GlasgowJock wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 4:25 am
What were your initial thoughts?
Something along the lines of "wtf are they doing! this is compete insanity!".
What is your perception of the inner political situation?
Very very briefly:
The continuing move towards a more and more totalitarian regime that started in the early 2000's and accelerated especially now after the initial war "plan" failed.
What is your understanding of the historical context?
Depending on what direction you have in mind, there's lots that should be considered.
What i told my parents last spring: whatever reasons you name, they have to be "reinforced-concrete"-strong because they have to justify starting a war.
omaniphil wrote: ↑Sat Jan 21, 2023 11:15 am
I can only imagine how difficult it would be to face that same hostility when you are living there.
Thank you for your words! To be fair, i have to say that i haven't personally met hostility as i understand it. Although there're certainly accounts online about tragic outcomes of certain arguments/fights, probably whilst drinking.
I also don't tend to talk about it with strangers much, so at worst it would come to heated debates, or a stop or near stop of communications.
Do you feel that there are many like minded people left in Russia, or at least could be persuaded to return to reason if the political circumstances change?
Many. But these voices are essentially made illegal so are grossly underrepresented in the public discussion - analysts say this is one of the aims of propaganda too - to atomize the population and make individuals think their (reasonable) stance is only an exception. I can't give any %, but it's a lot of people, especially the younger ones.
Do you foresee something similar happening if a more liberal government emerged at some point?
Absolutely, there's just no other way to move on, but it will be a lot of work (psychological, educational, diplomatic etc) - I believe the current government would be unable to accomplish this even if required, so in my view a pre-requisite to this happening would have to be a major overhaul of the entire government and actually qualified, reasonable (or at least just sane) people coming to power.