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I live in Russia (Moscow) and I'm working for leading russian internet company. I'm very annoyed by current political and economical situation. I was so upset b

I live in Russia (Moscow) and I'm working for leading russian internet company. I'm very annoyed by current political and economical situation. I was so upset by events happening last months that I simply stopped reading russian news at all. And I spent all the time in places like GitHub, Topcoder, English Wikipedia, Hacker News etc. Yesterday, I've tried to make yet another commit to my private repository and suddenly I failed to connect to GitHub. After basic checking of network, I started searching for a news, and I got it. In a big picture, it's not just russian politicians who tight control over the free internet. The main problem in russia is not just politicians, it's a vast majority of russian people who voted for Putin and his party and totally support current regime. May be for western people it's hard to believe how can it be possible to support this crazy regime. I can tell you that even top managers from leading russian internet company (from my private conversation with them) dreamed about great russian firewall because in that case, they won't have competitors like Google. Furthermore even IT guys like Putin regime and don't get worry about crazy laws passed against the internet. I assure you in that because many of my colleagues really like Stalin and really like what's happening in Ukraine. Almost all people in Russia really hate western world. They don't care about currency exchange rates and inflation, they care only about imperialism. When Putin made desision about Crimea, and when people totally supported it, I stopped believe in Russia at all. Russia is a pure soviet country, with pure 100% soviet mindset, vast majority of russian people like idea of self-isolation. This is why Russia has no future as a liberal market-driven country. And this is why I'm actively looking for a job abroad.

