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Comment by ukraineally | Hacker News Reader

>plus the actions of a country’s leaders do not represent the entire will of the people

If the Russian people don't agree with war. They would show up in the capitals and shut down the country until this problem is resolved.

If they do not, then your claim that Putin doesn't represent the entire will of the people is wrong.

The subsequent poverty and isolation the Russian people are about to go through will mean the Russian people have all the reasons in the world to oppose the government. If they don't, then it just proves how much they support Putin.

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> If the Russian people don't agree with war. They would show up in the capitals and shut down the country until this problem is resolved

After watching a video where Sergey Naryshkin, the director of russian foreign intelligence service, was visibly stuttering trying to find the right words to answer a simple question by Putin, hoping for his dear life that he didn't say something wrong, well, I'm not quite sure a reasonable person who cares about the life of their loved ones is going to risk it all. There wouldn't be dictators if it was easy to go to the streets and take it back.

>After watching a video where Sergey Naryshkin, the director of russian foreign intelligence service, was visibly stuttering trying to find the right words to answer a simple question by Putin, hoping for his dear life that he didn't say something wrong, well, I'm not quite sure a reasonable person who cares about the life of their loved ones is going to risk it all. There wouldn't be dictators if it was easy to go to the streets and take it back.

Yes I saw the same video. Putin surrounded himself with yesmen and propaganda. He most likely misled himself.

Also yes, it takes a strong people to stand up to their government. We saw many people in the middle east topple their governments during the arab spring.

Do you think the Russian people are strong enough to do the same? Idont.

> Putin surrounded himself with yesmen and propaganda. He most likely misled himself.

true.

but it's also sending a message to his people "I can do whatever I want, look how afraid they are of me"

> If they don't, then it just proves how much they support Putin.

Strong disagree. The Russian people are victims of their government too, held at gunpoint from expressing their opinions freely. A sufficiently large crowd might be able to storm the institutions of government, but a lot of people would have to be at the front of that crowd, literally in the firing line.

Well, some things are worth dying for.

>Strong disagree. The Russian people are victims of their government too, held at gunpoint from expressing their opinions freely. A sufficiently large crowd might be able to storm the institutions of government, but a lot of people would have to be at the front of that crowd, literally in the firing line.

If they are victims, they will stand up against Putin. If they are not victims, they will not.

The world just has to sit back and watch as the Russian people collapse.

This war is probably costing around $25 billion a day before sanctions. With sanctions? Russia is no longer on the world stage.

You know who owns significant amounts of Chinese land? Russia. China hates Russia. Is China about to declare war on Russia to take their land back?

If China moved into Ukraine to fight the Russians at the same time as taking Manchuria back. Absolutely nobody will hear about vladivostock falling as the world applauds China. However, Russia was smart, they announced their 'no limit' alliance with china immediately before this invasion.

Was china aware russia was using them to invade ukraine? Or were they only told about the 2 republics? Why did china rush to tell russia to get to peace talks? Why did Russia slap them in the face and say no?

Russia is an authoritarian state where open dissent with the government has repeatedly resulted in being imprisoned or assassinated. It's very easy to say "just go outside and hold a demonstration" from the comfort of a democracy, but I don't blame anyone for putting their own safety first even if they disagree with Putin's government.

>Russia is an authoritarian state where open dissent with the government has repeatedly resulted in being imprisoned or assassinated. It's very easy to say "just go outside and hold a demonstration" from the comfort of a democracy, but I don't blame anyone for putting their own safety first even if they disagree with Putin's government.

If 50% of the populace hits the streets. The police are literally incapable of doing anything. Yes, they could even spark a civil war, but the alternative is the ongoing disaster of Russia.

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