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Does if enough people do it. Strong dictatorship be damned. Heck Ukrainians stood up to a brutal crackdown in the Maidan revolution to oust a pro-Russian puppet

Does if enough people do it. Strong dictatorship be damned. Heck Ukrainians stood up to a brutal crackdown in the Maidan revolution to oust a pro-Russian puppet leader. It's about numbers and resolve.

kadoban 5y ago
At best that's a messy plan. Are you willing to intentionally make millions of people as miserable as possible on the slim chance that they'll overthrow the people with all the guns and power? Note that the Maidan revolution was driven from within, as far as I know, not forced on the people from without.
- throwaway6532 5y ago
  When the flipside of the equation is potentially MAD then, yes.
- ledauphin 5y ago
  what is the other option?
- aesyondu 5y ago
  Millions are already miserable on the slim chance that they'll overcome the people with all the guns and power and retain their sovereignty and freedom (i.e., Ukraine if that wasn't clear).
  - kadoban 5y ago
    The Ukrainian people deserve our help and support. They're doing the best they can with a really shitty situation. I just would not intentionally target the _common_ Russian people as much as it can be avoided. Hurt the oligarchs, Putin, anyone who is actually helping him, etc. It won't be painless for the common Russian people, and we can't really help that. But targetting them is just hurtful for no benefit.
    - throwaway6532 5y ago
      On the contrary hurting them will provide a very strong signal to them that something is actually quite wrong. Kremlin is a propaganda machine and while some don't believe what they hear there are others that do. It gets kind of harder and harder to believe you're the good guy when things like that start happening to you. It may prompt you to look at alternative, non-Kremlin news sources and formed a more accurate picture. This may in turn lead to higher and higher numbers of people willing to revolt against Putin. It's absolutely a last resort, but this is the highest stakes game in existence and there is no time to mess around.
      - kadoban 5y ago
        That sounds like a plan that _at best_ works on the timeline of years, and more likely never works.

kadoban 5y ago

At best that's a messy plan. Are you willing to intentionally make millions of people as miserable as possible on the slim chance that they'll overthrow the people with all the guns and power? Note that the Maidan revolution was driven from within, as far as I know, not forced on the people from without.

throwaway6532 5y ago
When the flipside of the equation is potentially MAD then, yes.
ledauphin 5y ago
what is the other option?
aesyondu 5y ago
Millions are already miserable on the slim chance that they'll overcome the people with all the guns and power and retain their sovereignty and freedom (i.e., Ukraine if that wasn't clear).
- kadoban 5y ago
  The Ukrainian people deserve our help and support. They're doing the best they can with a really shitty situation. I just would not intentionally target the _common_ Russian people as much as it can be avoided. Hurt the oligarchs, Putin, anyone who is actually helping him, etc. It won't be painless for the common Russian people, and we can't really help that. But targetting them is just hurtful for no benefit.
  - throwaway6532 5y ago
    On the contrary hurting them will provide a very strong signal to them that something is actually quite wrong. Kremlin is a propaganda machine and while some don't believe what they hear there are others that do. It gets kind of harder and harder to believe you're the good guy when things like that start happening to you. It may prompt you to look at alternative, non-Kremlin news sources and formed a more accurate picture. This may in turn lead to higher and higher numbers of people willing to revolt against Putin. It's absolutely a last resort, but this is the highest stakes game in existence and there is no time to mess around.
    - kadoban 5y ago
      That sounds like a plan that _at best_ works on the timeline of years, and more likely never works.