maga 12y ago
Welcome to the club. I did the same 20 years ago precisely to the day.
egeozcan 12y ago
Had the same situation in Turkey. Half of the country supports a (for me obviously) corrupt party for reasons I can observe (religion, dreaming of becoming the glorious Ottoman Empire once again and so on), but can't make sense of. I have been living in Germany for the last 5 years - never been happier, even though I earn less. I try not to read any Turkish news (very depressing) with moderate success because of the common "{Yet Another Social Network} blocked in Turkey" posts on HN & others.
- copter 12y ago
  Same here. I left the country (Turkey) 4 years ago, have been living in Estonia and Poland - never been happier and I earn more. Now it just feels nostalgia when I read news about Turkey and I can't care less about how fucked the country is. Not gonna raise my kids there and none of the problems bother me anymore. I stop believing in flags, made myself completely apolitic and minding my own business.
c1sc0 12y ago
"it's a vast majority of russian people who voted for Putin and his party and totally support current regime" ... this is why when you win a war, even a cold one ... you rebuild the country at your own expense ...
- justaman 12y ago
  The worst thing a country can do is piss off the intellectuals/job creators.
guycalledfrank 12y ago
Hi, pal. I live in Moscow too, and I agree with you: what's happening is really really sad. I use github for everyday work, and suddenly I failed to connect. I need my job actually, you know? And they just broke it. For what? For blocking one file, which nobody cared about? Are they serious? This is fucking insane. And regime is fucking insane. And "replace your t-shirt with a patriotic one" ads on streets are just too fucking dumb to be true. WTF?! 2013 wasn't too bad, and I had no thoughts about moving to another country, but in just one year everything gone to shit.
- acqq 12y ago
  How do they ban it actually? In my West (!) European country (I don't know of any European country that doesn't do some censorship) they just serve court order to the providers, the providers remove the entries from the DNS but the banned sites are still reachable using the IP address. They you just need to fix your etc hosts file. Try with https://192.30.252.128 https://192.30.252.128 and accept the certificate if it has A0:C4:A7:46:00:ED:A7:2D:C0:BE:CB:9A:8C:B6:07:CA:58:EE:74:5E SHA-1 fingerprint. (The uploaders can be related to the companies selling VPN access to Russians.)
  - guycalledfrank 12y ago
    In Russia they seem to force all ISPs to ban specific IP addresses. Obviously, it blocks many stuff, and not just one page. I really HOPE that it'll be resolved soon, because a few months ago we had similar problems with wordpress and even youtube (!), but it was fixed in 1-2 days, because, you know, everyone watches youtube, and blocking half of it makes everyone mad. But github is not what everyone uses, it's just a thing for coders like me, so I'm also afraid, they wont give a shit, because only a "minority" of their clients complained. --- Can't load suggested IP as well
    - vladtaltos 12y ago
      I'm travelling frequently to both Russia and Turkey - to avoid having stupid spatial location based limitations I've been using privateinternetaccess.com for more than 6 months now. it's pretty cheap and has gateways all around the world - I recommend it without any hesitation... I especially like having access to streaming video for the shows I watch that is limited to country ip's like the daily show...
leonardinius 12y ago
I feel for you. Do you feel "generally safe" leaving comments like this online? For both physical security and job security? What's the mood out there - is opposition a safe thing or something you whisper your wife in the kitchen, at night, when children are asleep?
- guycalledfrank 12y ago
  Nobody hides their complaints, but the majority of people seem to actually support current government.
- guard-of-terra 12y ago
  Everybody is leaving comments like this. You're more typical if you do than if you don't. So your risk doesn't get higher than the background risk of living in a corrupt country with broken legal system.
reirob 12y ago
Thanks for posting this insight! I am in Europe and I am really scared about that the situation between Western World and Russia could escalate even more. Second Cold War is not far away now. I deeply hope that both opponents US/Europe/Ukraine and Russia will find a diplomatic way out of this situation that will allow to carry on. The world has so many other problems - ecological, economical, viral, terrorists - to care of. I have sympathies for Ukraine, but it really pisses me off that we are on a brink of war and this because in a small part of Ukraina (in proportions to europe/world) there are people who want to separate. It's crazy. Just let them vote and if they want, let them go instead of having them as a burden blocking you in your future adventures. The situation with Scotland and Catalonia is/was similar, but there was no need to such drastic measures. Especially that we Europeans and Russians share the same continent. We should learn to live together. Sorry, it's my opinion, it's not about technology, but had just to leave my chest.
- stfnppv 12y ago
  The cold war never ended, buddy. It's just that Putin feels comfortable enough now to show his teeth.
  - guard-of-terra 12y ago
    Actually it did end with Russia losing not just overseas allies, not just Eastern Block, but even Ukraine and Belarus. Thus casting Russia back into XVI century.
- kravietz 12y ago
  Stay cool, there will be no war. It's going to stay a regional conflict fueled by a small group of Russian nationalists, slowly turning Donbas into yet another blackhole like South Ossetia or Abkhazia.
  - reirob 12y ago
    I really wish and hope that you and all the other people with the same opinion will be proved right. I am worried that some unpredictable accident or irrational decision will turn this into a new nightmare. After all a huge majority of Russians support Putin and his politics. With more and more isolation and bad economy in Russia, Putin might maybe at some point feel that he has no other way to keep his "honor/dignity" in the eyes of his people and might start a war. After all we do not know what happens in the heads of powerful men in this position and he might feel by the NATO expansion quite encircled. Let's hope that people at power, including Putin, do not make any irrevocable things.
xor-ed-wolf 12y ago
Этот пост полон выдумок. Скажем, абсолютно не согласен с утверждением, что большинство "проголосовало" за Путина. Большинство проголосовало за единственный вариант, которые не приведёт к неадеквату в стране "прямо сейчас", который гарантируют другие кандидаты. По сути вопрос в том что выбора у населения НЕТ ВООБЩЕ. То что преподносится как "выбор" - тонко подстроенная игра олигархических группировок.
- guycalledfrank 12y ago
  Проголосовало или нет, но поддерживающих кажется абсурдно много. Может среди думающей молодёжи и нет (хотя тоже, на удивление, хватает), но поговори с теми, кто телек смотрит (большинство пожилых людей), они считают что всё, как там и говорят, что путен на белом коне, а остальные ополчившиеся на нас геи). Статистики у меня нет, говорю по людям, которых я встречал.
