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Comment by curiousfab | Hacker News Reader

Not a good idea to harass people because you don't like what their government is doing.

Annoying them enough might push more people to protest. The softest option of the script is one alert() message once a day, that doesn't seems like harassment, the strictest option is to redirect you to a form on the russian government website, that's more debatable but that's up to you, you can also run custom code.

If you're annoyed/blocked while trying access a website you like because your government is oppressive you might have one more reason to protest.

You might also think that the West is oppressing you and that your government's war is justified.

There was a poll done in December (YouGov) that showed that more than half of Russians thought NATO/The West was to blame for this situation.

Dude, they lock you in Russia up if you protest too much. Russia is a full-blown dictatorship now with Internet censorship, state-operated propaganda and other bells'n'whistles.

They lock you up in a lot of places for the same reasons. Even in the US or in Europe you might get killed at a protest.

There is people protesting in Russia right now, no matter the risks, I don't see the harm in trying to increase their numbers.

Number of protesting people in Russia is a joke.

Vladimir Putin is an ex-KGB officer. The country has a system for monitoring all phone communications, and the major email providers are affiliated with the state.

Also, 100% of the media is spinning the "we're liberating Ukraine from the Nazis" take, and unless you spend very considerable effort doing your own research, you just won't find a single information source telling you otherwise.

And if you get anywhere close to organizing a protest with a non-trivial number of participants. They will figure out who's in charge, and will put you behind bars as a warning to others.

That, and people generally don't trust each other, don't trust the system, and are mostly busy trying to survive, find cheap food, and not get caught in a crossfire.

I suppose statistically speaking you might be right, though I find it hard to imagine what kind of person is going to risk beatings or years in prison or worse over a minor inconvenience like being unable to view their favourite website.

I think depending on the person this could go either way. Perhaps they feel spurned, isolated, or blamed personally, and respond with anger.

if only one site is using it yes that's nothing

if dozens of websites do the same that might push people to protest

internet is a huge part of our lives, most people use it for hours everyday, it can be more than a minor inconvenience

And to visitors from North Korea you'd probably show 2 alerts, because they need a slighter stronger push to overcome their fear of being sent to labor camps. While you'll be watching news about their protests from a safe and comfy sofa.

I am a Russian thus I am biased, of course.

I see this as a means to divide further and to attain higher moral ground - "do THAT" in case of alert or "you are not welcome here until you SIGN THIS" in case of redirection.

For that to be a little bit more fair, I would like to see a detection of NOT Russian or Belorussian visitors with alerts and redirection to forms of their respective governments who did nothing to prevent a war.

Consider that a feature request. ;)

So what do our governments need to do to prevent a war? Go back to the Soviet years and let Russia claim all of it's former territory?

I think I should point out that you are talking about preventing ongoing war. It is just not possible to prevent harm that was and is being done.

I politely withdraw myself from answering your second question. It is too inflammatory.

I still think that it is possible for governments to learn - they are people, just like us, - and I think it is not only Russian government who can learn from this situation.

I should thank you - (non-)answering your questions made me think by standing in your shoes. It is interesting and important experience.

Thank you for your civil response, and my apologies for my rude response.

I will ask another more genuine question (it's a real question that I have). If Russia would have a more democratically elected leader (let's just say Navalny for the sake of argument). Would the ties between EU and Russia be more collaborative, or do you still think this would have ended with a war?

In other words, is NATO really out to destroy a democratic Russia (Soviet Union is already long gone)?

I think that boils down to whether concerns of Putin would be "more heard" if they were expressed by different person. From my point of view, some of these concerns were quite important for, let's say, viability of Russia as country with a pinch of independence.

I rephrase. If Russia wants some independence in its decisions from external influence(#), the concerns raised by Putin are valid whoever is the leader of Russia.

I think it is unfortunate if the acceptance of these concerns depends on the person expressing them. Moreso, I think it is unrealistic to expect that different person would express same concerns and get different results without exchange of some other important pieces.

In other words, it appears that NATO does not like Russia in its current form.

Of course I am glad to accept you apologies and, in turn, I would like to express mines. I know I can be excessively sarcastic in my tone and I would like to apologize for that.

(#) I came to think that politics are all about "whose influence we prefer this time of day". The right to choose is still important.

> Russia wants some independence in its decisions from external influence

Can you give an example of where Russia cannot take independent decisions?

What I said was conditional, "if Russia wants...". You cut my words out of this condition. I also should phrase it as "if Russia wants more independence..."

Right now I cannot provide you with concrete example.

But you talk about "concerns", so which concerns are that? That Nato would attack Russia?

One of these concerns was dual purpose rocket systems deployed next to Russian border. These systems could be refitted with nuclear heads.

That's one of things I remember, you may find other.

Did you protest against your government back in 2015-2016, when half a thousand of your men, women and children got shot, blown up or smeared on the sidewalks in retaliation for two decades of your government's involvement in destabilizing countries, hundreds of thousand people dead and millions more displaced?

You didn't? Oh, was it not justified to hold your civilian population accountable for the actions of your democratically elected and re-elected leaders? Or did you just not get annoyed enough?

Nice I am gonna do the same to Canadians because of their government mandates, give Trudeau a lesson

Instead of a flag l can use a truck emoji

is Canada invading a neighboring country?

The point is

Russian gov does something you disagree, annoy Russians

Canadian gov does something you disagree, annoy Canadians

But yes they also took part in Syria, Iraq and Libya's invasion

That's not the situation

The Russian gov is murdering people as we speak.

Canada arms sales to Saudi Arabia are also killing Yemenis as we speak, indirectly and directly

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-un-experts-...

Unrest of a few oligarch is a problem. Unrest of the majority is an existential threat. Nowadays I support the second one :(

Some harass people, the other kill them. Which one is not a good idea, tell me?

* if you don't like that their government is starting a war and murderring inocent people.

it might be the only way substantial contrarian views can reach them, since major news media is strongly censored.

I would make it strongly worded and optional, click here to continue if you don't support Putin's war.

btw there is options in the script to make it optional and with custom messages, or run custom code

as I don't speak russian I only put a very basic default message

Everyone can do whatever they want stop scolding people for every little thing sometimes people need the feeling of action especially when you are detached and helpless to current events.

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