“Whose side are they on?” Ukraine's Kostyuk rips into Russian players at Roland Garros
Kostyuk, who will next face Russian Mirra Andreeva, said she no longer accepted the argument that Russian athletes could remain silent because of possible repercussions at home.
“There is a way if you don’t agree,” Kostyuk told reporters. “I know some people who have left Russia the moment the war began, who sold all their business, who left everything behind because they just don’t agree with what their country is doing to other people.”
She cited fellow player Daria Kasatkina, who switched her allegiance from Russia to Australia last year, as an example of someone who had publicly spoken out despite pressure on her family.
“I don’t think she lives in Russia anyways, but the majority of players don’t live in Russia,” Kostyuk said. “There is nothing that’s stopping you if this is something you don’t believe in.
“After four years, I think they’ve made it very clear whose side they are on.”
Kostyuk’s comments came after she was asked about remarks from Russian players including Diana Shnaider and Andreeva, who have previously said they focus only on the tennis ball and avoid political discussion.
“They are all grown-ups. They know what they’re talking about. They know what’s going on. They have phones. They have Instagram. They have news,” Kostyuk said.
“I wish there was some more clear stance on what’s going on, especially when your country is killing other people.”
The answer is extremely simple:
In general, why such an idiotic expectation from the Russian people? Are they somehow different than anyone else? Different from McFaul there or any other average American? Anyone else? Don’t reflections come after wars? And usually after a loss?
These expectations are especially strange when directed towards Russian politicians or those wannabes “in exile”. Imagine one saying I stand against Russia, Russia must lose and suffer, etc. Imagine an American saying the US soldiers should be killed by buckets, the country suffer tremendously, etc. This is one if the most idiotic things in this war. There are a few like this from the Russian side - absolute majority of them in Ukraine - they are seen as traitors and pariahs in Russia, as they should because that is normal and expected. It would be a bizarro world if that was not the case.
On the other hand, why wouldn’t this athlete or any other “activist” publicly denounce the actions of the Ukrainian government in the past few weeks regarding the Nazi shenanigans (surely people are aware or I can make some citations to the events that took place). Instead, what I see for the most part is full support and falling in line. Ukrainians (even those I see as reasonable) are arguing with Poles on social media calling the history a hoax and shit that had never happened. Poles are pretty pissed off, by the way. As they should be and so should anyone else. But for some reason most aren’t and, at best, don’t particularly care. Very weird stuff. As long as they are “defending us”, am I right? Laughing. Popular among Poles today:
I think one can also guess why Israel is not overly supportive and any normal Jew, and especially those directly affected by Holocaust (are there many whose families weren’t), would ask the question of “What the fuck?” But Zelensky is a jew, right? Laughing again.
Edit: Mr McFaul doesn’t sleep and provides a… counterpoint, of sorts, to his own arguments:
On this note, what’s with this regular comparison with the nazi Germany? More idiotic stuff from this war. Let’s simply put it this way: with nuclear armed Nazi Germany today, Ukraine (and, more importantly, Ukrainians) would stop existing long ago, shortly after or, most likely, before the invasion. And so would those supporters that did not fall in line. The difference is that obvious. Is it not? This is before even touching on any serious discussion of the subject.
Much confusion and all, McFaul is still a scholar and should get a grip. Like seriously, one has to be a complete idiot to make this comparison seriously. Yet a whole bunch of people who know better constantly do. Complete loss of credibility.
What’s special about McFaul in particular, he was in the position of making a difference, understanding the situation better than others, but he always chose confrontation, promoting some “Russian democracy” instead of understanding the actual issue and Russia in general, while the deterioration of relationship took place.
www.themoscowtimes.com