  - xor-ed-wolf 12y ago
    Всё логично. Кого они ещё могут выбрать? Назовите мне хоть одну реально адекватную альтернативу... под адеватной я подразумеваю такую, которая: а) имеет чётко очерченные планы по развитию страны; б) имеет опыт или хотя-бы пользуется доверием у людей; в) поддерживается финансово.
    - guard-of-terra 12y ago
      "имеет опыт или хотя-бы пользуется доверием у людей" Do we have a single such person in 140 million Russia? My bet is on "no".
    - vasilipupkin 12y ago
      this is a nonsensical and circular argument, I am sorry. How can you seriously believe that a country of 150 mln people has no alternative to Putin? that is impossible statistically.
      - xor-ed-wolf 12y ago
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
mahouse 12y ago
> May be for western people it's hard to believe how can it be possible to support this crazy regime. For me, it is not. As an example, for me the US is completely nuts, but you know, they like what they like. You can think some things are normal just because you're used to them, but that means nothing. > This is why Russia has no future as a liberal market-driven country. And what if they don't want to play that game?
- Lapsa 12y ago
  I'm in between and I think that both - US and RF are completely nuts :D
  - dasil003 12y ago
    As an American, I agree. I think both cultures have little interest in having an honest debate about how to foster a good society across the board. Politicians pay it lip service, but behind the façade everyone is just trying to get theirs in the US just as it is in RF.
    - tormeh 12y ago
      NO! Common misunderstanding among Americans who haven't traveled much. You don't even need to go to Russia. Just go to Mexico and it will give you a small taste of how bad things can get. The only way Russia could be worse is if it had feudal slavery. Ok, there are corrupt people everywhere, but there are often cultural limits on what people will let others and themselves get away with. Those limits are pretty high in the US, but they basically don't exist in Russia. As to not being interested in figuring out how to create a good society, you're correct. They're both way too exceptional for that.
      - dasil003 12y ago
        LOL, you know what they say about assuming right? Turns out I'm half-Brazilian and I currently live in the UK. I spent part of my childhood in the 80s in Brazil so I know a thing or two about corruption. Anyway, not sure what you were responding "NO" to as you explicitly agreed with the only assertion that I actually made rather than the stereotype that jubilantly flowered forth in your mind's eye.
vetler 12y ago
Wow, I had no idea it was that bad. Good luck in finding a job abroad! If you don't want to move that far, and live in one of the safest countries in the world, I can highly recommend Norway.
dimitar 12y ago
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B3064ALCEAEnJWT.png:large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B3064ALCEAEnJWT.png:large - according to this chart, you are not alone in considering emigration.
- themusicgod1 12y ago
  What happened in mid 2011 in Russia?
  - dimitar 12y ago
    Lots of small things; they added up and the regime became more oppressive and nationalistic. People started to feel it even if they stayed away from politics.
  - jerad 12y ago
    The migration rate rises sharply in late 2011/early 2012. Putin was nominated for re-election as president in September 2011, elected March 2012
raquo 12y ago
> dreamed about great russian firewall because in that case, they won't have competitors like Google This mindset is very prevalent in Russia and should be considered its greatest enemy. Most Russians are fine living in any conditions, as long as it's better than whatever their neighbors have. They would destroy their whole society if they can come closer to the top doing that. Why improve yourself if you can sink your neighbors? I hate this so much. Source: Russian, lived there until recently.
- RivieraKid 12y ago
  People sometimes say the same here in the Czech Republic but I don't know if it's true or if it's just an idea that resonates well for some reason.
SeanDav 12y ago
The sad thing is while Russia has oil, and oil prices are high, the Russian government can do pretty much what they want to do, with major support from the population who benefit from a decent standard of living.
- tomelders 12y ago
  Oil prices are nose diving aren't they? http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/18a2df62-7949-11e4-9567-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3Kq9w6gYK http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/18a2df62-7949-11e4-9567-00144feabd...
  - dagw 12y ago
    Yup, and the Russian ruble is at an all time low against the USD (and by extension all other western currencies).
- IkmoIkmo 12y ago
  Feels kind of the opposite for me. When oil prices are high Russia doesn't really care too much and just moves on. When it's low, there's this sort of nationalistic push in various fields of public and private life in Russia. Maybe to resist foreign pressure, who knows. A country is more susceptible to a change of course when its resources are low, when it becomes dependent. In short, oil prices being high means they have 'fuck off' money. When it's low, the government feels it has to focus on creating a collective nationalistic spirit to pull through. These are just my thoughts on seeing Russia behave over time in the context of oil prices. Look at how they behave now when oil prices are low and NATO is making a push eastwards, and compare it to a few years ago when oil was high.
ishtu 12y ago
>Almost all people in Russia really hate western world I would say 80 percent are more likely the truth Sadly, situation in Belarus is almost the same with a little difference >And this is why I'm actively looking for a job abroad.
archagon 12y ago
My dad's generation in Russia would smuggle illegal Western records across the border. They grew up to listening to scratchy tape copies of The Beatles, Deep Purple, and Pink Floyd. He said nobody really hated the West. On the contrary, they were intrigued by Western culture. Have things really changed so much?
- strobe 12y ago
  no, most of peoples just have fears about West countries because for whole lives they got information that West guilty for most of local problems (in same time many loved West culture too).
thesz 12y ago
I live in Moscow and while I haven't voted for Putin, I greatly despise that you blame Russian people. This is intellectually disgusting to the point of nationalism scale.
pXMzR2A 12y ago
> May be for western people it's hard to believe how can it be possible to support this crazy regime. ... Russia is a pure soviet country ... Drones, mass surveillance, jailing and exiling of whistleblowers, court decisions fixed in advance, rampant racism and sexism, foreign wars for the last 150 years or so, ... This ain't about however you define the term 'soviet', it's about politico-social power and thus the global trend in increasing violations of civil rights for excuses and legitimizations based on [insert security term here].

