A Ukrainian soldier named Serhiy, returning from Russian captivity, has reportedly been found mutilated with swastikas carved into his forehead, as disclosed by Dr. Olexandr Turkevich, who is treating him.
The soldier, blindfolded during the ordeal, claimed Russian soldiers threatened to dismember him, citing accusations of fascism.
I could try to address that disagreement. I’m inclined to assume that you, and citizens of other European countries that had a substantial number of Russians living there, tend to get this impressions exactly from those Russians. Russians who doesn’t live in Russia, and social media related to them. My impression is that they are much more crazy than average Russian living in Russia. The latter are uneducated enough to believe that the west wants to conquer Russia, but the former are idiotic enough to assume they are in some privileged position, and that mist Russians think the same. In reality the rest of Russians don’t have time to indulge in such fantasies and really busy with their lives.
So I’m saying the imperialism exists in a minority of Russians. The irony is that the president is with the minority and that’s why we are in current situation. He got crazy enough with time that he disconnected with majority of the Russians.
I think it’s useless to blame regular Russians in imperialism. But it might be useful to put some pressure on those Russians living outside Russia to make sure they think less about possibility to improve their lives by conquering some country.
A lot of Russians I deal with are young and well adjusted, only the old and the poor believe in Russian propaganda. My hometown, sadly, was home to both. When Lithuanians tell them to go to Russia if they love it so much, they get really quiet though.
The Russians from Russia who afford to travel are also notorious for being annoying and disrespectful tourists throughout Southeast Asia and various other places. Even in online games they stick to each other instead of playing with people from various countries.
I disagree about the Russians in Russia, I think the blame is on Russians, they are the ones who have kept Putin in power for so long. If the Dutch government started taking about retaking Indonesia or Belgian goverment wanted to take Congo back, they would be gone from power tomorrow.
I think one issue with your last argument is that the Dutch and Belgians are democratic and have the ability to remove government officials from power peacefully.
Despite what Russia pretends to be it is not Democratic. It is authoritarian. Putin is the ruler and no Russian can get rid of him by voting, it would have to be a violent revolution or civil war.
That’s much more to expect for an average Russian than simply showing up to a ballot box. Although I don’t excuse their complacency I do understand it.
Lithuania was not democratic in the 80’s and then it became democratic in 1990. All it took was a barehanded unarmed standoff against the Soviet tanks for a night. In a miracle, it only cost 14 lives.
The real problem is not the revolution, it is what comes afterwards. Most Russians do not understand democracy, they don’t understand how western countries function. They don’t have strong institutions or media organisations either. They will have to build those and do what they failed at it back in the 90’s.
It didnt took only took that, If it did there would be no more dictatorships, A big part of the administration turned against the state
Thanks. I think they need to be reminded of that more frequently.
Yes. I’m not sure what can be done about this though, except proper education.
I could agree but this is different from the imperialism in my book. At least one big reason for that happening is how well constructed the state propaganda was from the very beginning. It’s like most actors are acting out of fear mostly, while not really being obligated to follow the narrative. And the education problem, of course.