CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 2/24/2022

How can we understand what's happening in Ukraine?

We are devastated to learn of war in Ukraine, and have suspended a more playful homepage campaign to feature an image from Looking for Lenin, published by our undisputed experts on Soviet weirdness, Fuel Publishing. Featured image is a Lenin statue transformed into Darth Vader by Ukrainian artist Oleksandr Milov. It stands in a factory courtyard outside Odessa. "Lenin? Ah! You, foreigners, you’re all the same," a local resident is quoted. "Can’t you focus on something really important? Why does this guy fascinate you so much? He symbolizes the repression and martyrdom of millions. No one looks for fallen statues of Hitler in Germany! I’m from Lviv, in the West of Ukraine. Back there, we took down the statues of Lenin a long, long time ago. And everything is going well—people are looking toward the future, not the past. The same will happen here. No one cares about Lenin now, because life is so tough. Don’t you want to focus on real issues?"