maga 12y ago

Welcome to the club. I did the same 20 years ago precisely to the day.

egeozcan 12y ago

Had the same situation in Turkey. Half of the country supports a (for me obviously) corrupt party for reasons I can observe (religion, dreaming of becoming the glorious Ottoman Empire once again and so on), but can't make sense of. I have been living in Germany for the last 5 years - never been happier, even though I earn less. I try not to read any Turkish news (very depressing) with moderate success because of the common "{Yet Another Social Network} blocked in Turkey" posts on HN & others.

copter 12y ago
Same here. I left the country (Turkey) 4 years ago, have been living in Estonia and Poland - never been happier and I earn more. Now it just feels nostalgia when I read news about Turkey and I can't care less about how fucked the country is. Not gonna raise my kids there and none of the problems bother me anymore. I stop believing in flags, made myself completely apolitic and minding my own business.

c1sc0 12y ago

"it's a vast majority of russian people who voted for Putin and his party and totally support current regime" ... this is why when you win a war, even a cold one ... you rebuild the country at your own expense ...

justaman 12y ago
The worst thing a country can do is piss off the intellectuals/job creators.

guycalledfrank 12y ago

Hi, pal. I live in Moscow too, and I agree with you: what's happening is really really sad. I use github for everyday work, and suddenly I failed to connect. I need my job actually, you know? And they just broke it. For what? For blocking one file, which nobody cared about? Are they serious? This is fucking insane. And regime is fucking insane. And "replace your t-shirt with a patriotic one" ads on streets are just too fucking dumb to be true. WTF?! 2013 wasn't too bad, and I had no thoughts about moving to another country, but in just one year everything gone to shit.

acqq 12y ago
How do they ban it actually? In my West (!) European country (I don't know of any European country that doesn't do some censorship) they just serve court order to the providers, the providers remove the entries from the DNS but the banned sites are still reachable using the IP address. They you just need to fix your etc hosts file. Try with https://192.30.252.128 https://192.30.252.128 and accept the certificate if it has A0:C4:A7:46:00:ED:A7:2D:C0:BE:CB:9A:8C:B6:07:CA:58:EE:74:5E SHA-1 fingerprint. (The uploaders can be related to the companies selling VPN access to Russians.)
- guycalledfrank 12y ago
  In Russia they seem to force all ISPs to ban specific IP addresses. Obviously, it blocks many stuff, and not just one page. I really HOPE that it'll be resolved soon, because a few months ago we had similar problems with wordpress and even youtube (!), but it was fixed in 1-2 days, because, you know, everyone watches youtube, and blocking half of it makes everyone mad. But github is not what everyone uses, it's just a thing for coders like me, so I'm also afraid, they wont give a shit, because only a "minority" of their clients complained. --- Can't load suggested IP as well
  - vladtaltos 12y ago
    I'm travelling frequently to both Russia and Turkey - to avoid having stupid spatial location based limitations I've been using privateinternetaccess.com for more than 6 months now. it's pretty cheap and has gateways all around the world - I recommend it without any hesitation... I especially like having access to streaming video for the shows I watch that is limited to country ip's like the daily show...

leonardinius 12y ago

I feel for you. Do you feel "generally safe" leaving comments like this online? For both physical security and job security? What's the mood out there - is opposition a safe thing or something you whisper your wife in the kitchen, at night, when children are asleep?

guycalledfrank 12y ago
Nobody hides their complaints, but the majority of people seem to actually support current government.
guard-of-terra 12y ago
Everybody is leaving comments like this. You're more typical if you do than if you don't. So your risk doesn't get higher than the background risk of living in a corrupt country with broken legal system.

