Tankie has been a thing for over half a century. The Soviets used tanks(from other countries) to invade and crush antisoviet revolutions/protests in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

This was considered shocking for some communists and other leftists while some communists supported those actions. Those who supported this "intervention" were called tankies, in order to differentiate them from the non tank invasion supporting communists.

In Greece(my country), which was in the "West", this event caused the split of the greek communist party(KKE) into 2 separate parties, KKE(Moscow controlled tankies) and KKE "interior"(weak ass soy communists who cant stomach the use of tanks in order to create a better tomorrow).

KKE "interior" kinda eventually became SYRIZA which surprisingly won the elections in 2015(breaking the 2 party status quo). Then the EU decided that the greek people decided poorly and punished them. So when the greek people decided correctly(elected a right wing government), the EU rewarded them. Carrots and sticks make the world go around. Thats how you make a majority leftist country, into a right wing one.

PS Greek debt is as high as it has ever been but Greece issued negative interest bonds. Tell me again how is the economy supposed to work? Noone talks about the greek debt anymore, it's a non issue, Greece has been accepted into the EU's infinite money glitch scheme.

[–] Zehzin@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Huh.

On my side of the Atlantic the US usually just chooses which right wing dictator they want to rule directly

[–] NIB@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A year later, a right wing dictatorship took over Greece(with the eventual support and blessing of the US). But at least Bill Clinton apologized about it when he visited Greece as the US President. Has Russia apologized for its crimes?

Thats the difference. You wont find many supporters of the american coups. Yet for the russian ones, some communists(ie tankies) feel the need to defend them. And unlike the american coup supporters who are right wing lunatics, the russian coup supporters claim they are communists. Both are just sticking to their team, ignoring the actual facts.

[–] Zehzin@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

I think Bill forgot my apology letter in the mail 😔😔

You wont find many supporters of the american coups.

There are plenty tbh. Heck, there are people in the US right now, some in power, who defend the Iraq and Vietnam invasions. The difference is that they don't pretend they're leftists when they do it, so that's nice.

[–] Vespair@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Tankie has been a thing for over half a century.

Disingenuous in regards to their point.

"Cuckold" had been in use for a long time before it's cultural adoption in 2015 too. They weren't disputing the appropriate use the term, they were clearly commenting on the shift from appropriately-applied usage to the saturation within the cultural lexicon as a buzzword. Why is this thread full of disingenuous asides and non-sequiturs?

[–] NIB@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well i and other people that i know were using the term for at least 10 years. I even had a friend break up partly because the other person was a tankie. Maybe the term was less common in other countries.

Also tankie definition hasnt changed nor has been appropriated as a general slur. It has always meant communist who supports authoritarian policies.