[genman]

I was so hopeful in the beginning of 90s. There was sense of harmony all over the Northern hemisphere.

But then Russia started to quickly become more and more aggressive, yes, first in the rhetoric, but then Putin came and the shit became real. Now I understand that the Russian society first had a kind of agreement with him - they don't mind the politics and Putin doesn't mind them.

It looks like it has played out well for Putin but not so well for the rest of the Russians.

Closing down close to all of the Internet traffic to the free world feels completely logical when the play of elections is nearing and if it is successful then it will probably remain like this.

[timka]

I was a teenager during the 90s in Moscow and share none of your sentiment.

Yes, we lost the Cold War. NATO won. Understood.

We got child prostitution, heroine epidemics, kids inhaling acetone vapors from glue to get hi in basements, together with so called 'democracy'. Also lost significant part of science and industry, free education and health care.

Something's terribly missing from you "harmony". Sorry, but this seems like ignorance.

[jacquesm]

That's mostly because it never was a true democracy but something closer to a kleptocracy.

Poland went through roughly the same process but came out much better simply because the Polish people weren't the aggressor, Russia was. And that's why they felt liberated and motivated to make a change. But Russia wasn't liberated, it's just that you exchanged one batch of fat cats for another. Democracy had nothing to do with it, that's just a tool in the box.

[timka]

I'm familiar with this point of view. I think maybe a third of Polish people share it, another third don't give a damn about Russians, yet another third think that it's vital for Poland to have healthy relationship w/ Russia. Even fore purely economical pragmatic reasons.

After the destruction of the USSR Poland became sort of a showcase. As a limitrof sitting in between Russia and Europe Poland can't afford always being pro-European or pro-Russian. It's being pro-Polish which means finding the right balance at the moment. Simply put, as long as Bruxelles has resources to support Poland Poland stays pro-European.

Seems like this year may be quite interesting in this regard.

[commodorepet]

A number of surveys has been done over the last few years and Polish people have a quite strong views on Russia, opposite to what you think.

In fact, we have the most unfavourable view on Russia in the world... 97% of Poles view Russia unfavourably [1]. There is a reason why Poland took on 1M+ Ukrainian refugees and continues to supply weapons and being major hub for American/European operations.

[1] https://notesfrompoland.com/2022/06/22/only-2-of-poles-view-...

[pvaldes]

Disclaimer: This is just an opinion and I'm not expert in Russian affairs in any way

I assume that Russians know but choose to ignore it. Russian frontiers are simply too big to became closed to external info forever. There are a million ways to sneak terabytes of videos among the import containers. Just a pigeon carrier with a SD or micro SD card would pass the blockage.

But it doesn't matter. Showing the carnage and the lies of the government of the last two years will not move a hair. IMAO, Russians are in an archetypal abusive relationship with Putin. In this cases, the abused lives in denial, too afraid to break the bubble. As long as there is a tiny chance that the grinder-meat will stop before they reach top of the list, will obey and remain quiet as a flock of sheep. They will choose to please their abuser hoping to remain low in the punish list.

Most of the 302.000 Russians killed in this war either never see it coming, or were too paralyzed to make a move and put themselves out of the frying pan (And videos in Avdiivka for example are crystal clear showing that is exactly that: a chain of frozen blue hamburgers running towards a giant frying pan).

Unfortunately a lot more will die this year, so the army remains distracted dying, far from turning their focus towards Kremlin. Unless they will break the spell, the eventual disintegration of Russia in smaller states vassals of China seems more and more probable each day.

[EasyMark]

The USA dropped the ball on this. I was screaming at the news (or anyone that would listen :) ) that we needed work closer with Yeltsin/Gorbachev to support the burgeoning democracy. The USA just patted itself on the back and didn't do anything diplomatically/financially other than lip service to build economic ties and then the big collapse and rise of oligarchs and Putin.

[UberFly]

They actually did open up relations a lot, but Russia was like Mordor and the old ways were just too ingrained. The ball was less dropped and more the air slowly deflated.