reirob 12y ago

Thanks for posting this insight! I am in Europe and I am really scared about that the situation between Western World and Russia could escalate even more. Second Cold War is not far away now. I deeply hope that both opponents US/Europe/Ukraine and Russia will find a diplomatic way out of this situation that will allow to carry on. The world has so many other problems - ecological, economical, viral, terrorists - to care of. I have sympathies for Ukraine, but it really pisses me off that we are on a brink of war and this because in a small part of Ukraina (in proportions to europe/world) there are people who want to separate. It's crazy. Just let them vote and if they want, let them go instead of having them as a burden blocking you in your future adventures. The situation with Scotland and Catalonia is/was similar, but there was no need to such drastic measures. Especially that we Europeans and Russians share the same continent. We should learn to live together. Sorry, it's my opinion, it's not about technology, but had just to leave my chest.

stfnppv 12y ago
The cold war never ended, buddy. It's just that Putin feels comfortable enough now to show his teeth.
- guard-of-terra 12y ago
  Actually it did end with Russia losing not just overseas allies, not just Eastern Block, but even Ukraine and Belarus. Thus casting Russia back into XVI century.
kravietz 12y ago
Stay cool, there will be no war. It's going to stay a regional conflict fueled by a small group of Russian nationalists, slowly turning Donbas into yet another blackhole like South Ossetia or Abkhazia.
- reirob 12y ago
  I really wish and hope that you and all the other people with the same opinion will be proved right. I am worried that some unpredictable accident or irrational decision will turn this into a new nightmare. After all a huge majority of Russians support Putin and his politics. With more and more isolation and bad economy in Russia, Putin might maybe at some point feel that he has no other way to keep his "honor/dignity" in the eyes of his people and might start a war. After all we do not know what happens in the heads of powerful men in this position and he might feel by the NATO expansion quite encircled. Let's hope that people at power, including Putin, do not make any irrevocable things.

xor-ed-wolf 12y ago

Этот пост полон выдумок. Скажем, абсолютно не согласен с утверждением, что большинство "проголосовало" за Путина. Большинство проголосовало за единственный вариант, которые не приведёт к неадеквату в стране "прямо сейчас", который гарантируют другие кандидаты. По сути вопрос в том что выбора у населения НЕТ ВООБЩЕ. То что преподносится как "выбор" - тонко подстроенная игра олигархических группировок.

guycalledfrank 12y ago
Проголосовало или нет, но поддерживающих кажется абсурдно много. Может среди думающей молодёжи и нет (хотя тоже, на удивление, хватает), но поговори с теми, кто телек смотрит (большинство пожилых людей), они считают что всё, как там и говорят, что путен на белом коне, а остальные ополчившиеся на нас геи). Статистики у меня нет, говорю по людям, которых я встречал.
- xor-ed-wolf 12y ago
  Всё логично. Кого они ещё могут выбрать? Назовите мне хоть одну реально адекватную альтернативу... под адеватной я подразумеваю такую, которая: а) имеет чётко очерченные планы по развитию страны; б) имеет опыт или хотя-бы пользуется доверием у людей; в) поддерживается финансово.
  - guard-of-terra 12y ago
    "имеет опыт или хотя-бы пользуется доверием у людей" Do we have a single such person in 140 million Russia? My bet is on "no".
  - vasilipupkin 12y ago
    this is a nonsensical and circular argument, I am sorry. How can you seriously believe that a country of 150 mln people has no alternative to Putin? that is impossible statistically.
    - xor-ed-wolf 12y ago

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

mahouse 12y ago

> May be for western people it's hard to believe how can it be possible to support this crazy regime. For me, it is not. As an example, for me the US is completely nuts, but you know, they like what they like. You can think some things are normal just because you're used to them, but that means nothing. > This is why Russia has no future as a liberal market-driven country. And what if they don't want to play that game?

