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Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

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Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#251

Post by batushka3 »

freddealmeida wrote: post #222

This anti-Russian trope spreading is infuriating. If Apple and Google can stop their Pay services, of course everything else will be stopped. But that also means I don't want to be on those services either. It is too much power to give to Amazon, Microsoft and Google. I will actively move my own services to solutions that don't act like arms of the US government.

Ordinary citizens of russia must finaly get that russia started WAR. Many still don't beleieve it. As mass media shows only BS about freeing Ukraine from fascists, info has to get to them via collapsed currency, economy, denial of services and other alternative means.

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#252

Post by cardanome »

travisgriggs wrote: post #38
pcmoney wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would add the US did not unilaterally start the war in Iraq or Yugoslavia and definitely not the one with Japan. In the case of Japan, the US rebuilt an enemy after they attacked the US without a declaration of war and made them an ally and trading partner.

This highlights one of my growing ethical dillemas. I am a US citizen, and sometimes I am really ashamed of my country. We have done some really bad stuff. We’ve done a whole lot of shady stuff that is complicated to pass simple judgement on. But the US has done good stuff as well. They loan money, send aid, rebuild, provide. Some times the motives are duplicitous in these acts of good. But the bottom line is, when I…

> When it comes to USSR/Russia, I am not aware of the good acts. It’s not just that thy do bad things, it’s that I never hear of any of the good things they do in the world at large.

There is an interview from Yale University with Vladimir Pozner that is very worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X7Ng75e5gQ

It is absolutely insane that western media does not report anything positive on Russia and I hope it is obvious that it can't be a the case that a state can be that comically evil. And if not foreign policy at least cultural stuff should at least receive some positive attention with Russia having a rich tradition in theater, ballet, music and so on.

The USSR did plenty to support its lesser developed republics. In fact that is is why many Russian nationalist saw it very critically, seeing as their land would give more that it received. Even today Russia has extremely good relations with the countries of central asia. As for foreign aid not only did it sent lots of aid to other socialist regimes but also many national liberation movements speeding up massively the de-colonization of Africa.

The Russian Federation is also doing plenty of good. They help keeping the massive dominance of the US and it allies at least a little bit in check supporting many countries that are shunned by them. Syria would have been overrun by terrorists by now if Russia had not helped them.

Of course you can twist every good news to make Russia look bad. Russian athletes are successful? Only the result of doping. Stability in Syria? Supporting a bloody dictator. Protecting Snowden? Ugh, just cheap propaganda. Developed Covid Vaccine? Totally rushed and fake numbers.

If you believe "the West" to be the good guys then everything that Russia does will appear bad.

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#253

Post by darebak »

all_factz wrote: post #166
sudosysgen wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure many people in the US were opposed to it. Did they have a choice though? Both of those wars were essentially unanimous amongst the ruling class. There is nothing the average citizen can do at that point. You claim “this isn’t about the human suffering caused by Russia”. You sure about that? I think most people feel like a primary issue with invading another country is the amount of human suffering it causes.…

I think you’re still oversimplifying. NATO countries may have been involved in bloody wars, wars which were varying degrees of bad idea, but at least those wars were fought against regimes which were terrible - brutal and repressive towards their own population. Ukraine is a mostly liberal democracy, which makes invading it even harder to justify. But sure, US citizens might not have had much say in whether the US in…

>I think you’re still oversimplifying. NATO countries may have been involved in bloody wars, wars which were varying degrees of bad idea, but at least those wars were fought against regimes which were terrible - brutal and repressive towards their own population. Ukraine is a mostly liberal democracy, which makes invading it even harder to justify.

And the point is that you got this information from the ruling class who were for those wars. Or their allies abroad.

And as for Ukrainan democracy, from the Freedom house report in 2019 it sits between Burkina Faso and the Philippines.

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#254

Post by ogogmad »

teekert wrote: post #234
kungito wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There have been multiple active wars in like 1/4 of the world the whole time since ww2 and all the time before that. The only thing different is that Ukraine is closer to EU than the rest of the countries.

