Russia: the blind leading the willfully blind
Some Russians openly support the war, some actively oppose it, but most just pretend it's not happening.
Posted one year ago today:
The period since the fall of the Berlin Wall has been tumultuous - 9/11, Great Recession, Iraq and Afghanistan, the Balkans, the election of Trump - but this feels like a chapter of relative peace and prosperity has closed, and we’re now back in an era when countries simply invaded and annexed their neighbors’ territory because fuck you, that’s why.
This was written with January 6 and the shambolic withdrawal from Afghanistan fresh in mind, when it looked like the United States was on the back foot and tyrants like Putin were emboldened like they hadn’t been in decades.
Since then, Ukraine has shown the world that it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.
While most of the world sees Putin as Darth Vader and Russian soldiers as the Stormtroopers (only with worse aim) this BBC Russian story made me think of ordinary Russians as being kind of like Luke Skywalker.
Not the Luke Skywalker who defeated the Empire, brought his father back from the Dark Side, and [whatever the hell happened in the sequel trilogy] though. I mean Luke from early in A New Hope, when he’s whining about how he doesn’t like the Empire but there’s “nothing I can do about it right now.” Also, there aren’t any power converters available at Toshi Station because of sanctions.
Do Russians really support the brutality being carried out in Ukraine in their name, or are they pretending it's not happening to survive?
From fleeting impressions and conversations it is hard to draw firm conclusions. Sociologists and pollsters have tried to gauge opinion, but there is no freedom of speech or information in Russia so it is impossible to tell if people are being honest.
Polls suggest the majority of Russians, if not supporting the war, certainly do not oppose it.
This has prompted angry debates among Russians abroad. Many who study and report on Russia, me included, believe a small percentage of people actively support the war, and a small percentage actively oppose it.
Most ordinary Russians are in the middle, trying to make sense of a situation they didn't choose, don't understand and feel powerless to change.
Could they have stopped it? Probably yes, if more people had stood up for their freedom and challenged state TV propaganda about trumped up threats from the West and Ukraine.
Many Russians chose to stay away from politics and let the Kremlin decide for them.
But keeping your head down means making very troubling moral compromises.
To keep the war from their door, Russians have to pretend this isn't an expansionist invasion, and must close their eyes to the Ukrainians who are killed and wounded in their tens of thousands and driven from their homes in their millions by what the Kremlin calls its "special military operation".
Russians must accept it's normal for soldiers to go into schools and tell their children war is a good thing.
That it's normal for priests to support the war and stop praying for peace.
That it doesn't matter they can no longer travel or be part of a broader world.
That the Kremlin was right to block the majority of independent media sites they used to read.
That a sledgehammer is now a positive symbol of Russian power in executions captured on camera and posted by MPs on Twitter.
And that it's normal to go to jail for years for saying what you think about the war, whether you're a councillor or a journalist.
After Russia cleaved off some portions of Ukraine for itself in 2014, a Redditor posted about how pretty much all of Russian history can be summarized by the phrase, “and then things got worse.”
That seems to be what Putin is using to keep Russians in line - or, perhaps more accurately, why most Russians are keeping in line:
Why Russians do not protest is perhaps better explained by Russian history and not opinion polls.
Ever since he came to power, President Vladimir Putin has made it no secret that he wants to rebuild Russia and restore its position for the world to respect and reckon with.
In speeches and essays he has made clear his belief Russia occupies a unique place in the world as part of both the East and West. Russia has its own traditions, religion, and its own ways of doing things. Russians need order and control, and demand respect.
This message has echoed down the centuries and brooks no dissent or prospect for change. It's a chokehold - to use a judo term from his favourite sport.
This Putin vision comes with a price: Russians have paid with their freedom; Ukrainians are paying with their lives.
I sometimes wonder what I would do if I were Russian. From this side of the new Iron Curtain, it’s easy to sneer about their cowardice and lament that they aren’t rising up to overthrow their repressive government.
A Russian might respond that they did just that twice in the last 106 years, and they keep ending up back where they started.
My ski trip to Maine has me pumped for trying out ski resorts further from home. The Rocky Mountains are always calling, but my dream trip is to go skiing in Europe.
Unfortunately, I don't want to go to Switzerland badly enough to give up the kidney I'd have to sell to afford it. So I did some googling and found out skiing is much more affordable in...Slovakia:
Fresh powder, acres of freeride terrain and beer for £1.20 – what more could you ask for? Jasna in Slovakia is one of the cheapest ski resorts in the world.
B&Bs can cost as little as £20 per night and a full two-course meal per person will come to under £10.
More proof, as if any were needed, that Euro Trip remains the most accurate travel documentary ever made.