They are so pro-Russian it’s crazy. I dont get it, so they are basically like a US MAGA movement … except they like Communist China and the Communist Russian party.
There’s tankies in my country who literally believe “South China Sea” belongs to Mainland China.
I distinctly remember the days just before the Russian invasion in a subreddit that is full of Russian bots. They were dismissing the potential Russian invasion as Western hysteria. And for once, I was inclined to agree because after the lies to invade Iraq, I was skeptical of CIA assessment. Moreover, it is utterly stupid to invade a group of people who historically hate their previous imperial masters. That’s like Britain invading India and Ireland again and expecting the British to be welcomed in open arms.
But then the unthinkable actually happened-- Russia did invade. However, Ukrainians valiantly held themselves and embarrassed the Russians, and doing so to this day.
The Russian bots in the subreddit I mentioned have immediately gone quiet after the invasion and haven’t posted for a couple of days. The anti-Kremlin posts during that time were not getting any push back. Like the actual Russian soldiers who were not informed that the invasion will actually happen, the bots and their handlers themselves were also surprised, and they were waiting for marching orders on what talking points to propagandise. The bots returned with precisely the talking points you just summarised. But at the same time with predictable pattern since then, Russian bots go quiet whenever Russia suffer embarrassing setbacks such as the Russian withdrawal from Kyiv, the 2021 Kharkov and Kherson liberation, Ukraine’s invasion into Kursk, and now the destruction of Russia’s fleet of bomber planes.
My favorite was when they were saying Ukraine was full of Nazis, so it’s ok if they get invaded.
Renowned tankie Joseph Robinette Biden (and other foreign policy experts) was warning already back in 97 that NATO expansion would lead to a violent Russian response. That’s well before he went senile and was elected president. So maybe the third row of the picture should move to the top.
What nato expansion
I hate the ‘the West prolongs the war by supplying weapons’ take that I’ve also seen being uttered. Fuck right off, Russia prolongs the war each day they spend in Ukraine.
I somehow never hear anybody say that the allied countries prolonged WW2 by taking up arms against Germany. We even celebrate that fact each year. Mindboggling mental gymnastics on how we could do the same for another country, but now intervention is suddenly a bad thing.
“Doctors prolong the illness by providing medicine for an otherwise deadly disease.”
The west has definitely prolonged the war, but only by being pansies about what weapons we supplied Ukraine and how they were allowed to use them
Avoiding global nuclear annihilation is typically a good move.
Hey how about you empty your bank account and give it to me?
If you don’t I’ll press the nuclear annihilation button.
- You don’t have any nukes
- No
How did you know I wouldn’t destroy the entire world, including myself, for your minuscule possessions?
If only this lesson could be applied somehow to global political theory…
If Russia was going to drop nukes, they would have already done so the past several hundred times they threatened to do so. It’s all saber rattling.
That’s pretty easy to say in hindsight.
The current tankie take to justify the war to avoid just accepting that Russia is conducting imperialism is that Ukraine is a Nazi country. That’s it, no nuance, nothing. It’s a Nazi country that needs to be liberated. No, you’re not allowed to ask any follow up questions. You can get that straight from Cowbee along with 19 pages of bullshit . It’s their current meta.
Ive seen multible arguments on how commies never commited a single crime against humanity since everyone who is not a commie is a nazi.
I heard the same type of bullshit on social media up to the January 6th insurrection.
Some tankie argued me that the Crimean bridge bombings were unethical and illegal because is somehow “civilian infrarestructure” like WTF dude.
These are right wing Nazi statements, not tankies
Same shit, slightly different logo.
Indeed. Which is why it is so odd that the tankies are constantly uncritically regurgitating them.
Potato potato.
Tankies are morons.
Who said any of this with any seriousness? Aside from the NATO point, I’ve heard that. But all the ‘tankie’ vs ‘anti-tankie’ posting to me is exhausting and continously strawmanning and a massive waste of energy. It’s hard to see a single opinion that would be changed by these sorts of posts, it’s only antagonism. So what is your goal for posting it?
Have you been to .ml at all?
totally common talking points from fans of Scott Ritter, Glen Greenwald, The Greyzone, George Galloway, Tim Pool, etc, they’re all aligned on these points they get from their Kremlin sources.
Who said any of this with any seriousness?
Christ, do you not remember the build-up to the 2022 invasion?
But all the ‘tankie’ vs ‘anti-tankie’ posting to me is exhausting and continously strawmanning and a massive waste of energy.
“It’s continuously strawmanning”
to point out the points literally paraded by tankies?
