to you anymore.
Another great find by
@BadBalticTakes
.
This is gonna' be a shorter one, but let's take a deeper look into the ''behind the scenes'' of this video & give it a bit more context for those so inclined:
1/
Latvia, 1992.
After half a century of brutal occupation, Latvia annulled the nazi-soviet pact and ordered its occupiers out.
Yet these were russia’s “elite” occupier units still prowling Latvia’s streets.
They were drunk and aggressive, abusing ordinary people, and expecting
@volkvulture1
@JoshEakle
1. Over 10 years out of date.
2. Excludes 4 Soviet-occupied nations & every Soviet satellite.
3. Where is the methodology ? The target demographic ? The median age of respondents ?
In short:
This is an irrelevant survey that doesn't reflect popular opinion today.
How many of the bigger NAFO fellas who follow me and/or see this would be willing to boost a message regarding gathering fellas for a NAFO meetup in Latvia on June 8th ?
Entirely organized by me & would include NAFO participation in a festive march w/ a possible shoutout :)
@TheFl0orIsLaVa
Some people make Russians mad with their actions and/or words.
We make them mad merely by existing.
Nigerian Russian ultranationalist larpers included.
@BadBalticTakes
@KareemRifai
I like the ''it's tragic, BUT'' part the most.
Particularly not because of the ''BUT'' part, but because when it's an authoritarian/totalitarian regime they support doing it it's a ''tragedy'', but when the US (or any western nation) does it - it's an unforgivable crime.
@socialistciaran
@BadBalticTakes
@BBeeBill
After seeing you in the replies sections' of
@BadBalticTakes
more often than a Russian missile landing in a school I'm beginning to suspect you're just some poor Kremlin bot being paid specifically to try and spread disinformation on the various posts of this account.
@BadBalticTakes
In Rīga even the pigeons would eat him alive.
Also notice how he's not actually ON the main square, instead he's in the park next to it in a small overlook corner covered by trees & bushes.
@wolfvillage84
@GLandsbergis
I've never understood this argument against supporting Ukraine with arms.
They're being invaded. They need and want to defend themselves from the invader. We provide them the weapons and ammo needed to do that.
How is that ''fighting until the last Ukrainian'' ?
@WeebUnionWar
To be neutral in this war is to be pro-Russian.
To be objective in this war is to be pro-Ukrainian.
Kyiv - Ukrainian.
Kiev - Russian.
It's as simple as that.
Nobody calls Liepāja ''Libau'', Tartu ''Dorpat'' or Daugavpils ''Dvinsk.''
Why should Kyiv be ''Kiev'' ?
So, due to their behavior the National Guard are called up to deal with them. This is done due to 2 primary reasons:
1. There essentially is no police at this point & what exists is not equipped well enough to deal with them.
2. It's a military matter.
6/
@zoophobies
I very much remember the era when a plastic bag from a supermarket in the free world was a treasured item and you had to wait 10 years to get a car (if you were lucky enough to get one at all) or an apartment, yes.
These specific guys are likely part of the Pskov 76th Guards' Air Assault division, though they could be from multiple units. It's hard to tell. As far as Russian celebrations go - it's no wonder they're entirely piss-drunk & full of themselves.
5/
The video was shot in 1992 at the railway station in Jūrmala (basically the main beach resort city of Latvia).
This was almost exactly a year after full independence was regained & the (then now) Russian army was still stationed within the Republic of Latvia.
2/
This is the point when the video starts.
The Russians are told to leave & directed towards the railway station. Begrudgingly they comply & argue their drunken way to the railway station (while making a mess along the way the National Guardsmen tell them to clean up).
8/
The Russians are, quite literally, dragged off the train & forced onto the ground (while constantly pleading & insisting they didn't do anything and threatening that everyone will pay).
12/
The Russian army would begin to pull out of Latvia by March 19th of that same year & wouldn't fully withdraw until August 31st, 1994 (though the ''Skrunda Locator'' would remain until it was torn down in 2000).
Although all of this is something deserving of its own thread.
3/
In the video we see the summer of 1992. Before the camera starts rolling there is a Russian paratrooper (''VDV") ''celebration'' concert of sorts taking place. Naturally, they're loud, litter everywhere & cause trouble.
4/
@khodorkovsky_en
@EU_Commission
I don't understand the argument of ''it hinders Russian opposition.''
We're over 1.5 years into a genocidal Russian war of imperialism. Those who wanted to leave have. Those who still want to leave are welcome to apply as asylum seekers fleeing political persecution.
Very begrudgingly the Russians get onto the train & continue screaming profanities at the National Guardsmen, who have, by this point, finished their work by herding them onto the train & out of Jūrmala.
10/
@BowesChay
Damn that's tough.
Shouldn't have started the war - she'd still be alive.
Or shot down the missile.
Or kept a public beach in a warzone surrounded by military sites open.
Or occupied Crimea.
