There have been many internal reform attempts in Russia, almost universally the leaders of each have been assassinated or imprisoned. It’s a very dangerous place to protest, especially now that they’ve invaded Ukraine and legalized mobilization.
Honestly, not too much people take it here as seriously as you guys somewhere over there.
Most just get skeptical of such stories the older they get, and this is unfortunately a consequence of personal empirical evidence. You expect the truth but instead get a story. As you grow older the story starts to feel rough, doesn't add up to experience and at some point turns into a complete Orwellian bullshit.
Stories get treated as tabloid bs used as propaganda, and quite often this is hardly too far from the truth.
Really well armed and well trained elite police forces are not sent in Ukraine because they are needed in case of unrests.
For battlefield there are poorly trained conscripts with rusty gear from 70s.
Dictators like Putin or Saddam save their best guard even in toughest moments of war, because they know that they can loose war but can still be in power if their guard can protect them from their political enemies.
Ukranian protesters had support from half of parliament, several independent oligarchs and even some part of government. Also they had logistic support from political organizations and also international support.
In Russia opposition has no allies in establishment, there are no independent oligarchs in the country, political organizations are destroyed and any Russian national by default has zero sympathy from the West now (frankly speaking even if one had a substantial support, it would be damaging for his political reputation in the country).
There are no public institutions left in Russia that opposition can rely on, every activist is essentially alone against government machine.
> Let's see where Ukraine is in 5 years and where Russia will be
given the disastrous policies of the ukranian government, in 5 years it would not surprise me if ukraine is divided between russia and poland. im sure the poles would love that too
> Your mentality fits nicely in russian society.
i think my mentality fits pretty nicely with that of southern Europe, where i live. i also happen to think that polish ukranian and russian mentality fit rather well together, especially the rampant xenophobia
> given the disastrous policies of the ukranian government
Do you point out the policy of not letting it's people genocided without a fight? Or do you mean something else? I don't this is even up for the government to decide, Ukrainians would fight no matter their governments policy.
> especially the rampant xenophobia
Please don't project your own mentality onto others.
> Ukrainians would fight no matter their governments policy
is that why they prevent all men from leaving their country?
> Please don't project your own mentality onto others
Mine? The founder of Azov, Andriy Biletsky declared in 2010 that the Ukrainian nation’s mission was to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade … against Semite-led Untermenschen [subhumans].” There are now streets in Ukraine that carry names of the Azov clowns, and Bilenski is frequently present in ceremonies. But hey, let's give them all weapons we have so that they can fight the Russians. What a marvelous idea ... not. But it is what it is, and Azov Regiment is going to be part of the planned counter-offensive this spring
The reality is, the United States supports Ukranians in much the same way it supported the Afghans during the 1980s. Groups like Azov and Right Sector are just the new Taliban. For Ukraninan people's sake lets hope Ukraine doesn't end up like Afghanistan
So they tried once a century ago, then gave up? How is this different from what I was asking? Nothing is done, violence is tolerated and glorified at home and exported to neighbors too.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Generations