• Camelbeard@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    To add to this, Putin can recruit from the poorest regions for a while, but at some point he needs to get men from the larger cities. The last thing he wants is protests from Moskou etc. The average person from Moskou hadn’t had that much negative effects from the war yet. But if you, your son or father is forced to the battlefield it’s a different story.

    • antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      11 hours ago

      I hope you’re right. Because in general the reaction of the Russian population to the war has been so meek, I’m starting to doubt it would be any different once recruitment starts hitting the biggest cities.

      • Tuukka R@sopuli.xyz
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        10 hours ago

        It’s so meek because of the political stance of “I am not political” that permeats the whole society.

        Its main idea is that “I make actively sure to not see or hear what is happening around me, and in return I can live my life reasonably carefree.” That’s an unspoken contract between the junta leading the country and its populace. If one side breaks the contract, it’s null and void.

        The funny thing is, the people have not noticed that the contract has been broken, because they are actively avoiding noticing anything that has to do with society!

        And the word “actively” is of great significance. Because it’s not passivity, it’s a stance held up actively by each individual. The situation of the Russia is all the time deeper and deeper “in your face”, and eventually it’ll be so deep that there’s nothing the individual can do to avoid noticing it.

        And then they become active in… Well, some other manner.

          • commander@lemmings.world
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            6 hours ago

            Why?

            People are proudly political here.

            We also live very comfortable lives compared to the Russians. Most of us don’t want to ruin that.

            • Tuukka R@sopuli.xyz
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              4 hours ago

              I do see a lot of of US people saying stuff like “all politicians are always corrupt”. That’s the thought Putin has been trying to actively cultivate in Russians’ minds, because when people don’t trust politicians in general, they won’t come to think that they could vote in someone who is much less corrupt than Putin.

              When people lose their trust in national politics ability to act in the best interest of their nation, they will get proud of being apolitical. After all, for them it’s come to mean “not taking part in a corruption scheme”.

              Also… My impression is that a growing amount of people in USA are NOT living more comfortable lives than rural Russians. Living in an RV and having to work two jobs isn’t really very different life from living in a dilapidated and crooked wooden house that’s letting the wind in from several places. I don’t know how common that kind of living is in the States, but it seems to be an existant phenomenon. Those people do not live in a different comfort than people in the poorest regions of the Russia. Also, I’ve seen photos of large amounts of people living in kind of streetside villages consisting of camping tents. That is a kind of life that is less comfortable than anything I’ve seen during my travels in the Russia.

              A much smaller share of US people live under such.circumstances than is the case in the Russia, but for those who do, I am absolutely able to fathom why any change is better for them than status quo! There’s only one way to go from the rock bottom.

              • commander@lemmings.world
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                4 hours ago

                I can tell you straight up, the people living in RVs are not working 2 jobs in the US.

                If we want to talk trailer parks, odds are they’re still not working 2 jobs and if they are, they are going to have access to way more luxuries than rural Russians. Unfortunately, they’re still probably not independent enough to avoid paying for things they can get for free, such as digital media.

                There’s not much of a comparison to be made, honestly. We have it way better in the US than they have it in Russia.