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Comment by rini17 | Hacker News Reader

I am from Czechoslovakia, trying to imagine what would happen in 1980s if people then were getting unexpected political calls from unknown foreigners. They would mostly assume it is a secret service provocation and react accordingly. Yes that's hard to believe for westerners that your own state would do such nasty stuff to you, but it was commonplace then.

Shortwave radio station that is possible to tune to in Moscow and beyond, where they can listen to people they have known before, would have much bigger impact. Like Radio Free Europe did.

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> Shortwave radio station that is possible to tune to in Moscow and beyond, where they can listen to people they have known before, would have much bigger impact. Like Radio Free Europe did.

This is what should be done. Random people calling on the phone and trying to "tell you what's really happening" is not going to work, especially in a place like Russia. Shortwave radio is perfect for this.

The great thing about Shortwave radio is that radios are cheap, low powered and easy to hide. The infrastructure is already out there and due to the Cold War, Russians are already familiar with it.

What might work is Russians living in the west with family in Russia, call their family, ask them how they are doing with all the chaos/sanctions/etc.

Care about the people there. THEN you can tell them that you've been watching the footage showing Russian convoys are being ambushed and bombed in the roads - that the advance has stalled. That you've seen videos of Russian kids surrendering and dead - Russian losses are much higher than the Russian media is claiming. Ask them if they have any friends and family with men fighting and convey your concern for them.

You are trying to convince them of your authenticity and shared values - that is how you influence someone.

Then tell them that the Russian generals have become frustrated and started mass bombing of the cities - killing many thousands of civilians.

The real villain is Putin and his dogs. Wish them well and pray for them. We are in this together with the majority of the Russian people. You guys should hear the Russian moms calling the Ukrainian helpline crying for any information about their conscripted sons.

Maybe robocalls reminding people of the shortwave frequencies and how to listen?

That might be less suspicious and would not implicate anyone since it's clearly just a random advertisement (but of course, you can come up for grounds of arresting anyone looking at a Coke-Cola can the wrong way).

I'm from Poland. Only one person in my family had a home phone until the '90s and that was a party line for multiple homes.

>Yes that's hard to believe for westerners that your own state would do such nasty stuff to you, but it was commonplace then.

We are just about there ourselves. FBI labeling political opposition of domestic terrorist is kicking it off, replete with false flag operations and political prisoners.

It is possible this is exactly what you describe.

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