>> ... isn't there a good chance that Ukraine will tilt hard right into more Nazi-sympathetic ideology in the upcoming years?
Short answer. No.
Instead of just lazily adopting narratives pushed by Putin-friendly propagandists or that small cohort within the anti-war community that seem willing to accept elements of this propaganda because it fits nicely into an all-encompassing anti-western worldview, it might be more useful to actually spend some time in Ukraine or mingle with actual Ukrainians. Ukrainians, especially in the urban areas (which, as is elsewhere, is pretty much where most of the population lives), are a pretty diverse group politically and, in my experience, tend to skew more to the liberal side of that spectrum. No, as a people they are not Nazis. They are not sympathetic to Nazis. They are not likely to become Nazis.
Forgive the virulence of the longer answer. I was probably triggered more by the style than the substance. I've had enough of the "just asking questions" rhetorical style so popular with the alt-right friendly chattering class. Accepting this practice of hiding wild accusations in a long stream of leading questions without providing any supporting evidence is how we got to where we are today. Please stop normalizing this.
Springing off the Platner tattoo origin---if we presume it's possible to go into random parlors in certain eastern European countries like Ukraine or Croatia, and that the world, including Europe, is facing a general rightward shift in politics, isn't there a good chance that Ukraine will tilt hard right into more Nazi-sympathetic ideology in the upcoming years?
1. Putin hates Nazis---imagine a scenario similar to the Republican chatlogs, where the counter party embraces vice signaling to "own the libs/Putin-apologists." Men of Ukraine fought side-by-side with Nazis against evil Russia, so could Nazis really be that bad compared to the enemy killing their countrymen today?
2. Resentment for the golden child of the US, Israel---for those living in Ukraine, would it not be straightforward to blame the endless war on the US failing to provide missiles and armaments while it showers "the chosen people" with whatever they ask for? Furthermore, armaments being used against Gazan civilians to destroy homes with whom a Ukrainian living under Russian bombardment could sympathize? Ukrainians that believe/hope the war could have been ended early and saved hundreds of thousands of lives will have to lay blame at Biden, the United States "face of the left-Democratic party" for not providing sufficient aid and instead drip-feeding the war into eternity.
3. When the war is over, the population remaining in Ukraine will assuredly require the import of foreign workers/immigrants for reconstruction for a devasted and poor country that must replenish hundreds of thousands of men---will the youth fall into the same xenophobia and hunger for national pride and leadership that Germany did post WW1 as they see the country and neighborhoods they remembered disappear and replaced with strange accents and neighbors? The country will be in the financial hole with some (many?) of the supplies and weapons it required over the course of the war being given under loans and not as free gifts, and the decision to prioritize drafting older men first (to avoid drafting young sons of Ukraine) making the economic recovery difficult due to losing quite literally millions of years of work experience across the 100,000's of lives lost, which again will almost assuredly require an influx of foreign faces to fill the gaps. Are there instances in history where a combination of poor economic conditions and the influx of immigrants have ever created a leftward and liberal shift in a country's politics?
Alan Sherrill asked:
>> ... isn't there a good chance that Ukraine will tilt hard right into more Nazi-sympathetic ideology in the upcoming years?
Short answer. No.
Instead of just lazily adopting narratives pushed by Putin-friendly propagandists or that small cohort within the anti-war community that seem willing to accept elements of this propaganda because it fits nicely into an all-encompassing anti-western worldview, it might be more useful to actually spend some time in Ukraine or mingle with actual Ukrainians. Ukrainians, especially in the urban areas (which, as is elsewhere, is pretty much where most of the population lives), are a pretty diverse group politically and, in my experience, tend to skew more to the liberal side of that spectrum. No, as a people they are not Nazis. They are not sympathetic to Nazis. They are not likely to become Nazis.
Forgive the virulence of the longer answer. I was probably triggered more by the style than the substance. I've had enough of the "just asking questions" rhetorical style so popular with the alt-right friendly chattering class. Accepting this practice of hiding wild accusations in a long stream of leading questions without providing any supporting evidence is how we got to where we are today. Please stop normalizing this.
Springing off the Platner tattoo origin---if we presume it's possible to go into random parlors in certain eastern European countries like Ukraine or Croatia, and that the world, including Europe, is facing a general rightward shift in politics, isn't there a good chance that Ukraine will tilt hard right into more Nazi-sympathetic ideology in the upcoming years?
1. Putin hates Nazis---imagine a scenario similar to the Republican chatlogs, where the counter party embraces vice signaling to "own the libs/Putin-apologists." Men of Ukraine fought side-by-side with Nazis against evil Russia, so could Nazis really be that bad compared to the enemy killing their countrymen today?
2. Resentment for the golden child of the US, Israel---for those living in Ukraine, would it not be straightforward to blame the endless war on the US failing to provide missiles and armaments while it showers "the chosen people" with whatever they ask for? Furthermore, armaments being used against Gazan civilians to destroy homes with whom a Ukrainian living under Russian bombardment could sympathize? Ukrainians that believe/hope the war could have been ended early and saved hundreds of thousands of lives will have to lay blame at Biden, the United States "face of the left-Democratic party" for not providing sufficient aid and instead drip-feeding the war into eternity.
3. When the war is over, the population remaining in Ukraine will assuredly require the import of foreign workers/immigrants for reconstruction for a devasted and poor country that must replenish hundreds of thousands of men---will the youth fall into the same xenophobia and hunger for national pride and leadership that Germany did post WW1 as they see the country and neighborhoods they remembered disappear and replaced with strange accents and neighbors? The country will be in the financial hole with some (many?) of the supplies and weapons it required over the course of the war being given under loans and not as free gifts, and the decision to prioritize drafting older men first (to avoid drafting young sons of Ukraine) making the economic recovery difficult due to losing quite literally millions of years of work experience across the 100,000's of lives lost, which again will almost assuredly require an influx of foreign faces to fill the gaps. Are there instances in history where a combination of poor economic conditions and the influx of immigrants have ever created a leftward and liberal shift in a country's politics?
He’s toast!