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Comment by eldargab | Hacker News Reader

Reasoning. Internet became regulated in Russia, and what? How does this relate to hacking on V8 engine, for example? (They have such teem in Saint Petersburg)

This article appeared just to support sentiment and noise around how bad/evil Russia is doing. No matter of truth or plausibility, all kind of noise just works.

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But it is indeed is bad and going worse. Free people of the world, including Russians, must do everything for this to stop, and Russian/commuinist/orthodox 'world' to be destroyed as quickly and cleanly as possible. History shows this is possible: collapse of USSR already did most of this job, what remains is easier and there is a good chance Russian threat will be over forever in a generation if we (i mean Russians, with the help of the west) try really hard. Don't let propaganda fool yourself: Russian threat is first, and foremost, a threat to Russians themselves.

The russion threat is a threat to the world, because starting a war is a popular option with those failing dictators.

Not much, there isn't much Putin could do in the military sense without completely crippling the economy. All he can in foreign affairs is bullying small neighbors. Soviet Union was up to 7-8% of the world GDP and had Soviet Bloc - allies that (not counting China - it was never a Soviet ally really) combined had almost as much. Currently Russia has no allies - not even Belarus - nobody recognized Crimea annexation for example. A few weak post-soviet states could make pro-Russian statements once a while in exchange for another shipment of cheap natural gas, but that's about it. And it is currently less than 3% of the world's GDP.

It should be too obvious even for Putin that an attempt of a new Cold War will be laughable. So he won't start another war or seriously threaten West. Victims of his policies will be, in their overwhelming majority, Russian people.

It's not "Russia" that is evil. It's Putin's regime that is increasingly evil.

>It's not "Russia" that is evil. It's Putin's regime that is increasingly evil.

with 82% (after significant drop recently!) approval rating :)

Yes but what does that 82% actually know? When there is no freedom of the press, when the government controls practically all news outlets, it's difficult to judge what people think.

This even without considering that those Russians who think Putin is evil will think twice before telling so to a random pollster.

>Yes but what does that 82% actually know? When there is no freedom of the press, when the government controls practically all news outlets, it's difficult to judge what people think.

they know what they want to know. Your argument was valid in Iron Curtain times. As of today most of the Russians have been to foreign countries and have the Internet access (my family back there (not a in central city) has fiber with connection qualities orders of magnitude better than my DSL in Silicon Valley) There is no "Grate Wall" like in China. There is though Great Wall in their minds. Because it is convenient, and otherwise they would need to accept the true reality of their existence and who they really are.

>This even without considering that those Russians who think Putin is evil will think twice before telling so to a random pollster.

such a lame excuse. It isn't about pollsters. It is about Russian people overwhelmingly supporting the policies of Putin, just look at that hysteria of "Crimea is ours".

I think you underestimate the sheer power of propaganda, when it's well organized and all-penetrating. Moreover, how many Russians can read anything but Russian?

>I think you underestimate the sheer power of propaganda, when it's well organized and all-penetrating.

you're telling this to a person who was born and raised in USSR :) Yes, man, i was accepting what i was told and didn't ask questions, didn't seek the truth. This not asking, not seeking, is a matter of personal failure, it can't be blamed on propaganda. And such failure is what the Russians are guilty off because this is what enables the propaganda in the first place.

>Moreover, how many Russians can read anything but Russian?

You can find all the sides of any issue presented in Russian language today. The major news like BBC have Russian version. Ukraine, with all its anti-Russian fervor, is still talks and writes a lot in Russian so Russians can easy read the Ukrainian side - that of course if they were interested in it. Again, this is their personal choice.

> This not asking, not seeking, is a matter of personal failure, it can't be blamed on propaganda

I think you're too harsh on yourself - and on most ordinary Russians. Exiting the Matrix is really hard, not just because of propaganda, but also because Putin's intimidation technique and systematic use of corruption are very effective.

As long as you have any kind of presence in Russia you have to follow its rules. If google has no presence to worry about, they don't have to worry about Russian laws either. They really didn't have a choice.

This.

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