Yes I realize it is perhaps hypocritical, but somehow I thought we had figured it out. I mean we (EU and US) also could have done more talking less warmongering. I’m also disappointed with our leaders.

You think that talking to Hitler is going to stop a war?

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#255

Post by jsmith99 »

youarethebest wrote: post #158
jsmith99 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Iraq war was a terrible error but it still can't be compared to Ukraine. America had no plans to colonise Iraq or absorb it into its empire. Despite the enormous death and suffering the war caused, America's aim was naive altruism: getting rid of an unquestionably evil dictator who used WMDs on his own people. There are conspiracy theories that America invaded to steal Iraq's oil but they are not plausible.

WMDs? That was a lie. They invaded to preserve the dollar regime/oil. Not plausible? I think you've been watching too many Marvel movies where good vs evil is "obvious"

How would the invasion preserve the dollar regime?

As for the WMDs, I referred to Saddam's history, not to America's discredited invasion pretext.

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#256

Post by cbg0 »

oulipo wrote: post #246

Are you seriously trying to help Russians evade sanctions that the West want to put on them? Not sure what you are trying to do with this

I don't think you understand what "evade sanctions" actually means. OP is telling people to prepare for the impact of sanctions.

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#257

Post by ZeroGravitas »

teekert wrote: post #180

This whole situation is so surreal and disappointing. I grew up on Star Trek and somehow I just though we had (almost) arrived in a post-war, federation-like world. We know things should be solved with words because otherwise there are only losers. It’s how we raise our kids. I just keep thinking about how Jean Luc is looking down on us from orbit, slowly shaking his head whispering “Savages.”

In the Star Trek canon, world-war III starts in 2026:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Star_Trek#21st_cen...

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#258

Post by rpm91 »

anovikov wrote: post #176
diiiimaaaa wrote: post #165

I am in Ukraine right now. In a small village to the north of Kyiv. I am the author of PhotoSwipe ( https://github.com/dimsemenov/photoswipe ). Yesterday I was filling bags with sand to make a fortification for local defenders. I hear artillery as I am writing this. And by the way, you get used to it. In the last few days I received about 20 emails offering support, none of them were from russian devs. One asked a te…

Russian here. This is not misinformation or anything. This is just because yes, vast majority of Russians from all walks of life are pure evil. Even those living in the Western countries for decades. I have deleted myself from all social networks 5 years ago and people keep sending me screenshots from Russian facebook groups in Cyprus and that makes me freak out. Nearly everyone is pro-Putin. Ridiculous posts get hun…

I think calling the "vast majority" of any country "pure evil" is painting with a pretty over-broad brush.

Specifically here, social media sentiment tends to be poor evidence of anything broader, due to being dominated by the vocal minority of people who post the most, as well as a non-trivial number of bots.

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#259

Post by jd115 »

Here's my take on this, which you are not going to like one bit. It goes like this...

The good people of Russia - and I'm not saying this with a tongue in cheek - the vast majority of the people of Russia truly are GOOD people, in the simplest, most sincere sense of the word... But they do need to go through some things.

You just don't get to support a murderous communist regime for 100 years and then say "but we had nothing to do with it". I'm sorry, but you had everything to do with it.

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#260

Post by iso1631 »

dmitrygr wrote: post #193
rimliu wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How good are people being bombed in Ukraine cities feel? Only the Russian people can stop this.

Ever lived under a dictator? Ever tried to stop him from doing something? Ever done either of the above while having a family you care about? At the end of the day, no sane person would place their family in mortal danger to maybe possibly potentially make life easier for a large number of unknown far away people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Benito_Mussolini

> At the end of the day, no sane person would place their family in mortal danger to maybe possibly potentially make life easier for a large number of unknown far away people.

US military personnel did this. Invading Iraq increased the risk of terrorism in the US to make life easier for a few haliburton board members.

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