Or gone on vacation to an occupied territory/warzone.
The unit that is called up is the 18th Jūrmala National Guard battalion (no idea on lower unit division than that). If I'm not mistaken - they no longer exist & are now a part of the 17th Battlefield Support battalion (based on open-source research available online).
7/
For those interested:
Here is the original, untranslated & unedited video.
It also contains a section regarding training of the 4th Company of the same battalion:
16/
They are then detained (despite their pleas, insistence & threats). Non-compliance & resistance are met with baton strikes & strikes with the stock of a gun.
I have no information regarding what happened next - after they were detained.
13/
@DragutinDimitr
@russiansiscon
Maybe she deserves the chance to have it pointed out to her that ''Russian'' doesn't represent ''Slavic.''
In fact I live a ways away from Rīga.
Pretty nice here.
Newly renovated Soviet-era apartment blocks with heat insulation, dozens of new private homes built every year..
@squatsons
I mean at least you're now just coming straight out & admitting to Russia's war crimes and that you're proud/happy of/about them.
I would seriously recommend taking a look at the ultimate fate of Julius Streicher - publisher of Der Stürmer.
Tick-tock..
Arguments continue (mainly in the form of slander, threats & insults on the part of the Russians), as do lawful orders of the National Guardsmen to keep moving & get on the train.
9/
Right as the train is about to leave (you can hear the whistle) one of the Russians breaks a window on the train door with his hand.
Immediately the train is stopped & the National Guardsmen move in.
11/
@zoophobies
I also very much remember my great grandfather who was deported to a slave labor camp in Siberia for the great crime of ''being in the Latvian military before Soviet invasion and occupation.''
@leandroptbr
When the Russian response to anything on the info space is coping & seething over something they do not like, cannot control & have no influence over - it's always a great day.
So cope & seethe some more.
We love it.
I am personally unaware of what ''D Sh B'' is or could even be, so I'm just going to assume they're actually chanting ''V D V,'' but are so piss-drunk that they can't spell it correctly so it comes out as ''D Sh B.''
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
15/
@BadBalticTakes
They should be ecstatic that we're threatening to boycott those games.
Maybe they can get gold in 3x3 basketball this time and not get beat by the small, irrelevant nation of Latvia that had a handicapped player with a twisted ankle for half the game.
@sugarvill
@SamRamani2
1. For this to make sense ''Russian culture'' would solely have to consist of the myth of the ''great patriotic war'' and the ''liberation'' of the Baltics.
2. Are you suggesting that Russia would/should invade them if they weren't in NATO due to their internal policy ?
@volkvulture1
@JoshEakle
Your only proof of this is a survey over 10 years out of date that lists nothing regarding the methodology used and/or the demographics represented within it (which is also incomplete with regard to what it is meant to show).
One small thing in relation to the translation presented in the video linked by
@BadBalticTakes
:
In the part where the Russians are coming towards the cameraman shouting they could be shouting 1 of 2 things:
1. What is presented in the video - ''D Sh B.''
2. ''V D V.''
14/
@mtracey
By all international legal standing, Crimea = Ukraine.
If Russia wants to nuke Ukraine because it starts to lose a war it started, it also has to remember that it's not the only nation on Earth with nukes and people probably won't take too kindly to them firing first.
!THREAD 1!
This is actually an interesting headway into the ways in which resistance to & mockery of Soviet occupation happened right under the nose of Soviet authorities & often very publicly with them being none the wiser.
Let's have a quick look:
1/
NAFO in occupied Estonia, 1982.
Yes. Before there was an internet - or any brain-damaged cartoon dogs - there were activists subverting russian propaganda and helping push back russian imperialism with the same spirit of NAFO (and remarkably similar jokes).
Let me explain.
⏪
@margravatepmc
@PaulNiland
@CentreGround6
I somehow don't think Russia fully controls any of those.
Also:
Ukraine receives less than 1% of the total defense budget of NATO in military aid.
Also also:
You're writing this under a comment saying Russia could crush NATO.
@BadBalticTakes
I love the interpretation of ''crimes without punishment will encourage new atrocities'' as ''must rewrite the mentality of Russian citizens'' essentially being an unwitting admission of guilt & imperialist rhetoric/tendencies.
@socialistciaran
@BadBalticTakes
@BBeeBill
While I'm sure this is flattering for the owner of this account, it's also quite funny that you keep trying despite your opinions being nearly universally shot down.
What's even funnier is that you never try to argue or contest anything. Did they stop paying out bonuses ?
@gruznov
Tip:
Nobody here wants to listen to Russian expats lecture us about how we run our countries, companies, charities, etc.
Take the hint or the alternative:
🧳➡️🚌➡️🇷🇺
@Comdalf
@Varren19
@Ukraine
''Membership was always voluntary.''
Except if you lived in Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia.
Or western parts of Poland, Moldova or Karelia.
