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Comment by lm28469 | Hacker News Reader

I think you're all reading way too much into it. Russia and Ukraine are both in the top of both charts, the others aren't.

Belarus people are fine, the Belarus government has been horrible for a long time, it's not that surprising that people have a bad opinion of the country. And it doesn't look like it's going to get any better: https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russias-quiet-...

All the people from Belarus I know fled and will never go back, they have parents and friends who've been jailed for facebook likes, family members tortured, &c.

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> Belarus people are fine, the Belarus government has been horrible for a long time, it's not that surprising that people have a bad opinion of the country.

I would say the same could be argued for "Russia people" as well. They didn't select their dictator either, and have no way to remove him.

> They didn't select their dictator either, and have no way to remove him.

Political power comes from the consent of the ruled. All polities have a way to remove dictators. It's not pretty and causes a lot of harm, but then so do dictators.

That's a bit of revisionist history. Russians definitely chose Putin. Not all of them did, of course, but too many to ignore.

Just like many Italians chose Berlusconi and many Germans chose Hitler.

I feel sorry for the Russians who didn't choose this, but we shouldn't let the ones who did off the hook.

That's a big fallacy - Putin is a dictator. The first rule of democracy is that democracy must not kill itself to prove it exists. The same goes for Hitler and the other dictators. Democracy is not the solution but a tool. This tool is being cynically used by these criminals. Sure they get elected. But once they're in power they destroy it. They throw everything out of the window. This is not democracy. Don't fool yourself.

It's not a fallacy, and I think we agree on most points.

Russians today can't get rid of Putin through votes.

Russians in the past did vote him into power though. Because of that, they carry a part of the responsibility for what's happening today. Don't let them off the hook.

I mean, they do, but it involves risking your livelihood and/or life.

There's no "or" there, serious challenge to the state is a life threatening endeavour in Russia.

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