Just like North Korean people chose to live under dictatorship? Do you honestly think that Putin won all his elections fairly, especially with all his opponents (including Navalny) suddenly getting charged with random bogus crimes every single time elections come up, which just coincidentally leaves them locked up in jail and unable to run for presidency?
A significant chunk of Russian population isn't completely brainwashed, given protests have been massive over the past decade, and despite the consequences always being brutal. Yes, I do have relatives living in Russia, and from what they told me they have witnessed, the violence against protestors has been way more excessive than what was shown on the news here (let alone russian news, which try to not cover it at all, aside from a passing mention). The fact that they got over 1.5k+ arrested a couple of days ago alone tells volumes, and that's just official estimates from last week. The real numbers are, I wager, much higher than that by now.
P.S. No, I am not against sanctions or SWIFT disconnection. Clearly, as we can see now, those were needed to push the Russian economy in the direction that would be more conductive for Russia agreeing to finally consider negotiating ceasefire and feel the weight of the consequences. Namecheap terminating user account services in Russia? That doesn't affect the Russian economy even in the slightest and just punishes regular people who already are scrambling due to their own emergency plans and assisting others. Which is evidenced by a lot of replies in this thread from those in that exact situation.
We don't choose the place where we are born.
We can support Russians to create political change, without hardening them to feel like perhaps yes the rest of the world is against them.
This is about Putin and Russian elite who support him.
Frankly, the fact Trump is still not in prison and probably running again doesn't say much good about US democracy and justice. Indeed his last foreign blackmail was against Ukraine regarding sale of the Javelin weapons they now desperately need.
And if you just stand by then you are part of the problem, like with everything.
it's not quite that simple.
I hear this a lot and I always wonder which country would you choose to be born in and why? Because there is something wrong with almost every country, and the causes usually lie well in the past. At the same time people do have agency, but for many the price to pay is too high and so they move to apathy or wilful ignoring of what is happening around them. I've seen this first hand. The peer pressure to keep your head down and to keep your mouth shut lest you get the people near to you in trouble can be enormous and that's the first barrier you need to contend with before you get to deal with the billyclubs and the nightsticks, eventually usually jail and being beaten up, raped or even killed.
So have some respect, understand that this is not a simple black-and-white matter and understand that on the far side of the line you do have allies and that their life right now is super hard. Not as hard as the lives in the country that is being invaded so that's where the weight should come down. But hard nonetheless.
> but for many the price to pay is too high and so they move to apathy or wilful ignoring of what is happening around them
And thereby become complicit. If you witness a rape in the street, and you keep your head down for fear of your own safety, you, by your inaction and cowardice, are allowing the act to perpetuate. These are not qualities worthy of respect. Yes it's scary to risk your own skin, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be the ideal we hold ourselves to.
If Ukrainians can take up arms against Putin's tyranny, surely Russians can as well.
I think you missed the bit where Ukraine is forced to do so and Russians have a comparatively comfortable position from which it will be very hard to dislodge them, and which - propaganda wise - might even play into Putin's hand (not that that should be a consideration).
FWIW I've lived in a country much like Russia for a while when the iron curtain was still in place. It was a complete eye opener to me how living under such a regime can take the spark of agency out of people. A fair portion of the people there were conscious of this and wanted change and were quite literally willing to risk their lives. But the majority was just chugging along in 'everything is fine' mode as long as they had their jobs, their pension and their food on the table.
You always hear 'why don't people rise up against Kim in North Korea'. The answer is simple: they can't unless they are willing to risk it all, only a huge coordinated mob could do that without arms. And absent massive coordination that is next to impossible. But Putin has created a synchronization event, which is why there are such large protests right now. If that flame takes hold it just might make the difference in setting up a sustainable fire and if and when it does I hope that Putin has a pistol nearby so he doesn't end up like Ceaucescu, or in a cell in the Hague for the rest of his life.
I believe this is a good definition of cowardice. People indeed do it all the time.
Living under a dictatorship tends to weed out the heroes over time because they will want to change things, stick their head up out of the grass and have it chopped off. This tends to discourage the rest, understandably.
Russia doesn't have a whole lot of powerful people besides Putin left, he's either killed, jailed or neutered them. This is a major cause for concern right now, but it is also exactly why it is that way: dictators do not like viable competition.
Don't bring a democratic countries' viewpoint into a discussion about what the people living in a dictatorship can or can not do. It is possible, but only if there a sea change in support of the government, and with the media under total control unfortunately Putin is still ridiculously popular in Russia. And this may not change sufficiently, taking into account that he will blame any and all hardships on the West.
And shortly they will have none of that, nor their DNS services. Global sanctions on Russians mean they are being given the same choice as Ukrainians were: rise up or die.
You're not going to get a very "real" perspective of how ordinary Russians feel about much of anything. I'm sure the Kim family in North Korea has an 135 percent approval rating but we're not taking those numbers as fact either.
I think I have a pretty good idea, having actually lived in Moscow and all that. And those people are overwhelmingly more western-minded than the people from smaller cities…
Perhaps stick to educating people on things you’re actually familiar with?
If in general, we must have rather different views on what it means to support the government.
Yeah, North Korean people are just too complacent and lazy as well, that's why they fail to utilize the option of civil disobedience or armed rebellion. I wish we had someone go and tell them this one little trick that they were not aware of. /s
>People can't hold power without the cooperation of everyone involved.
Following this exact same principle, people cannot overthrow a dictator without the cooperation of everyone involved. And doing so in 2022 (where dictators have access to fairly modern military tech and nukes) is not quite as accessible as it was during early 20th century revolutions.
Do what you will with that, but I can completely understand people not willing to "just overthrow the dictator, bro, it is that easy", when doing so would almost certainly end in their own death and the death of their family members (who had no involvement with what you did aside from being your relatives), all while accomplishing exactly nothing in the end.
Imo it isn't about "all normal people" overthrowing the dictator, it is about "big" people near the dictator doing so.
> "just overthrow the dictator, bro, it is that easy"
it's not easy - it's awfully difficult and risky, but it is that simple. Just like fighting Russian soldiers in Ukraine - it's not easy - but it is as simple as taking up arms and fighting.
Popular movements to overthrow tyranny (South Africa, India, etc.) have always relied on the masses refusing to cooperate or actively resisting.
hatred of Russian people has spiked like crazy lately. I've seen calls to deport Russian nationals from the US even.
Russian people are born under dictatorship and choose to live. There is a difference. See Navalny?
If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of this site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30506161.