@putnik
@gruznov
You'd think Russian expats who fled Russia to fight the repressive regime back home from exile abroad would, you know, do that.
No - instead you whine & complain about how we run our countries and how we act against Russia.
@petite_michelle
I love the tankies & vatniks who go ''it's just normal migration.''
Yeah - a 52% jump in the proportion of a specific ethnicity in occupied territory is totally a normal migration level.
Checks out.
@jaanus
Didn't they kick out all OSCE observers & refuse them entry into occupied territory when the war began ?
Why are they still even part of the organization..?
@gclynamisd12800
@White_Pride0499
@russiansiscon
Being annoying to Nazis is a good thing.
That I make you angry is a good thing.
The only reason you are on this platform is because of Elmo & his policy of giving Nazis freedom of expression.
@UniqueMongolia
The same tribunal which declared the Baltic units ''fundamentally different from the rest of the SS'' & had the Virsaiša Viestura guard detachment guarding Nazi war criminals pre, post & during the trial ?
@BadBalticTakes
I personally enjoy the ''you're all Nazis & allied with the Nazis, but you're also responsible for every single bad thing the USSR ever did and basically created it'' trope the most.
Alright Fellas - my personal, unique Fella is ready.
I got the current one from a meme & have been using it since, so this is a welcome upgrade.
It turned out swell.
Interesting choice of shoes though, but I like it.
Forged by the amazing
@quine_watson
@squatsons
A lot of cope coming from Russia-shills about pro-Ukraine rallies.
You mad we showed up ?
Or perhaps scared to show up & express your opinions in person ?
'Cause I certainly didn't see you there or doing that - none of you :)
@RoubleDestroyer
I'll play biased advocate for the Twitter Convoy.
The lifespan of one of these cars on the front is +/- 3 weeks.
Every week 10-20 (or more) such vehicles leave from Rīga to Rava-Ruska.
Every bit helps keep the odds of delivery above those of destruction 👍
@peterveldhuize4
@zikifa
@petite_michelle
The question here being:
If they can't speak Estonian anyway - how are they participating in Estonian society in the first place ?
This isn't 1991.
Most people in the Baltics don't speak Russian anymore.
@LogKa11
Ooo, this post again.
And with the exact same text above the picture as well.
I think we may have a Russian disinformation campaign on our hands!
@NekhayShchastyt
@BaddCompani
This needs fixing.
Or at the very least - expanding.
There are a lot more dates to add in the past 100 years than just the ones listed in the picture.
@BBQVatniks
They're extra active today.
I guess they got their fill of cope from revenge weapons striking civilians & feel powerful.
Literally ''if Twitter was a thing in 1944.''
@gruenspecht111
@reshetz
@c_groetzinger
1. Ukrainian in Crimea ?
2. Russia is a federation. None of the rest of those are.
3. Regional languages in Russia are not official across all of Russia & you're still required to know Russian.
4. Russian is not ''forbidden'' in any of those nations.
@DragutinDimitr
@russiansiscon
The issue isn't her.
It's her country & its leadership molding her into it.
Here she came across people who haven't been raised as model Russian citizens that see & accept Russian superiority in everything as a given fact of life.
Oh and of course ''I'm not political.''
@witte_sergei
I find it highly ironic how you people claim to hate the Nazis, yet you trust them on their word when they call forceful conscripts ''volunteers.''
Or is that because the USSR also forcefully conscripted people and called them ''volunteers'' so it would be hypocritical ?
@19hassan49
''The Soviet Union was fighting for humanity'' - you're on something.
''Russians have been fighting for humanity'' - you're on something that even illegal dealers in dark basements of abandoned buildings don't sell.
@petite_michelle
Yeah same here.
Made a comment about why everyone thinks Russians are all guilty & attracted all of the most vile ones in one reply section by accident 😄
A little over 20 years ago we were granted a seat at the world's largest table.
Ukraine today does not yet sit at this table - instead it fights for the right to do so.
And in this fight it carries all of the same values, wishes, hopes, dreams & aspirations we once did.
20/
@realNepareizais
''Broadcasting to Russia'' - you're banned from broadcasting to or in Russia.
''We respect Latvian law'' - goes on to explain how and why they don't respect Latvian law and why they think they should be able to ignore it.
''We fired him'' - and then invited him back.
@jaanus
I mean same pretty much across all occupied territory.
There is a local ''mass grave'' glorifying the red army in my town.
People who were there when it was created tell interesting stories.
Primarily that everyone was dumped in there - including civilians & Germans.
@JosieLe62818667
So we're going to ignore the many different open statements by both Kremlin officials and propagandists over these past 30 years that state the exact opposite ? Okay.
@BadBalticTakes
There's a compilation of casters from 12 different nations reacting to that final goal.
Obviously the Latvian one is the most emotional & enthusiastic, but the Finns, Estonians & Lithuanians come in second by a slim margin. Thanks Finn/Eesti/Lietuva-bros!