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Comment by mjfl | Hacker News Reader

> when the Russian populace is squeezed hard and turns on the government.

Big assumption that the first will lead to the second. Putin's invasion of Crimea led to his highest approval rating, even with the sanction response.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/173597/russian-approval-putin-s...

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IIRC sanctions were small and invisible at the time. Unlike 2022.

Don’t underestimate Putin’s ability to convince the Russian public that this is all the West’s fault. It’s kind of been their (my former) country’s greatest trick.

I know many USSR immigrants here in the states who once despised anything to do with Putin and his ilk, are now buying into Putin’s rhetoric. It’s really weird to see.

Oh I believe you. I just expected that it had a limit. Also I believe the amount of streamed videos could be a factor too. Unless Russia is now equal to North Korea in terms of brainwashing.

The problem is that a significant chunk of the population only watches the Russian TV broadcasts, many don’t even have access to the internet. Though many immigrants here in the states watch the same shit. It’s sad.

I do think Putin’s days are numbered. With the way the war is going, combined with the global support for Ukraine and the sanctions. I don’t see how the oligarchs, the people around him, and the Russian public will take much more of this. Though, of course, I could be wrong and we could be witnessing a new North Korea type situation.

Weird? It’s the same as Trumpism. They see the same messaging over and over which is largely based on fear and hated and some people lose their minds. Luckily it’s not the whole populace.

It’s weird because they live here in the states and feed on Russian propaganda. These are all people that escaped the USSR to get away from this same rhetoric. Now they are pulled back into it. I’m not saying it can’t happen elsewhere, but feeding on propaganda from someone you used to know as a KGB piece of shit, is weird. It’s weird how effective his shtick is.

And what happens when the Russian people start seeing themselves as victims of the west, like the German people after ww1?

People could still buy medicine and food after that.

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