Do you feel sorry for the people of Russia?

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

No, I don't. I only feel "sorry" for Russians who are anti-Putin and against the war in Ukraine.

Also, as a whole, Russians tend to prefer "strongman" leaders like Putin.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

Do you realise the Russian people are being fed misinformation and propaganda 24/7, constantly? They don't get to see the real news reports or the facts. They only hear Putin's "version" of events and are warned that the real facts, if they ever do reach Russian people in the first place, are just "anti-Russia western propaganda."

Believe me, if you or I had spent our entire lives in Russia, there's a greater than 90% chance both of us would've been susceptible to the lies fed to us our entire lives, through no fault of our own.

You have no basis for saying they support "strongman leaders." They haven't had free or fair elections in a long time. Putin is a dictator. And the fact is that most Russians who've not believed Putin's propaganda, and even some who do, don't support this war. Those who have gotten access to news revealing the atrocities Putin and his soldiers are committing are generally opposed to the war. And they've seen the damage it's brought to them in their daily lives.

Living in a brutal dictatorship without access to real news, being fed lies and propaganda 24/7? While still not nearly as bad as, say, North Korea, their conditions are pitiful, and they deserve our sympathy, not our scorn.

Yeah, no. I stand by what I said, I didn't say anything wrong.

Also, the entirety of Russian history shows that Russians tend to prefer strongman leaders.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

Donald Trump won a national election in America once; ergo, Americans prefer xenophobic, lying, misogynistic racists as their leaders and deserve what they get.

Also, again, a reminder that the Russian people haven't had much of a say at all in who their leader is for a long time now. If they do dare to dissent against the Putin regime, they're swiftly silenced.

Maybe a century back or fifty years back Russians preferred strongman leaders, IDK. What I do know is that during the entire 21st century, they've had no say in who their leader is and that they live under a brutal dictatorship (and actually this is also true for much of the 20th century).

Much of what you're saying is just baseless stereotypes about the Russian people, whose only basis is historic facts. TODAY, whether the Russian people want a strongman leader or not, they've got one. And if they do oppose him, again, they're permanently silenced.

Donald Trump didn't win the popular vote in either of his elections and the midterms results since his election show that most Americans don't like Trumpism.

Anyways, I said nothing wrong, so I don't know why you're even arguing with me. I only feel sorry for Russians who are anti-Putin and against the War in Ukraine.

Everything else you're saying is unnecessary.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

No. Only for those who are full opponents of the regime and thus are persecuted.

Most Russians support the war. Many of those who don't care for it because of the harm it's doing to the economy or the conscription don't mind all the war crimes, and didn't oppose the annexation of Crimea or the war against Georgia. I might start feeling bad for them on a human level if things get really, really bad in Russia, but right now the Russians are not suffering 1% of what the Ukrainians (or Syrians) are suffering.

Exactly! I agree with you 100%.