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The events in Belarus recently demonstrated that you are wrong. I ran a small (1 mln pageviews/month) online Russian-speaking community since 2003 and since 20

The events in Belarus recently demonstrated that you are wrong. I ran a small (1 mln pageviews/month) online Russian-speaking community since 2003 and since 2014, my main preoccupation are Kremlin bots. The population in Russia is mostly anti-Putin, they just do not speak up, because the state made sure they feel isolated.

dilyevsky 6y ago
Not a secret russian government spends considerable resources on online astroturfing but there are large constituency of closet (or not so closet) putin supporters even among tech folks of 30yo and older (basically people who were alive and old enough to remember 90s and 80s)
- siliconvalley1 6y ago
  Why would you think that there is a large number of Pro-Putin Pro-Political Assassination tech workers? This seems like a ridiculous statement.
  - dilyevsky 6y ago
    It’s quite anecdotal but my sampling is rather large as I’ve worked with those people over multiple years and still have contacts there. Nobody would admit they approve of this assassination obviously same as mh17 but as long as putin maintains plausible deniability they’d be ok with supporting him
actuator 6y ago
Not that I don't believe you, but how would you back such statement when you say "majority".
- sam_lowry_ 6y ago
  By matching what happens in Belarus now to Russia. It was long believed, even in US, that Lukashenka had the majority. In reality, he faked all elections since 1994. Once his deeds became hard to ignore even for pathetically peaceful Belarusians, all the population turned against him. Gosh, the exit poll in my voting station recorded only one vote for Lukashenka among 358. I was there watching the exit poll for a couple of hours. I fully trust the organizers, but one in 358... I could not even imagine it. Same for Russia. P.S. Yes, I have a Belarusian passeport. Yes, I run a Russian-speaking community site. Pass on.
  - actuator 6y ago
    The election results had him at ~80% votes, if he is really rigging elections, would he really go for such unrealistic numbers. If I have just 40% support, I might go for showing it to be about 55%, so that it at least looks close. I think he did rig elections but he might have had majority already, which makes his numbers look so unrealistic or he is just plain stupid to not even rig elections to make them look believable. I do really sympathize with the Belarussian people though, every community should get a say on who represents them.
    - throwaway8941 6y ago
      >would he really go for such unrealistic numbers I am from Kazakhstan. If you've ever heard of it, would you consider it to be an autocratic state? Because according to the official results our beloved leader received 98% of votes in an election a few years back. Now that's an unrealistic number for sure.
      - actuator 6y ago
        At that point, why even a facade. :)
        dhosek 6y ago
        That's how these things have always worked. Autocratic leaders like to have "elections" that they win by unrealistic margins.
        xorcist 6y ago
        I can see how that might be a power trip.
      - baybal2 6y ago
        98% still can't beat 146% https://www.alux.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/25-insane-crazy-things-you-might-now-know-about-vladimir-putins-russia-video-and-infografic-story-on-ealuxe-22.png https://www.alux.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/25-insane-cr...
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
nomadnomad 6y ago
That is not true. Putin's approval rating is actually pretty high even when measured by NGOs sponsored by the "West". You'll be surprised, but it is quoted to be 60% in July 2020. [1] [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_image_of_Vladimir_Putin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_image_of_Vladimir_Putin
- BiosElement 6y ago
  We're citing Wikipedia now? I don't claim it's wrong, I claim citing Wikipedia is poor practice and surprising to see here. It's excellent for getting a broad overview but when it comes to specific facts or figures, these should be cited directly.
  - boomboomsubban 6y ago
    Wikipedia can be wrong, but you can't just discredit anything on there. If you think it is wrong, find evidence to support your claim.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
- baybal2 6y ago
  I'll tell you how they are cooked: 1. The legacy of 8 decades under a government practicing public polling under a gunpoint. 2. Only the most well fed, and carefree Potemkin villages can be surveyed. 3. The lack of any other genuine option other than saying "I back a complete joke "alternative" candidates," which are set up by the regime itself to play Pope Gapon 4. Plainly faked polls
  - nomadnomad 6y ago
    I am not referring to fake government-run polls. I am referring to polling agencies that are very west-leaning, and even they can't blatantly lie about it. His approval rating as of a month ago is 59-60% [1][2][3]. In fact his approval rating after the annexation of Crimea was at all time high of 85%. Check the sources. Again, these are not government-run polls. Lots of good data on it (thanks to google): https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/putin-facing-growing-anger-russia-200616190716489.html https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/putin-facing-growi... https://www.statista.com/statistics/896181/putin-approval-rating-russia/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/896181/putin-approval-ra... https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/05/06/putins-approval-rating-drops-to-historic-low-poll-a70199 https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/05/06/putins-approval-ra... And I am not saying Putin did or didn't order the poisoning of Navalny. I am just saying he is not the only one with motive/opportunity contrary to popular belief pushed in the mainstream media propaganda.

