I guess Belarus indeed is to the west of Russia…

Sadly, a whole bunch of people who’ve eaten up Russian propaganda do give a fuck.

Just checked, there was a better scan at Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hiroshige,_Asakusa_ricefields_and_torinomachi_festival,_1857.jpg

Honestly, considering how unprepared the service seems to have been for a legal fight, now I just hope the devs will get out unscathed.

a high up in the Russian military

Why this specifically? Oh, right, because the narrative actually was widely peddled by Russian propaganda and its closest ally Belarus/Lukashenko: https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/1498185064617762816 (“3-4 days at most”)

So you have to raise the standards in order to save Russian propaganda from its own arrogance and delusions. Nice try, but no.

The mods of that community have to work overtime

Lmao, please! Maybe they should consider holding a strike until their “working” conditions improve? Or at least demand a raise? 🤣

Had that one in mind myself. I wanted to post a thread when Xcancel/Nitter shut down for good (it was initially announced they would close it due to being sued by Twitter, then they reopened for a few days, and closed again). There was no news articles about it at the time, so there was nothing to link to, even though many users would find it worth knowing about.

In general I suspect that community is undermoderated.

That’s nothing unusual for a user who excused pedophilia and posted a fascist dogwhistle.

Most people across the world, when following news, don’t check Reuters, BBC and AP. They’re all in English and pay little attention to more narrow national news outside US/UK.

I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re refering to as burek, is in fact, burek sa mesom, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, burek plus meso. Burek is not a food unto itself, but rather another component of a fully functioning dish made useful by the meat, onions, and the cook’s hair comprising an oily, vein-clogging meal.

Russians also move to Kazakhstan

This is not a “pro-Russia” stance

Saying stuff that nearly perfectly aligns with the official Russian narrative and military goals, and yet mechanically insisting that your stance is not pro‐Russian, is just not terribly convincing.

it’s a deliberate wish to end the war as soon as possible with as little bloodshed as possible. This is pure “peace is war” doublespeak on your part.

There’s at least one other option to end the war as soon as possible – having Russia cease the invasion. But in the pro‐Russian narrative, that option is not on the table, since the invasion was justified and necessary. It is not Russia that you want to see giving up, but Ukraine.

A ceasefire that gives concessions to a genocidal aggressor that is likely to attack again afterwards to get the rest of what it wanted is a pretty worthless peace, there’s nothing doublespeak about that conclusion. E.g. I also wouldn’t be advising Stalin to go beg Hitler for a ceasefire and giving concessions to the Third Reich while the Wehrmacht was encircling Leningrad, even though continuing and properly ending the war would and in fact did cost hundreds of thousands of lives – as tragic as it was, it was the correct decision, rather than some grotesque peace treaty. So spare me this selective pacifism.

Per DSA:

We also oppose US and NATO military interventionism and the tens of billions in military aid and weapons shipments which only further exacerbates the war and undermine a negotiated settlement, as well as sanctions that will harm ordinary Russians.

So, pretty much as I said. Let Russia win and call it the anti‐war position, lol.

Ukraine is getting hollowed out for parts by western countries

Ohhh, evil western exploiters… Unlike the humane Russia that wouldnt hollow it out at all.

None of this position is based on support for Russia as a founding reason

It might not be the founding reason, but the outcome is the same.

https://xkcd.com/2071/

I mean, the French are named after a Germanic tribe but they’re not Germanic, Bulgarians are Slavs even though they’re named after a Turkic tribe, and Macedonians are Slavs who are named after an ancient Greek kingdom.

Names have weird histories and shouldn’t be treated literally.

the anti-war activists

Putting aside the fact that OP’s idea is a vile edgy fantasy, this “anti‐war activism” is frequently a veneer for this narrative: US is effectively solely at fault, Russia’s invasion is justified, the west should stop aiding Ukraine and let Russia win. This is the position I’ve seen from .ml users.

And it’s not easy to not see that as indeed being pro‐Russian.

It’s not my work, I don’t want to (and don’t have much of a right to) meddle with it. If I even thought of updating it to my tastes, I’d do everything differently, far from changing just one word. Art can’t be updated.

The interesting part is, to me, how a few details do seem not at all outdated, despite many others being grating.

I must admit, now I understand even more clearly why the author deleted all of her work off the internet…

The comic was pretty popular back in the day, the minimal empty style had its charm, and worked well with the themes.

I suspect the comic’s notion of “nerd” is just outdated. Or off the mark. Either way, the actual criticisms don’t apply to what we call nerds, but to something else, others have pointed out the better word would be tech bros.

I’m kind of repeating myself, but the comic is pretty old (before 2014), and I think the culture and words’ meanings have shifted a bit in the meantime.

The comic is from >10 years ago (ran 2007‐2014).