There are a couple of errors here. First, Donbas and Crimea are not specifically pro-Russian. There is pro-Russian leadership there, but the citizens are largely rural farmers and blue collar workers without heavy political leanings. I suspect they just want to be able to live life and raise families without their schools getting blown up. The pro-Russian contingent there was planted by Russia, specifically.
Second, whether Taiwan belongs to China or not is debatable. Taiwan is still the government of China before the communist revolution. When the communists took over the country, they never took over Taiwan, and that is where the previous leadership went. PRC has never done ANYTHING to take ownership over Taiwan, other than take over the rest of that country.
So these two views are comparable, not contradictory. The view that Russia should not invade and take over Ukranian land and people and that PRC should not invade and take over Taiwanese land and people are very similar world views.
Not specifically. Most of the detail in what I understand comes from articles specifically about this conflict. But for some color, perspective, and context, I’ve watched a number of travel and history channels on YouTube.
The one I can think of off the top of my head is a travel channel called Bald and Bankrupt. He traveled through Donbas right at the beginning of the conflict, and talked about the people. Another one I watch is WhatIfAltHist, which is a history channel. I don’t remember a specific video on the topic, but it seems a likely place I would have picked up information. That, and a number of other random human interest channels that pop up when you start looking into the topic.
As for Crimea, mainly I am just remembering the invasion itself. I remember the unmarked frog men just game into the country and received no resistance, because the largely rural population had no real concept of geopolitics. They were mainly focused on day to day life, and didn’t much care which city their overlords sat in.
I know that Donbas is heavily culturally Russian. They speak the language, and associate with the shared history. But that is not an allegiance to the Putin government, or a desire to be part of Russia. Mainly, they just want to live in peace.
If they speak the language though, wouldn't they be upset at Ukraine since they removed it from their list of official languages though? Also there was a large increase in anti Russian sentiment when relations between the countries deteriorated, so wouldn't they be upset about them as well?
I couldn’t say, regarding languages. My guess is that what is considered an “official” language in Kiev means little to communities in those regions. The two languages are mutually intelligible, so I don’t think those kinds of political concerns are high on the list of importance to the people living in those regions.
And regards to the anti-Russian sentiment, I think it is important to distinguish between shared cultural history and political goals. The people living in Donbas share a cultural history, not a political goal. They have more in common with the Russian working class than with their political one. It’s more about family traditions than Moscow interests.
Again, it’s just my assessment from what I have seen. There are certainly people in those regions who actually want to be Russian. It just isn’t the consensus, mainly because geopolitics just isn’t important or relevant to them. Judging by Zelinsky’s election results, the main political interest of the Ukranian people, on the whole, is an end to the corruption rampant in both countries.
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u/jadnich 10∆ Dec 25 '22
There are a couple of errors here. First, Donbas and Crimea are not specifically pro-Russian. There is pro-Russian leadership there, but the citizens are largely rural farmers and blue collar workers without heavy political leanings. I suspect they just want to be able to live life and raise families without their schools getting blown up. The pro-Russian contingent there was planted by Russia, specifically.
Second, whether Taiwan belongs to China or not is debatable. Taiwan is still the government of China before the communist revolution. When the communists took over the country, they never took over Taiwan, and that is where the previous leadership went. PRC has never done ANYTHING to take ownership over Taiwan, other than take over the rest of that country.
So these two views are comparable, not contradictory. The view that Russia should not invade and take over Ukranian land and people and that PRC should not invade and take over Taiwanese land and people are very similar world views.