Why is this flagged? It might be the most important thing to happen all year
This is the riptide. And Wagner surprisingly still has 20k - 30k soldiers. Even if it fizzles, this is a landmark in the war.
Also who knows what will happen in Belarus and Chechnya as there are anti-estblishment forces that have been waiting for quite some time for an opportunity to strike.
Either way this has huge potential to grow into something similar as happend to USSR.
On the topic itself -- this war, and the world reaction to it, is a critical part of modern history and will likely influence political, military and technological developments for years to come. I would love to hear more smart people express an opinion on it. Flagging greatly limits this.
That's why I posted it in the first place.
A major portion of Russia's de facto military, led by one of the country's most prominent figures, has left Ukraine and is heading for Moscow. This is history happening right in front of us. If HN was around in 1989, would the fall of the Berlin Wall have been [flagged] too?
Dong will tell you that this subject attracts flamewars, but then again I think he's just parroting what someone else told him and has really examined how people in HN actually discuss the subject.
It's simply not the proper venue because the policy admits so much distain and misunderstanding of politics that it can't effectively carve out a proper space for such discussion.
And further, the policy admits it cannot trust either participants or the voting system in place to manage such conversations. As soon as one person with power to flag, that's it.
These conversations inevitably make HN management nervous. Since they can't cope with it, no one else is allowed to.
There's a difference between not wanting to interact with this news, and not wanting to interact with this news on this forum.
You can simply not click that link. I don't think that I've hidden/misrepresented or clickbaited the title to force you to click... You may not want to interact, others may.
Nothing to do with a culture war vortex. Burying your head in sand is not necessarily the smartest option although I understand that it is the easiest one.
This is just way outside of the HN wheelhouse. The guidelines are pretty clear.
History of nations & psychology & huge geopolitical changes is indeed something I find very interesting. And I think I'm not alone as I don't believe that hackers have to be interested only in tech and nothing else.
For what it’s worth, dang has commented on this specific event in more detail here [0] and addresses the curiosity piece.
Bottom line: all discussion about this event at this point will be made of speculation and hot takes, because we have very little solid info about the unfolding situation.
Saying that you cannot have conversation about this just reeks of a poorly veiled elitism.
Dang also said that "There hasn't been a coup" in thad thread you link to which leads me to believe he has no idea what is going on and what is at stake here or he simply does not care. Which is fine, but to say that there is nothing to discuss is just ... wrong.