Kharkiv Is Now in Ukraine

The Spanish newspaper El Pais is on a stupid streak. An article on the Russian writer and notorious neo-Nazi Limonov says that he “grew up in Kharkiv which is now located in Ukraine.” I grew up in Kharkiv and I can assure you that it was always in Ukraine. When Ukraine was part of the USSR, Kharkiv was still in Ukraine.

Kharkiv was founded in 1654 by a famous Ukrainian Cossack Kharko with the purpose of defending Ukraine’s borders. It was a major seat of Ukrainian Cossacks since the beginning of its existence and never identified as anything but a Ukrainian city. Nobody ever tried to claim it was anything but a Ukrainian city.

Today, the Russian-speaking Kharkiv is completely pro-Ukrainian. Russia smuggled propagandists and agitators across the border a few times but Kharkivites kicked their asses. Recently, Kharkivites became famous for a funny and obscene anti-Putin chant that became known all over the world. For instance, you could hear Algerian soccer fans chanting it during the World Cup.

Saying that “Kharkiv is now located in Ukraine” is as stupid as saying that “Madrid is now located in Spain.”

Is there any reason why mainstream journalists are not doing even a superficial online search before publishing garbage?

15 thoughts on “Kharkiv Is Now in Ukraine

  1. There used to be a category of workers in journalism called fact checkers. They supported the work of editors by checking content for accuracy. Of course, they are unnecessary now. We all know that everything printed on the Internet is true, right? 🙂

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    1. So I’m guessing you missed that famous text of his where he talked about the master race and the inferior races? It was posted on his website and then he removed it when the outcry began to be too great. Now he’s speechifying about the need to exterminate all blacks at every public event.

      As for a great writer, he did write a couple of good short stories about 30 years ago but since them he’s gone completely deranged and his ridiculous, garbled writings are the butt of every joke in Russia.

      Some fan you are not even to know that Limonov openly identifies as a Nazi.

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  2. I’m reminded of the Scarlet Pimpernel

    They seek it here, they seek it there,
    Those Spaniards seek it everywhere.
    Is it in the mountains or a fruited plain?
    That damned elsuive Kharkiv, Ukraine..

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  3. Have you read “Limonov,” the bestseller by Emmanuel Carrère?
    The book had all the literary prizes in France, and has sold 300,000 copies.
    IT has been translated into more than 20 languages​​, with great success in all countries.
    Here is an excerpt of the book in its Russian translation :
    http://blog.thankyou.ru/emmanuel-karrer-limonov-fragment-iz-knigi/
    And the critic of the book by Olga Matich, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of California, Berkeley ( in russian ) :
    http://www.tout-sur-limonov.fr/334947279

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    1. I have actually read Limonov, and quite a lot, so I don’t need to read about Limonov. The guy is a neo-Nazi and I’m not in the least bit surprised that his brand of neo-Nazism is being celebrated in France.

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  4. Limonov has lived in France from 1980 to 1993, where he wrote a dozen important books.
    All those who knew him know that he is not a neo nazi, but a leftist.
    And many biographies on his legendary life will be written over the world, and long after his death.

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    1. Have you at least tried reading the link I provided? It is beyond ridiculous that anybody would deny something so well-known. Legendary life, jeez. The guy is a total creepazoid. he had some glimmers of literary talent decades ago but now that is long dead. Have you read his recent poetry?

      “I will arise, tall and proud, with my greying hair and I will drag a young broad to my place. . .”

      Yes, what a legendary hero.

      I’m sorry for France.

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  5. Yes I read your links and many many many other articles on Limonov.
    And I’ve read all his books translated into French and English, and the latest in Russian, with the help of Google Trad.
    This is my main activity for 3 years: I spend several hours a day.
    I found that there were many errors and prejudices Limonov on Russia in intellectual circles.
    This man is judged superficially: Critical only interested in appearances ..

    A quote from Zakhar Prilepin to think about:

    “Eduard Limonov is a much more important figure in Russian literature today, and more broadly for the whole society Solzhenitsyn, for example, or Axionov.
    Figure far greater than that of his contemporaries who have some time overshadowed Limonov: I mean Brodsky (Nobel Prize for Literature 1987) or Dovlatov.
    In Limonov have found a lot of things together – these things sorely lacking lately.

    It is of extreme modernity. His thought is fast and unforgiving. Limonov is brave. It is in the tradition of the great Russian literary school. He does not just write beautiful texts, it also builds his destiny.

    Ie we see in him a man as big as the writer.

    We have not yet measured the full extent of his personality: men are often hollow, fearful and envious.

    Recognize the existence quietly next to you of a great man is also a gift. Few possess. But it will be admitted”

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    1. Can you concentrate for two seconds, abandon this empty verbiage and explain how you manage to conclude that Limonov is not a neo-Nazi when he himself says he is?

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    2. That’s what Zakhar Prilepin has been up to lately:
      http://svpressa.ru/society/article/91751/

      Just imagine some left-wing French intellectual calling upon French industrialists and bankers to fund a private army and go take back the French colonies… Because French president just lack the will to do so or is too tied up by international niceties…

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