‘We’ll Waste This Place Again’: Nuclear Capture as Colonial Intent

‘Steppe’ in Russian means: ‘Waste Land.’ The Soviets left 10s of billions of tonnes of hazardous toxic waste in Ukraine. There’s 100s millions of tonnes of radioactive waste. Taking Chornobyl & Enerhodar power plants early on told me: ‘We’ll waste this place again.’

Source: Twitter Archive (2022-04-08)

The linguistic insight connects nuclear capture to colonial ecological destruction. “Steppe” = “wasteland.” Russia’s seizure of nuclear plants is not military strategy but colonial intent — to render Ukraine a wasteland, again. The Soviets left hundreds of millions of tonnes of radioactive waste. The seizure of Chornobyl and Enerhodar on Day 1 of the invasion signals: this is what we do to places we control.

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