Quote:
Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague
It's still completely different from North Korea. It's closer to China - or rather, I suspect Putin's government would like to be comparable China in this arena, but they're not competent or well-organized enough to exert that level of control over informational access.
Information control is one way that Russian people are kept in line, but the reality is that they keep themselves in line for the most part due to the relative stability and sort-of-prosperity available to them under Putin, such that public opinion can in fact turn quite dramatically if the status quo is disrupted (e.g. through severe economic sanctions) and the impact of that public opinion is a real threat to Putin. Xi has considerably less to worry about on that front, and Kim Jong Un has essentially nothing to worry about.
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If the reports are true as well, it seems that there are many Russian civilians who are against what's happening and against Putin in general as their leader (though I believe Pointman has pointed out that from his discussions, it might seem that there are more Russians supportive of Putin than not). Compare this with China where the majority of Chinese citizens are very supportive of Xi and are happy with the conditions they live in (supported through the many family members I have there as well as non-Chinese expat friends I have working and living there now for many, many years).