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Wisconsin Army vet dies fighting in Ukraine, family says
NY Post ^

Posted on 02/25/2023 7:43:44 AM PST by BenLurkin

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To: ransomnote

I suspected that. Way to sidestep Congress as if Congress cares. I wonder how many American soldiers are over there.


81 posted on 02/25/2023 11:39:46 AM PST by McCarthysGhost (q)
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To: MarMema

He doesn’t seem like a Nazi type at all — it looks like you don’t think so either. More like a kid who missed the “high” of being in a war zone and the camaraderie (which is like none other). His father said he “did not feel like his service was over”. And idealistic. And perhaps wanting to do some hero stuff. I did not know him and it’s not fair to make assumptions, so those are just guesses as to possibilities.

Certainly, there have been skinhead neo-Nazi types from Canada, Croatia, Scandinavia, etc., showing up to fight in that war, the first two groups having historical roots as part of their motivation (and the Croats’ forebears may have either wanted to fight in Ukraine, but were prevented, or died in Ukraine back during WWII — lots of Croats did*). More than a few skinhead Croatian-Canadians showed in Croatia from Canada to fight in neo-Nazi units for the Croats back in the 1990s. Their Ustaše fathers and grandfathers had fled to Canada via the ratlines after WWII and they were even more Ustaše than the Ustaše-loving Croats they fought alongside (lots of Hitler salutes and “za dom spremni”** and singing of old Nazi songs).

I wondered whether there might be a similar bunch of Banderite descendants in Canada awhile back. What I found were Ukrainian-Canadian cemeteries in Canada with statues of Bandera. Yep. I could not find the same sites and photos I found back then easily, but did find this fairly easily:

https://www.rcinet.ca/en/2018/08/13/shukhevych-monument-canada-oun-upa/

And lots of other very interesting articles. I won’t post them all, but if you are interested in the subject, do a search on “bandera ukraine canada” (without quotation marks) and you will find quite the trove. You need “ukraine” in there or you just get flags lol. The link I gave above may not be the best. But I am likely directing you to stuff you have already seen, as you seem very up on these subjects, same as back in days of the old Balkans threads.

Ref your “I think the media has contributed to it being a great and heroic cause.”

Amen to that. Plus all the crazy things our Dear Leaders have spouted, making this into an existential war on *both* sides. Western civilization hangs in balance, regime change and dissolution of Russia, crimes against humanity, and on and on. No room left for negotiation or for either side to back down even a little. Insane. And very dangerous.

I guess these young people don’t have the insights we older folks do, not having lived through the shenanigans we got up to in former Yugoslavia, Libya, etc., etc., etc. They always make the target into Hitler. Saddam was Hitler. (Yes he was an evil thug of a dictator, but not a Hitler.) Milosević was Hitler (curious, considering the history there!) even though Holocaust-denying Tudjman and Izetbegović (former member of Nazi-allied Young Muslims and author of The Islamic Declaration) were worse in their ways.

Desert Queen Gaddafi was Hitler (he dressed funny, and had done some really nasty stuff in the past, but Hitler?). And it’s always about Freedom and Democracy. Well, we became the air force for the terrorists who had been killing our guys in Iraq, and left Libya a failed state sprouting slave markets. Some freedom and democracy. Kosovo is an ethinically clean little NATO protectorate after we became the air force of the narco-mafia terrorist KLA, nasty, poor and brutish. Croatia is ethnically clean, thanks to lots of help from us, all sewed up in NATO and the EU and doing fine. Bosnia-Hercegovina? Carved up into dysfunctional fiefdoms, poor and pathetic, far worse off than it would have been under Lisbon.

How did Freedom and Democracy work out for Iraq and Afghanistan? And how did our little color revolution (minus the fun color) end up in Egypt? Well, at least the Egyptian military sensibly stepped in afterward and kicked out the Muslim Brotherhood guys we installed. Good for Egypt. The Arab Spring? Well, it mostly sprang and sprung, sproing sproing. Our doings in Syria? Still an ongoing disaster.

Yet so many fall for the Freedom and Democracy vs Evil Hitler trope every time. It’s always WWII all over again. No wonder they keep repeating it. It seems to work.

