Ukrainian Olympian and two-time European champion Oleksandr Pielieshenko has died on the frontlines of Russia's war in Ukraine at age 30.
      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
        21·
        8 months ago

        Politicians hide themselves away

        They only started the war

        Why should they go out to fight?

        They leave that role to the poor, yeah

        Time will tell on their power minds

        Making war just for fun

        Treating people just like pawns in chess

        Wait till their judgement day comes, yeah!

        • Skua@kbin.social
          351·
          8 months ago

          The Ukrainian government clearly reckons that famous people getting special treatment is worse

        • acargitz@lemmy.caEnglish
          1·
          8 months ago

          Never heard of a thing called a “celebrated war hero” and what it can do for the morale of ordinary conscripts?

          • Adanisi@lemmy.zipEnglish
            31·
            8 months ago

            Is well-known Olympic athletes being blown up… good for morale?

            • fuckingkangaroos@lemm.eeEnglish
              3·
              8 months ago

              Im not talking about this specific situation, I’m talking about Lemmy.ml and it’s constant bias and propaganda.

              I want the fediverse to succeed, and I think that’s the biggest problem currently standing in it’s way. I don’t even tell anyone I use it yet because it’s too embarrassing.

              • AeonFelis@lemmy.worldEnglish
                21·
                8 months ago

                I’m confused. I thought lemmy.ml was like lemmy.world and lemm.ee - one of these big “general purpose” instances that new users would pick if they don’t have a specific reason to pick a “specialized” instance? Since when they did become warring factions?

                • Cavemanfreak@lemm.eeEnglish
                  2·
                  8 months ago

                  .ml is full of Marxist/Leninists, and while they are not as full on crazy tankies as most users from hexbear, they generally tend to skew that way. Not everyone, but there’s a theme.

                • barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
                  3·
                  8 months ago

                  lemmy.ml is where all the tankies from lemmygrad.ml have their alts. It’s also run by the same people and their worldnews community is a joke moderation-wise, as in you can catch a ban for pointing something out the linked article itself states if it doesn’t vibe with the mod’s tankie narrative (say, that Ukraine isn’t claiming Russian territories it describes as “historically Ukrainian” for itself, it’s just calling them historically Ukrainian because that’s what they are).

                  lemm.ee OTOH has some rules tankies might occasionally run afoul of. Also our admin is Estonian, traditionally not a people particularly enamoured with Russian imperialism.

                  lemmy.ml once was a default instance, before the reddit exodus it was the only big one, but it seems users are draining off of it because, well, see above.

      • alcoholicorn@lemmy.mlEnglish
        96·
        8 months ago

        In both cases, they were seen as subversives who reactionaries were glad to be rid of.

        It’s not an automatic system, they stood in front of a draft board who ruled they’ll either join the army or go to prison.

        • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          1·
          8 months ago

          I’m too old and a foreign national, but since my late teen years I was committed to doing a ted nugent if it came to it.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
        51·
        8 months ago

        Ali was convicted of draft dodging when he very publicly burned his draft card and refused enlistment. He was arrested, in Houston, after repeatedly refusing to acknowledge his name during induction. Then he spent the next eight months fighting the charge of draft dodging as a conscientious objector, ultimately appealing and winning his defection in a SCOTUS decision. Along the way, all his titles were revoked.

        Presley got an absolute sweetheart deal and spent his two years “at war”, living in a West German hotel, recording for RCA in his ample downtime, getting addicted to amphetamines thanks to a ahem helpful senior officer, and then being discharged with honors after being promoted to sergeant as part of a giant photo-op.

        It does not look like Pielieshenko’s experiences were comparable in either respect.

        • chemicalprophet@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          8 months ago

          Rather irrelevant to the original question. Any man can be drafted, whether they go or not is another question we aren’t addressing here. But thanks for that history brush up!

  • Pistcow@lemm.eeEnglish
    1361·
    8 months ago

    Maybe ban Russia from the Olympics? Totally, none of this Russian Olympic committee bullshit.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      62·
      8 months ago

      Maybe ban Russia from the Olympics?

      They’re already banned from the Olympics. Their athletes compete under the “Olympic Athletes from Russia” banner and represented by the Olympic Flag.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
          41·
          8 months ago

          That gets tricky, because there are a number of other Russian nationals competing under different national banners.

          Israel has welcomed the highest number of athletes, with 25 former Russian athletes now competing under the Israeli flag. Serbia followed closely with 19 athletes, while Germany and France attracted 13 and 12 athletes respectively.

          Would all these athletes also become banned?