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> being far from the front lines is better than being near them Kherson is less than 5 km from the active war zone. Northern parts of Kharkiv oblast have a Ru

> being far from the front lines is better than being near them Kherson is less than 5 km from the active war zone. Northern parts of Kharkiv oblast have a Russian border nearby, with Russian recon groups routinely trying to infiltrate. > can't talk freely either I have several friends currently in Ukraine. None of them is scared of expressing their political views, neither IRL nor on the internets. None of them supports Russia for obvious reasons, but not all of them are huge fans of their current government. > extrajudicial arrests and even killings Wikipedia has an interesting article about the guy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzalo_Lira https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzalo_Lira The article says the arrest was lawful, Ukrainians released him on house arrest, he tried to flee the country, then he was arrested for real and died of pneumonia in custody. Every death is a tragedy, but I don’t believe Ukrainian government deliberately killed that person. Why would they fake pneumonia during the war, at the time when random civilians are routinely killed by Russian missiles and drones across the whole country? > This is a war between two thuggish regimes This is Ukraine’s war of independence. Ukrainians have lost the last time in 1917-1922. This time, things will be different.

Georgelemental 3y ago
> the arrest was lawful He was arrested for political speech, which is ipso facto an unjust violation of his fundamental human rights and of natural law. Putin's Russia also has "laws" that justify the arrest of dissidents, doesn't make it OK. (And many of the other people on Lira's list were simply summarily executed, without any trial or other legal process)
- blue_pants 3y ago
  I don't know what political speech means to you. Are you aware that Ukraine engaged in an existential war? Gonzalo Lira was justifying Russian aggression against Ukraine, denying the facts of Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities, as well as massacres of civilian Ukrainians by Russian invaders in Bucha and other cities. Then he was taken into custody because he violated the terms of his bail and tried to escape. Originally meant to be under house arrest in Kharkiv, Lira was detained in another part of Ukraine: Zakarpattia Oblast, where he tried to cross the border into Hungary There are a number of real journalists in Ukraine investigating big corruption cases, some of which have even resulted in the replacement of the Minister of Defense. These journalists have not faced assassination or imprisonment, although there have been instances of them being pressured in some ways
  - Georgelemental 3y ago
    If a state's continued existence relies on restricting people's fundamental human right to free expression, then that state deserves to die.
- Const-me 3y ago
  It seems you apply US laws to the rest of the world. Ukraine is not part of the US, it’s a part of Europe. In Europe, the legal systems are rather different. For example, public display of Nazi symbols in the US is a protected free speech under the first amendment. However, the same action in many other countries is a crime: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bans_on_Nazi_symbols https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bans_on_Nazi_symbols This doesn’t make governments of France or Belgium “thuggish regimes”.

Georgelemental 3y ago

> the arrest was lawful He was arrested for political speech, which is ipso facto an unjust violation of his fundamental human rights and of natural law. Putin's Russia also has "laws" that justify the arrest of dissidents, doesn't make it OK. (And many of the other people on Lira's list were simply summarily executed, without any trial or other legal process)

blue_pants 3y ago
I don't know what political speech means to you. Are you aware that Ukraine engaged in an existential war? Gonzalo Lira was justifying Russian aggression against Ukraine, denying the facts of Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities, as well as massacres of civilian Ukrainians by Russian invaders in Bucha and other cities. Then he was taken into custody because he violated the terms of his bail and tried to escape. Originally meant to be under house arrest in Kharkiv, Lira was detained in another part of Ukraine: Zakarpattia Oblast, where he tried to cross the border into Hungary There are a number of real journalists in Ukraine investigating big corruption cases, some of which have even resulted in the replacement of the Minister of Defense. These journalists have not faced assassination or imprisonment, although there have been instances of them being pressured in some ways
- Georgelemental 3y ago
  If a state's continued existence relies on restricting people's fundamental human right to free expression, then that state deserves to die.
Const-me 3y ago
It seems you apply US laws to the rest of the world. Ukraine is not part of the US, it’s a part of Europe. In Europe, the legal systems are rather different. For example, public display of Nazi symbols in the US is a protected free speech under the first amendment. However, the same action in many other countries is a crime: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bans_on_Nazi_symbols https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bans_on_Nazi_symbols This doesn’t make governments of France or Belgium “thuggish regimes”.