re: Kate Koval leaving the basketball team

Such pure ignorance re the history of the hate between these 2 countries. You are isolating these 2 young girls from that history that goes back into the 20's - 30's. As noted, Stalin starved millions to death pre war. Ukrainians made up the majority of SS guards at Auschwitz, mentally & physically abusing thousands Russian POWS. As Russian troops moved through the Ukraine entire villages were burned to the ground, its citizens murdered en masse by the thousands. Post war Russian oppression continued through decades by occupation abuses etc etc etc. Do you really believe this level of mutual hate simply disappeared over time' passed down by generation after generation. And as an aside, do you remember how Japanese Americans were treated after Pearl Harbor?

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Yes, it's exactly like that.

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Educate me on the difference. One group of people hated on another due to skin color. Koval is hating on another because of nationality.

This 17 year old Russian girl has nothing to do with the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

I truly think it says plenty about how Kim feels about Kate Koval’s ceiling to make the decision in the first place.

And honestly frick Ukraine one of the most corrupt countries in the world stealing hundreds of billions from American taxpayers.


She quite clearly left because of the new center from Russia but the staff knew it would be controversial, yet they seem to think it was worth it.

Yea she knew this was a possibility and looked at Kate’s ceiling and what she say in the Russian girl and did what made the team better.

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Alright let's add perspective then. You have a teenager moving directly from Afghanistan to play on your kids high school team in 2005 (4 years post 911). How do you think the reaction would be here?

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Another dumb analogy. I hardly think she was the one living in caves making those calls.

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think this post shows just how removed most Americans are from the brutality of this conflict and history between the two countries. 

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Yeah, I know lots of Russians and Ukrainians that are US citizens who get along great but most Russian Americans that have been here a long time are the most anti-Putin people on the planet.

However, if my father was actively fighting in a war and my country was getting bombed everyday I may be skeptical of putting myself in a situation where my teammate, even if a "good person" is always giving the other side of the story.

I may just think I don't want anything to do with it.

And, I may think that a player having the opportunity to come from Moscow to play in the USA right now doesn't fit with emphasizing that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has consequences for all the citizens.

Again, you can argue the other side of these things but can certainly understand how someone actually experiencing that war hourly may not agree.

This is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. Most Ukrainians ARE Russian. I'm Ukrainian and Russian, both countries histories are so intertwined we are very very similar. Let Kate leave, she is clearly a snowflake. Likely one of the few Western Ukrainians that wants the entire country to be just like Western Europe.

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However, if my father was actively fighting in a war and my country was getting bombed everyday I may be skeptical of putting myself in a situation where my teammate, even if a "good person" is always giving the other side of the story.

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We also don't know what kind of pressure and influence she might be getting from family and friends in Ukraine.

I always found it odd that she was the only current player that wasn't in the picture for Williams's (I thnk) birthday post. Make me think that this decision wasn't a surprise to Mulkey.

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You do understand how military operations and espionage work, right?

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LOL. Yeah, I'm literally laughing out loud.

We need to think that Putin and Russia would use this for propaganda. Let's say Kate stays and the team does well and they play as teammates. Putin could easily use this as propaganda while her father is in the Ukrainian military.

Kate would have no control over how Putin would use them playing together for his own purposes. I believe that has to be considered as a legitimate issue.