I don’t see a peaceful future for a long time. It took Hungary about three decades to sort themselves out after the uprising.
Can’t disagree with that. We are very greedy squirrels at the end of the day, and the insta life is moving people continually away from manufacturing and more and more into service economies, which hasten the gap in the Phillips curve (Cryptocurrency investors are currently learning about this).
In some ways, yes. In some ways, no.
Putin, the war, and how Russia is didn’t just happen.
Not a black and white situation. Answer: Depends on the russian. Those that are pro are perhaps likened to complicit in murder. Those that arent, are not. Given russias size alone, its hard to have such a meaningless yes/no conversation about something that is absolutely an individual variable.
If it really goes pear shaped we should perhaps be thinking a lot about who will replace putin and how evil he may be.
Surely the russians dont have half the balls, nor brains ,hong kongs residents have, so there is justified worry.
I think I’ve pointed this out, but Russia wasn’t exactly a place you wanted to live before Putin came into power.
It was then pointed out that oil is a thing that makes money, but someone else pointed out too that not all places rich with oil share that wealth with the common people. So Putin shared the wealth. Woo-hoo.
So “everyday” Russians went from not even having their fundamental needs met (food, safety, education) to having pretty much everything they need and then some (like McDonald’s and designer handbags. God I hate capitalism with a strong passion if that’s really what it means to “make it” in the world).
There are a few idioms that come to mind when I think of the Russian people as a collective:
Now tell me that they want to go back to the “fall of the Soviet Union” Russia by fighting back.
The Chinese are exactly the same. Only not, because they tasted democracy, didn’t seem to hate it, but decided to agree with a communist dictatorship anyways
What you are describing is that confucious “accept the hopeless” depressing way of life. Its a bit fugged up, but understandable. Thats why it takes a generation or 2 before most countries start thinking with basic common decency, like taiwan. If we were truly intelligent, it shouldnt take generations to see that through. But reality is reality 
There’s a show on Netflix kids called “the dragon prince”. I does a really good job of reminding the adult viewer why the world is as fucked up as it is, namely, that most people just follow what the people before them did because “that’s what we do” and everyone here on earth right now just does what everyone around them is doing. Except for the children. That’s why it’s a kids show, to remind children that they don’t need to do things just because that’s what the adults told them to do.
Both. They are fucked up people. What I mean, there is huge percentage of Russian population being brainwashed.
Like > 60 %
It will take generation, if. For them to come out clear of all that nonsense propaganda from their communism & new era of fascism. One has to understand Russia has never had a modern state with rule of law, rationalism, democratic values. Russians have access to books, internet and is their personal fault not to do so. As citizens they are responsible. They failed. I count them being responsible before being victim.
It seems that the opposite lesson is needed far more nowadays in the US. The concept of Chesterton’s fence comes to mind, though that lesson would be lost as we aren’t even teaching many foundational principles or traditions any more.
Excellent point.
Apologies to all for this, my third posting of this story:
That’s more about timing than anything. East Germany didn’t immediately become a place people are happy to live in right after unification either. The effects of state controlled economy takes years to turn theirngs around.
The West didn’t exactly help either. 1992 and 1998 were particularly bad for fledgling economies.
Sure, but just as Hitler blamed the Jews for all of Germany’s problems and Nazis ate it right up, Russians of today pointed their fingers at bad leadership in the USSR and are thanking their dear leader for what he has given them today. Even if it’s all a matter of timing, Putin has made it known to all that “he did everything for them”
I don’t think the invasion of Crimea is comparable because the deaths for it can be counted on your fingers. A mostly non violent takeover is always going to be easy to justify, or at very least to pause and then forget about.
Fast forward to today, any human being who sees what is actually happening is horrified. Doesn’t matter what your nationality is.
Why people were willing to not think about it when it was Syria is another question.
I believe most Russians support this war and somewhat complicit .
At the same time they aren’t getting a true picture of what is going on.
I was watching some videos of opinions on the street in Moscow and to me it looked like most, or at least many, younger people know what is happening more or less. I think a video posted earlier in this thread
Yep I saw that.
They are rather pissed off at losing their social media access for instance.
But there is a vast hinterland of older poorly educated folks too isn’t there. They almost all seem to support this war. But they get all their news from the state TV.
Although I saw that they weren’t happy about prices going up . They live on very little.
Loosing global citizenship, uncertainty for the future, and genuinely saddened at what was happening in the Ukraine. (Not all, but quite a few)
Looking at similar videos in Ukraine I was surprised at how first world it was, and how well spoken the people are, and how brave.
My impressions on the Russian street interviews were quite similar.
Pity about the lowland gorilla in power
Me too . It looked like a very pleasant and refined place. It’s supposed to be a poorer country but looked way more upmarket than Taiwan. Lots of cultural sites I was not aware of.
LoL, yeah that was my thought too.
I was looking at the streets and squares and thinking WTF this place is grotty as hell compared to there. Obviously that is not the case so much now.