dilyevsky 6y ago

Not a secret russian government spends considerable resources on online astroturfing but there are large constituency of closet (or not so closet) putin supporters even among tech folks of 30yo and older (basically people who were alive and old enough to remember 90s and 80s)

siliconvalley1 6y ago
Why would you think that there is a large number of Pro-Putin Pro-Political Assassination tech workers? This seems like a ridiculous statement.
- dilyevsky 6y ago
  It’s quite anecdotal but my sampling is rather large as I’ve worked with those people over multiple years and still have contacts there. Nobody would admit they approve of this assassination obviously same as mh17 but as long as putin maintains plausible deniability they’d be ok with supporting him

actuator 6y ago

Not that I don't believe you, but how would you back such statement when you say "majority".

sam_lowry_ 6y ago
By matching what happens in Belarus now to Russia. It was long believed, even in US, that Lukashenka had the majority. In reality, he faked all elections since 1994. Once his deeds became hard to ignore even for pathetically peaceful Belarusians, all the population turned against him. Gosh, the exit poll in my voting station recorded only one vote for Lukashenka among 358. I was there watching the exit poll for a couple of hours. I fully trust the organizers, but one in 358... I could not even imagine it. Same for Russia. P.S. Yes, I have a Belarusian passeport. Yes, I run a Russian-speaking community site. Pass on.
- actuator 6y ago
  The election results had him at ~80% votes, if he is really rigging elections, would he really go for such unrealistic numbers. If I have just 40% support, I might go for showing it to be about 55%, so that it at least looks close. I think he did rig elections but he might have had majority already, which makes his numbers look so unrealistic or he is just plain stupid to not even rig elections to make them look believable. I do really sympathize with the Belarussian people though, every community should get a say on who represents them.
  - throwaway8941 6y ago
    >would he really go for such unrealistic numbers I am from Kazakhstan. If you've ever heard of it, would you consider it to be an autocratic state? Because according to the official results our beloved leader received 98% of votes in an election a few years back. Now that's an unrealistic number for sure.
    - actuator 6y ago
      At that point, why even a facade. :)
      - dhosek 6y ago
        That's how these things have always worked. Autocratic leaders like to have "elections" that they win by unrealistic margins.
        xorcist 6y ago
        I can see how that might be a power trip.
    - baybal2 6y ago
      98% still can't beat 146% https://www.alux.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/25-insane-crazy-things-you-might-now-know-about-vladimir-putins-russia-video-and-infografic-story-on-ealuxe-22.png https://www.alux.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/25-insane-cr...

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

nomadnomad 6y ago

That is not true. Putin's approval rating is actually pretty high even when measured by NGOs sponsored by the "West". You'll be surprised, but it is quoted to be 60% in July 2020. [1] [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_image_of_Vladimir_Putin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_image_of_Vladimir_Putin

BiosElement 6y ago
We're citing Wikipedia now? I don't claim it's wrong, I claim citing Wikipedia is poor practice and surprising to see here. It's excellent for getting a broad overview but when it comes to specific facts or figures, these should be cited directly.
- boomboomsubban 6y ago
  Wikipedia can be wrong, but you can't just discredit anything on there. If you think it is wrong, find evidence to support your claim.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
baybal2 6y ago
I'll tell you how they are cooked: 1. The legacy of 8 decades under a government practicing public polling under a gunpoint. 2. Only the most well fed, and carefree Potemkin villages can be surveyed. 3. The lack of any other genuine option other than saying "I back a complete joke "alternative" candidates," which are set up by the regime itself to play Pope Gapon 4. Plainly faked polls
- nomadnomad 6y ago
  I am not referring to fake government-run polls. I am referring to polling agencies that are very west-leaning, and even they can't blatantly lie about it. His approval rating as of a month ago is 59-60% [1][2][3]. In fact his approval rating after the annexation of Crimea was at all time high of 85%. Check the sources. Again, these are not government-run polls. Lots of good data on it (thanks to google): https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/putin-facing-growing-anger-russia-200616190716489.html https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/putin-facing-growi... https://www.statista.com/statistics/896181/putin-approval-rating-russia/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/896181/putin-approval-ra... https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/05/06/putins-approval-rating-drops-to-historic-low-poll-a70199 https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/05/06/putins-approval-ra... And I am not saying Putin did or didn't order the poisoning of Navalny. I am just saying he is not the only one with motive/opportunity contrary to popular belief pushed in the mainstream media propaganda.