Russia appears to be the most passive population base in the world.
Unnecessary war - meh
100s of thousands people dying in said war - meh
Mutiny armed forces taking over cities - meh, lets get a selfie with the guy
What do they get riled up over in Russia?
I think this is both true but not accurate.
It's true because Russians are pretty meh about most things. Throughout basically the entire history of the country (over 1000 years) common people have been powerless, fodder and insignificant. Most countries were like this up until the 20th Century but for Russia it never really ended, although it took on a different form. Russians understand that no matter what they think, do or say, they have no influence on the powers that be. Since Parastroika the "New Russians" emerged as people with some resources. But they know that it can be taken from them at any moment or they could be killed. So, they tend to have a 'seize the day' type of attitude. There isn't necessarily a lot of saving and planning for the future, at least not like in the West.
It's not accurate because many Russians don't support the war, revile Putin and understand the propaganda for what it is. But they are not only powerless but actively put themselves and potentially their families in direct danger if they don't go along. A couple examples are our very own Pointman and my uncle who lives and operates a business in Moscow. There is a strong (and accurate) "what can you do?" attitude that is pervasive. So, they tend to just live the best lives they can for now.
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Russia appears to be the most passive population base in the world.
Unnecessary war - meh
100s of thousands people dying in said war - meh
Mutiny armed forces taking over cities - meh, lets get a selfie with the guy
What do they get riled up over in Russia?
Russia is still a place where if you get out of line you and your family could be thrown into the back of a van and disappear. The shear number of people fleeing the country suggests that a lot are extremely unhappy.
Russia has seen around 1 million people leave the country since the war started. Most of these people are young and Russian. When you account for the fact that Russia only has about 100 million actual Russians and many are old, it's a large number.
I wouldn't call Russians so much passive as repressed. You can't simply have an anti-government demonstration in the middle of Moscow without the police/army and their mystery vans showing up.
What is clear is Putin was definitely not in control of the situation, and most definitely has enemies around him even within his circle. At this moment though, everything is still speculation, as we still have no idea what deal was accepted and what exactly happened. What we do know is Lukashenko was the one to call Prighozin after Prighozin refused Putin's calls, and Lukashenko in his address may have been right that blowing up Wagner or killing Prighozin (Russia certainly has the means with collateral damage) would lead to civil war.
I guess we will wait and see if anything unfolds. In the meantime Ukraine continues to make gains.
And on cue, it looks as though Putin reads the Washington Post because there's a bunch of rumors that Surovokin is in detention as of today...
Governance requires a general acceptance from the population. Big strong Putin returning Russia to her former glory was pretty popular until #### hit the fan last year.
Governance requires a general acceptance from the population. Big strong Putin returning Russia to her former glory was pretty popular until #### hit the fan last year.
He was popular because people's day-to-day lives were much better than before Putin, especially early on in his regime.
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Governance requires a general acceptance from the population. Big strong Putin returning Russia to her former glory was pretty popular until #### hit the fan last year.
Nah, it's some dumb manifest destiny equivalent idea.
Unless you're a first-generation immigrant, you didn't choose your system of government, you inherited it. Even among first-generation immigrants there's often not much of a choice.
Do you think a generation of people with some born in North Korea, some born in the US, some born in Togo, India, Brazil, Canada, Russia, CAR, or wherever are all just deserving of their lot in life wrt their government? Did they do anything to deserve their circumstances?
It's the nationalist's equivalent of saying people born into rich, powerful families deserve the opportunities they're afforded whereas people born into poor and downtrodden families don't deserve such good opportunities, and if they want the same outcomes as the affluent they should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps cause they have nothing else to blame. Sorry, the systems people are born into and their places in it aren't ordained on the basis of just deserts. Luck has a lot to say in what conditions you're born into and what you can make of life, including your system of government.
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But if you're ok with the continuing with crimes against humanity because you're not $#|+ING in an outhouse anymore...
Well, there are plenty of nations guilty of crimes against humanity:
-The USA with almost every war since 1945
-Canada and Australia for the treatment of Indigenous people
-Many European nations for their treatment of refuges
-China with genocide, Tiananmen, etc.
The US alone has had several military invasions that could be direct comparables to this.
I'm not saying it justifies what Putin is doing at all, but if you were Russian in Tsarist times worried about starving, then the next regime comes in and you're worried about being "disappeared", then the next regime comes in and you're worried about you or your family being kidnapped, it must have been a relief when Putin stabilized the country. And then when he does something ####ty like invading Ukraine, other nations condemn yours despite them having also done some similar bad stuff...I think it's human nature to question the hypocrisy of those casting judgement from their high-horses, at least for the average Russian citizen.
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Everyone has the government their populace deserves generally.
Skip to 2:36. It's hard not to sympathize with people born into these situations. Belarus isn't even the worst in the world, but the video also kind of makes me laugh.
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Governance requires a general acceptance from the population. Big strong Putin returning Russia to her former glory was pretty popular until #### hit the fan last year.
Well....I guess living under Putin is probably better than living under Soviet Russia or the the absolute mess of oligarchies and gangsterism that immediately followed Soviet Russia.
Well....I guess living under Putin is probably better than living under Soviet Russia or the the absolute mess of oligarchies and gangsterism that immediately followed Soviet Russia.
That might be debatable by now.
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Apparently FSB learned of Prighozin's plot to capture Shoigu and Gerasimov 2 days prior in Rostov, leading Prighozin to go for plan B of marching onto Moscow...which in turn went to plan BLYAT . Did the FSB keep this from Putin? it seems they have. It also explains Prighozin's rant about Shoigu running away from Rostov.
Though it was short lived, Wagner's mutiny still did irreversible damage.
Putin is also on some really bizarre friendship tour right now with his body double all over Russia including greeting commoners in Dagastan, taking selfies with Kadyrov, making drawings and joining TV shows, all within days of an attempted mutiny / coup. Things must be peachy for him to have time for these.
Putin is also on some really bizarre friendship tour right now with his body double all over Russia including greeting commoners in Dagastan, taking selfies with Kadyrov, making drawings and joining TV shows, all within days of an attempted mutiny / coup. Things must be peachy for him to have time for these.
There's a reply to that tweet pointing out that the guy in the picture is holding the helicopter door with four fully intact fingers but that Prigozhin is missing the end of one of his. You can see the missing part of that finger in the second picture set tweeted by the same guy.
There's too much #### stirring going on to trust any of this stuff.
There's a reply to that tweet pointing out that the guy in the picture is holding the helicopter door with four fully intact fingers but that Prigozhin is missing the end of one of his. You can see the missing part of that finger in the second picture set tweeted by the same guy.
There's too much #### stirring going on to trust any of this stuff.
People have been concerned about the pace of the counter offensive, but Russia has seen some of its heaviest tank losses (30+) in the last week. T-80s have now surpassed T-72s for the most losses in the war.
