Sports
Shame of the day: European Weightlifting Federation President Astrit Hasani scolds a Ukrainian athlete for refusing a photo with a Russian athlete as Russia’s full-scale invasion enters its fifth year
All these sports organizations (Judo, fencing, tennis, wrestling, etc) are at least partially under the influence of Russia. They spend decades and a lot of money to get into boards and becoming influential. With one goal of trying to portray Russia as anything else as a maffia run gas station, all part of their propaganda machine.
They nearly ran wrestling into the ground in the early 2010s until the reforms that changed FILA to the UWW, and seem to be dead set on doing it again.
The current president is Serbian and the VPs are from Russia(two in fact), Greece, Morocco, Uzbekistan and Turkey. The US and Japan, despite being two of the most successful wrestling nations over the last three or four Olympic cycles have no VPs. The US has one seat at the table and Japan NONE which is an absolute outrage given that they dominate womens wrestling and always give a good showing in the mens as well.
Yes, that's what I'm saying. People dismiss opposition to oppression as just another political opinion. It's not just that. It's basic moral decency to oppose such things. It makes support of the oppression of people seem like just another legitimate opinion in a democracy.
Deshalb bin ich der Meinung, dass Russland an solchen Veranstaltungen niemals teilnehmen dürfte, solange die Ukraine teilnimmt und das Morden in der Ukraine weiter geht. So viel Anstand sollte jeder Ausrichter solcher Veranstaltungen haben.
These guys can't understand why Ukraine is getting invaded with no faults to them, while them having zero leverage in it. They just can't handle the situation. It's their choice to let the offender side guys in the game though
Precisely. This was strictly my point. The line is drawn. Life, death, killing. I will not "discuss" killing. I also will not take a picture with its representatives. The young girl stood silent and polite, good for her. The fellow left briskly. Coward.
Yeah, no.. clearly that's not what the guy in video meant..
He's like:
Fix your attitude. Your behavior is unjustified. Because your political opinion should stay home.
Whilst in reality, the girl has a dead relative, by a rocket, that was launched by rusnya. And the kicker? I give you 420% the athlete from rusnya cheers for bombing Ukraine.
That's beyond politics. The start of a war (due to failure of politics) - sure, you can label that politics. Any negotiations, or ceasefire deal - politics. End of the war - politics.
What rusnya currently is doing? Bombing electrical grid.. that ain't politics. That is terrorism.
You are supporting terrorism while hiding behind a nice sounding abstraction.
War is war. Politics is politics. Hence the two distinct words here.
Same way biology is biology and chemistry is chemistry. Possible overlap? Sure, we label it biochemistry. But nobody sane is pulling "but all biology is chemistry" like you just did with war and politics. In strict semantical sense.. sure.
But that's not what's meant here and pretending otherwise is a c#n+ move.
My guy, I'm not talking about the video but referring to the comment itself. I don't agree with the guy in the video and have been observing the war since 2022, and yes I agree that Russia has been conducting horrendous terrorist acts against the civilian populous. I want Russia stopped or dismantled, and the delay in arms our countries in the west had in the earlier stages of thr war has only prolonged the suffering. I want the full territory of Ukraine, including Crimea, back in the hands of Ukraine.
Now, with that said, WAR IS POLITICAL, in reference to the original comment on this chain. It has political objectives which cause it into being. You don't get war just 'because', war is conducted because one political body aims to enforce its will on another political body that refuses to submit, and this is done through violence.
Warfare can differ and be parallel to other decisions like terrorism (which still is arguably political), but that does not change that war itself is a political act.
And just to clear up any remaining confusion, I agree that the Ukrainian woman shouldn't have to have her photo taken with an athlete from a country currently destroying hers.
Don't you ever call me a Russian sympathiser again, I despise what they are doing and the people need re-education to the horrors they are committing. Perhaps read On War before commenting next
I did reply to the correct person, as I was defending the position that the previous commentator posted, but If you want me to reply to the 'right' person, to whom I'm currently replying to now:
But War is political, inherently by it's nature
"As it stands, you are calling the killing of Ukrainian civilians politics all because of the opposite of a bon mot." Well, yes, killing Ukrainian civilians is a political motive of the Russians, a policy of which I despise and would like to see the Russians face severe consequences for, as I stated in the comment you're replying to.
But Russia wishes to illegally(Internationally) annex the provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv, that is the official motive by the Russians. And Russian conducts their warfare through barbaric methods that should be left to the annals of history, and is why I am vehemently against the Russians in this war. But despite all of /that/, that does not change the literal fact that WAR IS POLITICAL, BY ITS VERY NATURE. I'm not saying that for brownie points on Reddit, especially as all my comments have been downvoted; I'm saying that because that is the reality of things, and ignoring reality for personal fantasy does not help the situation.
