> The point I am trying to make is that the Russian people seem to be equally incredulous to the idea that Russia itself is the aggressor. You may want to poin

> The point I am trying to make is that the Russian people seem to be equally incredulous to the idea that Russia itself is the aggressor. You may want to point this crowd to some sources about that incredulity being widespread in Russia. > How is it that the Russian media has such a hold over them - in this day of the internet and other forms of communication? There is a language barrier at play here - Russian natives may not be able to avail English-media content, and I do wonder about how much russian language counter-programming is widely available to the average Russian. > And if Russia can have such a hold, why couldn't OUR government have such an equal hold over US. Russia is practically a dictatorship, while the US is a functioning democracy. That said, within the last 2 decades we have seen the US invade Iraq for no good reason, with significant support from the population resulting in Bush's re-election. Granted, the US people finally threw those responsible out of power for a couple of cycles (albeit for a mix of reasons, including poor economic performance). Meanwhile the Russian people do not appear to have that luxury of being able to peacefully remove Putin from power for any reason.