[Cthulhu_]

Who says they supported it? What can "the people" do if elections are fraudulent, constitutions are changed, and any protests are beaten down by police? How many people have been arrested and disappeared for protesting against the invasion?

I mean, even in the US protesters managed to break into Congress, some with the intent to kill. If they were armed things would look very different now. What would have happened if Trump - who looks up to Putin - did things like declare martial law or change the constitution? It would have been possible; he put a new supreme judge in place, and 'his' party held a majority in the various houses. But that assumes a democratic process; if he had more cronies, he wouldn't need to follow a democratic process to become a dictator, only the pretense thereof.

[CRConrad]

> What can "the people" do if elections are fraudulent, constitutions are changed, and any protests are beaten down by police?

Oh, I don't know... Wait, ever heard of something called a revolution?

[yazaddaruvala]

“No country was born a democracy”

The Russian people really can impact change in their country and now is the best time. They just need to find a way to be united about stopping Putin.

Many more Russians will likely die, but sadly that’s always been the cost of building a democracy. I would have much rather preferred a world that wasn’t so brutal to achieve something so critical.