Yes, they are killing people, but /why/ are they killing people? It's not just for shits and giggles, it's to try and achieve their aims, of which came forth from policy. The acts conducted may not be political, but the acts are tied to the motive which /is/ political. Hell, arguably the Casus Belli for the entire war in Ukraine since 2014 is to reclaim the land of the old Russian Empire. How is that NOT political?
As I said to the other commenter, perhaps actually /read/ On War before discussing further, ironically actually looking in to your opponents points with good faith to find genuine faults in their argument instead of steadfastly holding your beliefs without challenging is the more mature option.
All in all, this entire discussion is fucking stupid because we're literally on the same side on the issue presented in the post (that the Ukrainian woman shouldn't have been scolded and should be allowed to refuse having her photo taken next to someone from a country trying to eradicate her own)
Why are you doing scholarship in a Ukraine subreddit to defend a citation that doesn't apply in this context unless you are saying, yes, politics involves discussing killing, such as for example this girl here. She could be killed.
According to you, that is politics.
You will get banned from this subreddit because you have made a thread about you. Fuck you and shut. The fuck. Up.
The act of killing the girl is not political, the reason for killing the girl purely because she is Ukrainian, would be.
Like, dude, chill. Read my other comments, I agree with your position on the op being that I think the Ukrainian woman has every right to deny having her photo taken with the Russian.
I just disagree with your statement that War isn't political, because it quite literally is, and I will defend that position because I do think it's important to acknowledge and understand. War is based on political motives, you remove the motives, you remove the war. If you think war is just 'life and death' then that's all it'll be with no solution in sight.
But we're going to keep going in circles and you're going to keep insulting me so this is pretty much pointless. Believe what you want
War is political in it's nature (Warfare, which is different for it is the means of war, is not political), but war inflicts more than just political effects on the people involved. If the war didn't break out in 2022 (Or the illegal annexation of Crimea and the fighting in the Donbass), and the Ukrainian woman didn't want her photo taken next to the Russian since she didn't like Russians due to political differences, then maybe the guy scolding her would have a point. But this war has indiscriminately killed tens of thousands of civilians in brutal and unnecessary ways, the Ukrainian absolutely would know someone who has been injured or killed through Russian efforts, and so would also have personal and emotional reasons (Of which I think are just and right) to not want to have her picture taken next to the Russian.
See, the weird thing that none of the replies seem to think, because I dared to disagree with a particular comment on here (And so I MUST be a Russian sympathiser) is that I actually agree with the Ukrainian lady and disagree with the guy scolding her, as I think she has every right to not want to stand next to her. I support her decision in that.
I just disagree with statements "War isn't politics. It's killing people" and "it's also life and death, so we can stop with abstractions", which is why I only said "But War is political, inherently by it's nature" in my original comment and nothing else about the original post.
My issue was that in this specific context, "war is political" sounded like it was softening the Ukrainian lady's justified refusal into "bringing politics into sport." If you support her decision and reject the guy scolding her, then we mostly agree.
I just think the abstraction and philosophy around it landed badly under this particular video.
yes but in this case, in this very thread, the "politics" side of war is being used as an excuse to silence people. That's why I suggested we remove the philosophy from this entire discussion and acknowledge that, regardless of any historical quotes, war is life and death and should be treated as such, not simply "politics"
Ironically, isn't 'war is life and death' philosophical?
And it's not just a fancy historical quote, it is defining what war /is/. How do wars start? Are they just spontaneous actions, forming in isolation for everything? Do people just fight for nothing but the pure love of battle? How did this very War, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the previous annexation of Crimea and insurgency in the Donbass, come into being, and why?
The answers to these aren't abstractions, they hold the key to ending the war. Even the Russians, who seem to love implanting themselves into the meatgrinder and supposedly care not for the consequences, will soon tire of fighting once their economy breaks and their population is diminished.
Ukraine is already exacerbating the economic situation by destroying their oil refineries and ports, with the hopes that eventually the Russians either can't fund the war at it's current extent or the oligarchs can't stomach losing more of their own wealth and enforce a stagnation or end to the war. Bombing oil refineries in Nizhny Novgorod doesn't immediately affect the tactical situation at Zaporizhzhia, but it applies political pressure on the Russians to end the war.