Lapsa 12y ago
I'm in between and I think that both - US and RF are completely nuts :D
- dasil003 12y ago
  As an American, I agree. I think both cultures have little interest in having an honest debate about how to foster a good society across the board. Politicians pay it lip service, but behind the façade everyone is just trying to get theirs in the US just as it is in RF.
  - tormeh 12y ago
    NO! Common misunderstanding among Americans who haven't traveled much. You don't even need to go to Russia. Just go to Mexico and it will give you a small taste of how bad things can get. The only way Russia could be worse is if it had feudal slavery. Ok, there are corrupt people everywhere, but there are often cultural limits on what people will let others and themselves get away with. Those limits are pretty high in the US, but they basically don't exist in Russia. As to not being interested in figuring out how to create a good society, you're correct. They're both way too exceptional for that.
    - dasil003 12y ago
      LOL, you know what they say about assuming right? Turns out I'm half-Brazilian and I currently live in the UK. I spent part of my childhood in the 80s in Brazil so I know a thing or two about corruption. Anyway, not sure what you were responding "NO" to as you explicitly agreed with the only assertion that I actually made rather than the stereotype that jubilantly flowered forth in your mind's eye.

vetler 12y ago

Wow, I had no idea it was that bad. Good luck in finding a job abroad! If you don't want to move that far, and live in one of the safest countries in the world, I can highly recommend Norway.

dimitar 12y ago

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B3064ALCEAEnJWT.png:large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B3064ALCEAEnJWT.png:large - according to this chart, you are not alone in considering emigration.

themusicgod1 12y ago
What happened in mid 2011 in Russia?
- dimitar 12y ago
  Lots of small things; they added up and the regime became more oppressive and nationalistic. People started to feel it even if they stayed away from politics.
- jerad 12y ago
  The migration rate rises sharply in late 2011/early 2012. Putin was nominated for re-election as president in September 2011, elected March 2012

raquo 12y ago

> dreamed about great russian firewall because in that case, they won't have competitors like Google This mindset is very prevalent in Russia and should be considered its greatest enemy. Most Russians are fine living in any conditions, as long as it's better than whatever their neighbors have. They would destroy their whole society if they can come closer to the top doing that. Why improve yourself if you can sink your neighbors? I hate this so much. Source: Russian, lived there until recently.

RivieraKid 12y ago
People sometimes say the same here in the Czech Republic but I don't know if it's true or if it's just an idea that resonates well for some reason.

SeanDav 12y ago

The sad thing is while Russia has oil, and oil prices are high, the Russian government can do pretty much what they want to do, with major support from the population who benefit from a decent standard of living.

tomelders 12y ago
Oil prices are nose diving aren't they? http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/18a2df62-7949-11e4-9567-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3Kq9w6gYK http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/18a2df62-7949-11e4-9567-00144feabd...
- dagw 12y ago
  Yup, and the Russian ruble is at an all time low against the USD (and by extension all other western currencies).
IkmoIkmo 12y ago
Feels kind of the opposite for me. When oil prices are high Russia doesn't really care too much and just moves on. When it's low, there's this sort of nationalistic push in various fields of public and private life in Russia. Maybe to resist foreign pressure, who knows. A country is more susceptible to a change of course when its resources are low, when it becomes dependent. In short, oil prices being high means they have 'fuck off' money. When it's low, the government feels it has to focus on creating a collective nationalistic spirit to pull through. These are just my thoughts on seeing Russia behave over time in the context of oil prices. Look at how they behave now when oil prices are low and NATO is making a push eastwards, and compare it to a few years ago when oil was high.

ishtu 12y ago

>Almost all people in Russia really hate western world I would say 80 percent are more likely the truth Sadly, situation in Belarus is almost the same with a little difference >And this is why I'm actively looking for a job abroad.

archagon 12y ago

My dad's generation in Russia would smuggle illegal Western records across the border. They grew up to listening to scratchy tape copies of The Beatles, Deep Purple, and Pink Floyd. He said nobody really hated the West. On the contrary, they were intrigued by Western culture. Have things really changed so much?

strobe 12y ago
no, most of peoples just have fears about West countries because for whole lives they got information that West guilty for most of local problems (in same time many loved West culture too).

thesz 12y ago

I live in Moscow and while I haven't voted for Putin, I greatly despise that you blame Russian people. This is intellectually disgusting to the point of nationalism scale.

pXMzR2A 12y ago

> May be for western people it's hard to believe how can it be possible to support this crazy regime. ... Russia is a pure soviet country ... Drones, mass surveillance, jailing and exiling of whistleblowers, court decisions fixed in advance, rampant racism and sexism, foreign wars for the last 150 years or so, ... This ain't about however you define the term 'soviet', it's about politico-social power and thus the global trend in increasing violations of civil rights for excuses and legitimizations based on [insert security term here].