“and a massive waste of energy”
Not sure how much energy you think posting a meme takes up.
It’s hard to see a single opinion that would be changed by these sorts of posts, it’s only antagonism. So what is your goal for posting it?
Venting?
Public awareness? Since apparently there are an endless stream of people like you who are not aware of tankies saying shite like this?
I’m not trying to convince red fascists. That would be as futile as trying to convince any other fascist.
Christ, do you not remember the build-up to the 2022 invasion?
To be fair I don’t remember the build up that well because my mom was dying.
I’m saying it’s strawmanning because I am on hexbear frequently that’s called a tankie hive, I read .ml posts and comments which is called a tankie hive, I see users quoted that are called ‘tankies’ but rarely does anyone else even agree with them, being a small minority view if they say something like Russia or China can never do any bad. Or just entirely misunderstood. Things like homophobia and racism in countries like Russia are critiqued plenty even by people who think these countries are fighting against western imperialism.
One meme isn’t a lot of energy but it seems to take up a decent amount of space in your view, but to me it just seems a lot more rare than people that complain about it think.
I’m saying it’s strawmanning because I am on hexbear frequently that’s called a tankie hive, I read .ml posts and comments which is called a tankie hive, I see users quoted that are called ‘tankies’ but rarely does anyone else even agree with them
That is a big fat lie. And you know it.
It really is my experience, link me to or screencap what you consider a ‘tankie’ post.
I’m saying it’s strawmanning because I am on hexbear frequently that’s called a tankie hive,
Man, I can go to the front fucking page of Hexbear right now and grab half-a-dozen insane statements along the lines of meme shit I post here.
One meme isn’t a lot of energy but it seems to take up a decent amount of space in your view, but to me it just seems a lot more rare than people that complain about it think.
Fuck’s sake, people parroting all four of those stated positions have been major parts of the Western opposition to the Russo-Ukrainian War since 2022, and have only been getting louder. Die Linke in Germany literally split over the fucking issue.
Can you give me those examples? I want to know what is considered ‘tankie’, the discourse seriously fascinates me because it’s hard for me to see a consistent definition. It’s said to be authoritarian communists but what is seen as authoritarian is subjective. Some people say taxes are authoritarian.
Can you give me those examples?
First page on Hexbear currently includes:
80 years ago today, a German civilian looks at a large portrait of Stalin on the Unter-den-Linden in Berlin.
Posting from a tabloid that is quite literally run by the CCP
Putin ‘worrying’ NATO
and praise for Hasan Piker
Tell me what is wrong with Hasan? I don’t follow him much but he’s seemed pretty good. Maybe it’s changed since then because I don’t see those examples, but I found the “CCP” tabloid, the article is summarizing the 2025 Democracy Perception Index by Nira Data which has been cited in articles by Politico, Newsweek and is widely trusted.
DPI is an annual poll conducted in joint with the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, which was founded by Anders Rasmussen, former Prime Minister of Denmark and NATO secretary general.
It has some quotes from a Chinese professor but I don’t see anything disagreeable with the article.
Over the past few months, the US has adopted beggar-thy-neighbor policies, protectionism, unilateralism, and a series of bullying practices in its foreign policy, which are both incomprehensible and unacceptable, Li said, as a result, the US’ image and influence in global affairs have declined.
Why wouldn’t Putin worry NATO, Russia has nuclear weapons and is fighting a brutal war against a western backed nation, I don’t see that example but what does that have to do with tankies?
Tell me what is wrong with Hasan?
… I hope this is genuine ignorance, because Hasan is a dedicated CCP bootlicker and an open accelerationist who has said that America ‘deserved’ 9/11. Not coincidentally, also common views amongst Hexbears.
Why wouldn’t Putin worry NATO, Russia has nuclear weapons and is fighting a brutal war against a western backed nation, I don’t see that example but what does that have to do with tankies?
Tankies constantly echo whatever “RUSSIA STRONK, WEST SCARED AND WEAK” shite they can get their hands on. Do I have to quote Hexbear comments on the Ukrainian War next?
“but Putin says the people living in those border regions are majority ‘ethnic Russian’ so invading is okay”
Stalin used a similar justification for invading Poland
How’d my in-laws get on the internet?
You forgot “it’s not a war, it’s a special military operation!”
No no!! A 3 day special military operation.
You have misunderstood, it’s 3 years (https://sh.itjust.works/post/39338196), and soon 1 million russians hurt or dead, I wonder when the population will wake up.
Also, something something de-nazification