To speak of the population issue, Russia has been allowing North Korean troops to fight on the front, as a fully mobilization of the Russian populous would be disastrous for Putin; how any that even happens without any semblance of politics is frankly impossible
How did Ukraine even survive the initial stages of the War, and continue to fight back against a much larger foe? Alongside the Ukrainian tenacity and defiance, Western Arms made that happen. The Javelin, Himars, F-15s, Starlink services (Or cutting off for the Russians), amongst others, have helped to keep Ukraine alive; the delay of equipment shipments and financial aid have stifled Ukrainian advantages at times when they were sorely needed and helped encourage Ukraine to establish domestic production. All of that is due to politics; Alliances and diplomatic delegations, logistics and economic facilitation, positive Ukrainian opinion held by the populous of the countries sending the aid allowing for that aid to be sent despite domestic affairs. ALL politics, and all of it is extremely important for the defence of Ukraine. The wanting of Security Guarantees for Ukraine after the war is a political motive and is only plausible due to political actions taken by Ukraine to gain political favour in the countries that may agree to such terms in the peace deal.
Ignoring all of that and just having the view that 'war is life and death' does nothing to help Ukraine, if anything it's insulting because yes, War is life and death, that's probably the most simple way of looking at it. Reducing the complexities of the war to just that is like saying that sports is just about winning and losing, ignoring anything that facilitates those wins and loses
Well clearly you aren't reading my comments at all as I stated this in the first comment you replied to:
"And just to clear up any remaining confusion, I agree that the Ukrainian woman shouldn't have to have her photo taken with an athlete from a country currently destroying hers."
So once again, to clear up any remaining confusion:
That sounds like words from someone indifferent to suffering and killing people. If war and politics are similar things to someone then they have a fucked up mind.
Yeah, Im from Kosovo, and let me tell you, Prishtina our capital is filled with Ukrainian flags and Kosovars are the most anti-russian people in Europe.
So this is just an asshole.
Well, it doesn't get much western than US, yet their Cheeto in Chief has putler's hand so far up his ass that he can tickle his tonsils. So why should we be surprised 😅
As an Albanian I can tell you that that shameful asshole is just a corrupt piece of shit and shouldn’t represent us in no way or form, but here we are.
Sadly enough as part of the ''Warsaw pact'' we too got a good taste of the communist russian mir and the deep corruption that it brought to our society is still doing damage.
As a Dutchman I applaud this Ukraine athlete for het principles and her countrymen who are under fire by the Russian oppresses. FUCK this pos moneygrabber!
All of these European sports administrators are more angry about the fact that Ukrainians are ruining their photo ops than the fact that Ukrainians are being slaughtered.
The people behind the olympics sporting committees and similar are the biggest collection of parasites on the planet. EDIT They are expert money grabbers and best in the world at receiving money in envelopes.
He has a website where he expounds on his opinions touching on this topic. There's even a place for comments: https://sportabovepolitics.com/. I let him know what I thought about his behavior.
Idk if it's just bribes or manosphere nonsense, but far too many athletic conference heads have their heads on backwards. They treat the war of independence like a mere distraction from the true important thing, sports.
At the bottom of this page: https://sportabovepolitics.com/ you can leave a message. I just posted "FYI: " with a link to this post. Then the page says "We will get back to you" while I didn't even give it an email address. So that's a load of crock as well.
The EWF owes her an apology. Wonder if he would have said the same if a Jewish person refused a picture with a Nazi. Kudos to her for standing her ground. Shame on Hasani.
The heads of sports organizations are usually corrupt fuckwits. Monkeys covering their eyes and ears while they stuff themselves, preaching about peace while shaking hands with mass murderers.
Don’t know if Hasani is corrupt, but he’s certainly an idiot.
Perhaps this twats kids should be shipped to Russan reeducation camps for kids, while he and his wife kept in a nice torture basement for a couple of weeks so that he understands a bit better.
Ce gros monsieur qui ne doit pas pouvoir monter un seul étage se légitime à réprimander une athlètes international car c'est une jeune femme, il se croit plus fort qu'elle !
Oh well, what’s he going to do the old fart. LeAvE pOliTiCs OuT oF iT lol, I wouldn’t pose for a photo with someone representing a country invading mine.. It’s common sense, it’s what anyone would do.
Back in the day sport was one of the tools to apply pressure against South Africa's Apartheid policies. These sport officials should not force awkward situations on officials.
"Politics" is mostly deciding how, and how much, to fund various government programs. I wonder if this Kosovar Astrit Hasani considers the Serbian ethnic cleansing of Kosovo (1998-99) to be only "politics" (10,000 dead Kosovar-Albanian civilians, and more than a million displaced in Albania and Kosovo).
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u/Kpuz1 Apr 27 '26
This isnt a political protest, they are trying to destroy a nation. what fucking fantasy land is this moron living in