* Ukrainians in Croatia in interwar years, formation of Legion during WWII:

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Ukrainian_Legion_(Croatia)

But the link above does not tell the whole tale. Some did manage to go to Ukraine and then fight in the streets of Leningrad:

https://www.rbth.com/history/333458-croatian-military-units-fought-soviets

https://www.rbth.com/history/333458-croatian-military-units-fought-soviets

**I can’t help wondering whether all the folks posting “Slava Ukraini” know its history. Not quite as awful as “za dom spremni” but ... well ... no thanks.

Anyway, lots of unfinished business after WWII in some places, and some sought to finish it after the commie “freeze” of 1945-1991. The Croats finished theirs. The Ukrainians are still going at it.


82 posted on 02/25/2023 11:40:23 AM PST by CatHerd (Whoever said "All's fair in love and war" probably never participated in either.)
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To: BobL

Historically, putting American troops on the ground was always a public thing and a big deal. Everything is upside down and inside out.


83 posted on 02/25/2023 11:41:38 AM PST by McCarthysGhost (q)
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To: Menehune56

I wondered about that for a moment. But it sounds like he might have missed the “high” of being in a war zone, and the camaraderie. And perhaps very idealistic.

He probably took French in high school before he quit to join the army. He could have been learning Ukrainian and Russian in preparation for going to Ukraine. They got apps for that now. His father said “proficient” not “fluent”. What does he think “proficient” is? Enough to sort of get along in everyday conversation?

It says his father served in the Gulf War in 1991. This young man may have had a desire to live up to his father’s heroism or whatever, prove himself. I really can’t know, just guessing. He did quit high school to join the army. Well, he succeeded in making Mom and Dad proud of him (although they most likely already were before he went off to Ukraine). Far be it from me to want to take that away from grieving parents. It’s likely he had a good heart, believed in his cause and meant well. And, given the rhetoric of our leaders and the media, thought he was defending freedom and democracy and Western civilization.


84 posted on 02/25/2023 11:59:08 AM PST by CatHerd (Whoever said "All's fair in love and war" probably never participated in either.)
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To: gloryblaze

There are several unifying ideas on this forum: opposing the deep state, anti-WEF, not giving politicians kids mills dollar no-show jobs, anti corruption and staying out of things that are none of our business. Not to mention international faggotry. All of that is what this idiot died for. We are not the same.


85 posted on 02/25/2023 12:07:20 PM PST by nonliberal (Z.)
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To: nonliberal
... Not to mention international faggotry. All of that is what this idiot died for....

I wondered how long before the homo subject would be brought up. Yes, this young man gave up his life in honor of "international faggotry."

Sick.

86 posted on 02/25/2023 12:26:56 PM PST by gloryblaze
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To: BenLurkin

At least he died doing what he loved - being stupid


87 posted on 02/25/2023 12:30:05 PM PST by NWFree (Somebody has to say it 🤪)
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To: BenLurkin

It does look like lipstick but maybe it’s just the way the pic came out


88 posted on 02/25/2023 12:31:23 PM PST by NWFree (Somebody has to say it 🤪)
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To: sweeperboy

And what is with the “all seeing eye” patch?
Freemason Battalion?


89 posted on 02/25/2023 12:36:58 PM PST by SisterK (the final variant is communism)
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To: BenLurkin

No he just has red lips. There are people like that. Always accused of wearing lipstick and I never touched it.


90 posted on 02/25/2023 12:37:00 PM PST by Chickensoup (Genocide is here. Leftist extremists are spearhheading the Genocide against conservatives. )
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To: SisterK

I wondered about that, too. The Eye of Providence is on our dollar bill, so ... maybe they think it’s some sort of American thing, way to identify him as an American? But there’s already the half-American half-Ukrainian flag for that. Unit patch? Can’t mean G-2, surely (despite the all-seeing eye thing). Combat patch?

Any of you military guys out there who can make a better guess? I’m just a civvie.


91 posted on 02/25/2023 1:28:15 PM PST by CatHerd (Whoever said "All's fair in love and war" probably never participated in either.)
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To: BuddhaBrown

Well played. I salute the brave Wisconsin Army, guardians of the strategic cheese resources!


92 posted on 02/25/2023 1:48:38 PM PST by Tax-chick (Zip! Thud. The end.)
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To: gloryblaze

It’s not sick at all. This kid had the wrong priorities and now he’s taking a dirt nap.


93 posted on 02/26/2023 2:51:02 AM PST by nonliberal (Z.)
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