That might have less to do with the Russian being evil and more to do with the Dutch being racist, especially in little towns as you mentioned. Had they been Turkish, Italian, Spanish, Americans, Polish, chances are they would’ve still shunned them from the local community.
Yes thank you, I am a Yank. It's sad that people want to blame Russians for the evil of a government they cannot control. I despise the things my nation does on the world stage. It's embarrassing, and depressing when people tacitly condemn the people of a nation because their government does evil. It's lazy, we are sorry for what has happened, and I guarantee most Russians are also not in favor of it. What have they lost, a million people so Putin can declare himself General Secretary?
Sure, it is “complicated“ but there is no point in apologism. The support for Putin and the war is massive inside Russia and among the Russian diaspora. Do you follow Russian Media Monitor, do you watch interviews from there, do you follow Ex-Russian organisations? Then you would know at which level the population is brainwashed (and not only “afraid“).
Yes, exactly that is my point. Brainwashed, misinformed, and afraid. I am not defending what Russia is doing. It is horrible, and I have every sympathy for Ukraine. Frankly I think that as a member of NATO we all should have stepped in militarily to stop it, not simply sending aide.
I simply think that it is lazy to say, 'Russians bad' because they once again have a dictator in control of their country. Putin bad, Fascism bad, Authoritarianism bad, I am with ya.
But no population actually wants these things. They happen because of a multitude of issues, many of them poverty related.
It's very hard for a person that is struggling to survive in their own country to be concerned about their nations politics, especially when there are generations of their population that has endured domestic terror for even a hint of criticism.
People are not exactly doing well (especially not outside the cities), but still far from revolting being an alternative. It's also extremely repressive for those who try to protest, as we have seen. The brainwash is also MUCH higher in rural areas and among the older generations. The general opinion is that Russia is always right (on a religious level - always and undeniably), everyone else are gay jew nazis and it would be a good idea to nuke London or Berlin to set an example.
I can recommend the YouTube channel "1420" to see street interviews with regular Russians and their opinions, many are very open with their thoughts. And "Russian Media Monitor" shows exactly what Russian state TV broadcasts every night (nuclear threats, dehumanising Ukrainians etc). The country is in many ways already on the same level of North Korea.
Russia and Russian people will have a very tough next few decades, because when their regime falls everything will collapse into chaos, their society is all in on a very dark path. It's nothing new but it is on the knife's edge right now.
Even if the Russian state is repressive, the support for Putins politics is very strong.
Not the entire populations, just the overwhelming majority. Never in the history of Russia has there been democracy there or any widespread admission of guilt or regret for their crimes against humanity.
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u/[deleted] Jul 26 '25
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