this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2025
864 points (98.0% liked)
Political Memes
9954 readers
664 users here now
Welcome to politcal memes!
These are our rules:
Be civil
Jokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.
No misinformation
Don’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.
Posts should be memes
Random pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.
No bots, spam or self-promotion
Follow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.
No AI generated content.
Content posted must not be created by AI with the intent to mimic the style of existing images
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Many tankies are apologetic of Russian imperialism as well.
I think they're just in a cult though, which is the only explanation for why they all seem to be trying to be as difficult to communicate with as possible, as if they're all trying to get people to hate whatever they're pretending to stand for which they also rarily can elaborate on.
I’ve been accused of being a tankie before and I don’t think my accuser even knew what they meant by tankie. We certainly weren’t discussing the USSR’s decision to send in tanks to Hungary in the 1950’s, which is where the term originated.
I am also not a supporter of Putin’s war of aggression, although I do understand why he thought the war was necessary, and agree that those reasons are real (not saying that the war was necessary, just saying that Putin is not a lunatic). I also offer critical support to any country that takes a stand against the western hegemony, particularly if their stance is against the capitalist exploitation perpetrated by the west around the world, since I am a communist.
However, never has a person who uses the term “tankie” ever actually engaged in an open discussion about those beliefs. “Tankie” is a conversation ender that kills all subsequent thought the minute someone throws it out.
With those experiences, is it any wonder that people you call tankies don’t engage in conversation with you? Why would they, when they have no expectation of even being heard?
Yeah, you're not a tankie. I've seen people on here essentially saying Russia is doing completely normal things right now, definitely not corrupt, and it's citizens are not being lied to. They're tankies
And yet I’ve been banned from certain comms that have no tankies rules simply for stating I’m a communist. That’s why I say it’s a thought-killer. People who use tankie generally don’t allow themselves to see any nuance around anything that has any whiff of communism. (Which is getting a little off topic, as Russia definitely has nothing to do with communism now.)
Since you understand the Russian POV that big countries have spheres of influence that they control and little countries do not have agency, then you obviously also agree that the Americas are within the US sphere of influence and understand why they did all the coups that they did (not saying they were necessary, just saying that the US is not any more imperialist than Russia)?
That’s a nice straw man, but not at all representative of the Russian POV. In their minds, they are America during the Cuban missile crisis. NATO, an organization that has positioned itself expressly as enemies of Russia, has been building up military presence on Russia’s doorstep. Simultaneously, following the Maidan coup, Russian nationals were targeted for oppression by far-right Ukrainian state elements as well as Nazi paramilitaries. Those are Russia’s stated reasons for the war, and they are based on facts.
Now, I don’t think those reasons justify a war of aggression, and Ukraine’s Nazi problem largely seems to be resolved, especially since Zelenskyy took power, but those are the real reasons the war started.
Pretty incomparable to the USA’s interventions, whose targets never posed a threat to American lives or national security.