Deimos_Fresh: Where was your dissatisfaction of your political class when Ukraine soldiers and nationalists killed people of Donbas? Guess what? No one cared. Just like no one cared about Iraq, Serbia, Libya etc. Start with yourself first. You have a lot of NATO related illegal invasions to protest.

Deimos_Fresh: Where was your dissatisfaction of your political class when Ukraine soldiers and nationalists killed people of Donbas? Guess what? No one cared. Just like no one cared about Iraq, Serbia, Libya etc. Start with yourself first. You have a lot of NATO related illegal invasions to protest.

David9855: You bombed pearl harbor and we fucked you six different ways from Sunday nip.

dudalb: Hope you enjoy being a member of a Pariah nation.

Deimos_Fresh: Start with yourself first. You have a lot of NATO related illegal invasions to protest.

al281442: For you as an individual I do feel sorry you are in this mess.

But there is a problem.

An autocratic system like the rule of Putin in Russia does not so much rely on a population instilled with his propaganda. Much more it does rely on apolitical people who feel totally disconnected from the doings of their leader. This is what gives him the freedom to act.

If you take the idea of democracy to its extreme it is not just the political class being responsible for the people but also the people being responsible for politics. It may look like blaming the people. But blaming someone is slightly different from holding someone responsible. Only Putin can be blamed. But the people in his country are kinda in this together with him whether they like it or not.

It's a Western perspective of course and - as I did say - I'm taking it to an extreme here. Though this is exactly what Putin did to us now, in the EU. His actions did spark fear and anger in the hearts of most people around here. Within days it made us reevaluate what's important to us. Just days before Putin's invasion we were still bickering with the Polish on how a democratic system is ought to be working. This is all gone now. Putin did unite Western countries with their thoughts and actions in a way that seemed impossible to ourselves.

GOG is owned by a company in Poland. They act like it. To me personally it seems very relatable.

I cannot ask you to put yourself in danger.

But really, Russians must understand Putin is the president of their country. He's not the president of Mars. Oh, someone find a way to make that happen...

People in Russia at some point must find ways to express their dissatisfaction with the doings of the political class. I know this is tough in an oppressive environment. Everyone must be cautious not to get themselves into trouble. But if they don't learn how to show resentment to where it belongs things will never ever change.

Withdrawal of people from the polity is the lifeblood of figures like Putin.

I'm kinda sure you won't like this answer much. But there's no other way to me feel about it in this very situation.

David9855: Or you could...you know....give the Falklands back to it's rightful owners.

Deimos_Fresh: No one cared. Just like no one cared about Iraq, Serbia, Libya etc.

al281442: Oh, and Collin Powell himself said in an interview ten years after the Iraq invasion that one of the biggest regrets of his life was being the man who presented the false proof that made that war possible.

Him saying this didn't bring back any of the lives lost but he did indeed admit it.

Magnitus: To be fair to the Russians, Putin is not exactly your suave manipulator that played his tricks on an uncaring populace.

He's a thug. He either jailed or killed the opposition and if you oppose him successfully, he'll put you in jail or worse. Its not just about caring, its about beyond ordinary courage at this point (you'd have to be willing to put your life and freedom on the line to oppose him in a meaningful way).

And btw, lest you forget, he has launch codes to thousands of nuclear weapons. Should he find himself in a position to be overthrown, he could wipe out 90%+ of the human race in retaliation (which if you're a sociopathic megalomaniac about to meet your end might be an appealing course of action).

He's 69. Personally, I'm hoping he doesn't live to a ripe old age and that his successor is a nicer person.