idk what anarchists you’re around but all the ones I hang out with are vocally pro Iran even if they dont approve of the Ayatollah on principle - but yh I’d take mls over liberals any day of the week - I feel part of it is that anarchists aren’t a solid block so while some may block shipments other might fight against what they see as oppression that on a geopolitical scale can result in helping colonial forces - idk we’re all imperfect so I hope we can recognize that and through different means still continue to erode imperialism instead of fighting with each other at the benefit of colonizers

yeah that’s fair - but I feel they serve different purposes?

like I see anarchism as a form of counterbalance to state power irrespective of where it is - without needing to be dogmatic

as in undeniably Uruguay is materially much better now than its ever been (while still being at the peak of it’s colonial project even under socialist governance)

same with Bolivia giving relative power to indigenous peoples while improving living conditions even under a corrupt government

neither is perfect but vastly better than western powers seizing their resources and wage enslaving their populations - same goes for other socialist Global South countries

and yet I see the value of anarchist “purity” criticism in that it should continue to challenge all governments when the time is right - even socialist ones - as at the end of the day we all want a stateless society - and until then I dont see why anarchism and socialism can’t strive to achieve that through productive structural tension?

bro wat - I’m yet to see a socialist party group turn up to an anti-fash protest and put themselves in harms way to protect vulnerable groups instead of standing on the side lines selling political newspapers and dipping out as soon as their leaders decide they’d like to go home

Valid, those sources do paint a pretty appalling picture of Ukraine and it’s massive Neo-Nazi problem - I can argue on the specific numbers as they don’t fully reflect what you said but I agree that there are real issues with Azov’s integration, Bandera glorification, and the disproportionate far-right influence.

However, I’d ask you to also acknowledge that Russia has an equally serious neo-Nazi problem that fundamentally undermines the “denazification” justification for the invasion. And I don’t think it’s whataboutism to pointing out that the stated moral basis for the war is hypocritical. And this is clearly established by both Russian state and independent media:

1.Putin himself admitted Wagner PMC was fully state-funded:

• RIA Novosti (Russian state news): Wagner received 86.262 billion rubles from the state budget just from May 2022-May 2023

2.Wagner’s neo-Nazi leadership:

• Wagner founder Dmitry Utkin has documented SS tattoos (InformNapalm)
• Wagner incorporated the openly neo-Nazi “Rusich” group (Meduza)

3.“Rusich” leader Aleksey Milchakov - is an openly psychopathic Nazi:

• He cut off a puppy’s head and ate it when he was 20 while calling himself a Neo-Nazi and posing with swastikas
• And literally yesterday was teaching “Lessons of Courage” in Russian schools and received an offical state certificate for it, while planning “camps for combat training of children and teenagers” (Zona Media and the actual Telegram message with a certificate from the Государственное бюджетное образовательное учреждение - ГБОУ - an official State Budgetary Educational Institution)

4.Neo-Nazi Russian Imperial Movement (RIM) founder Denis Gariyev received at least 15 million rubles worth of government contracts from Russia’s FSB, FSO, and Ministry of Internal Affairs

• And it goes without saying that they are a pro russian-imperialist entity as clearly stated in their Вконтакте page: https://m.vk.com/imper_legion

5.Putin’s contradictions:

• Even during Wagner’s mutiny, while calling Prigozhin a traitor, Putin called Wagner fighters “heroes who liberated Soledar and Artyomovsk” fighting for “the unity of the Russian World” (Life.ru)
• After Prigozhin’s death, Putin praised Wagner’s “significant contribution to our common cause of fighting the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine”

So my point overall: Ukraine absolutely has a far-right problem that needs addressing and the US and Europe are propping them up as they align with their neoliberal and geopolitical values. But Russia claiming to “denazify” Ukraine while:

• Fully funding Wagner
• Wagner being founded by a neo-Nazi with SS tattoos
• Incorporating openly neo-Nazi “Rusich” into military operations
• Allowing neo-Nazi Milchakov to teach Russian children
• Giving government contracts to neo-Nazis

…makes “denazification” a cynical propaganda justification rather than a genuine moral concern.

So I think if we’re serious about being anti-imperialist we have to recognize that if it’s bad for neolibs to use Nazis in Ukraine for their imperial interests then it’s also bad for Russia to use Nazis for their own imperialist goals.

It’s possible for two imperialist forces to be bad - and you can then start comparing which is worse but at that point you’re doing imperialist apologia which imo isn’t a serious critique for a socialist to be doing.

These are a lot of assertions that you’ve stated as fact without any proof - can you provide independent non-government sanctioned sources for your claims?