Tell HN: If You Are in Russia • Hacker News Board

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#471

Post by TylerLives » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 9:46 AM UTC

teekert wrote: post #289

ogogmad wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Again I feel like anything I say is just some dude talking from a safe place far from the front lines. But I think the west could have acknowledged the fear of the NATO, the EU could have told Biden that we prefer a good relation with Russia and that if we think our culture is in fact more free, it will leak into Russia via the internet. This discussion can and will take very long. I just wanted to say I’m disappoint…

> if we think our culture is in fact more free, it will leak into Russia via the internet.

Do you think Russian leaders should allow this to happen?

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#472

Post by sakopov » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 9:47 AM UTC

The reason Russia has elevated tyrants to power for centuries is deep-rooted in Russian soul to the point where it's not even a problem. It's something that is inexplicably difficult to understand unless you actually experience the culture for a good portion of your life. There is a lot of literature out there about the "Russian Soul" and I really recommend reading it to understand how this happens. In my opinion it's almost like a mass psychosis that everyone is aware of but have been "deprogrammed" to deal with and blaming people in Russia for atrocities of their regimes is like blaming a sick person for being sick. Most of the time they themselves were the victims while being told "it's just life, deal with it." With that said, people are slowly waking up and it's mostly young people who have the luxury of traveling the world and experiencing real democracies. Unfortunately, I think Russia will continue on its tyrannical path until the old generations die off and these younger folks take over.

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#473

Post by _ph_ » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 9:47 AM UTC

These are probably good recommendations, but to be honest, this is just data. Any Russian still reading here obviously has a working internet connection and has technical interests and skills. To all those Russians I can only say: please help spread the information about what is going on in Ukraine. That should be the highest priority, not just to save some data. Russia is getting isolated for a reason. There is an invasion going on against a people which should be very close to Russia, most of them are Russian speaking. And the war just started to turn ugly. It seems, the Russian army is deploying cluster ammunition and thermobaric bombs against the civilian population of the Ukraine.

I know it is difficult and risky to speak up in such a situation, but it might be the only solution. I am a German and wished my ancestors had not tolerated the rise of the Nazi regime and its actions before and during the war. Most Germans still fell guilt about it, though most of us are obviously born long after the war. I don't think many are blaming the Russian people for what is going on, but I can only pledge for you to raise your voice.

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#474

Post by dash2 » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 9:47 AM UTC

aa-jv wrote: post #416

ihateolives wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not holding Russians accountable, they're hoping that Russians will hold their own government accountable for once. Just, like, for once.

This is also the point of terrorist attacks: that the people will be so outraged when they learn about the terrorists' motives for the attack that they will rise up and "do something" about their government. Americans can't be this shallow. This is ridiculous. THINK about what you are suggesting with these sanctions regimes. Sanctions are a crime against humanity, too.

Sanctions are not a crime against humanity. Nobody is forced to accept your currency, or to trade with you. Nobody is forced to provide dollar currency to the murderous, lying regime which has invaded Ukraine. Many Russians are supporting this evil war, out of cowardice or ignorance. They should share some of the pain. That may help them to wake up.

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#475

Post by Ourgon » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 9:47 AM UTC

imranhou wrote: post #297

f-jin wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not racism, more like discrimination. It's not strange to pay more attention to your neighbor getting shot than some guy in another city getting shot.

Racism = discrimination based on race.

No, discrimination is discrimination. Racism is the assumption of a person's "race" - for most people that equates to skin colour and other physical properties but for some it goes deeper - being related to that person's character and abilities.

I live in Sweden but I'm not allowed to vote in national elections while I look just as Scandinavian as your average Sven. There are hundreds of thousands of people living in Sweden who do not look like Sven at all but are allowed to vote. Is Sweden being racist against me? No, they're just discriminating in who is allowed to vote, only those with Swedish nationality have that right. I´m not a Swede, hence I do not get to vote. This is a form of discrimination, but discrimination does not equate "bad" - I would not advice any country to allow foreign nationals to vote in their national elections.

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#476

Post by throwawayvibes » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 9:47 AM UTC

codebolt wrote: post #286

throwawayvibes wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you monitor your kids?

Very helpful to control their apps and give them a daily screen time allowance (1 hour on weekdays, 2 hours in weekend). I don't like the idea of my 11 year old spending days and nights on e.g. TikTok, not to mention browsing for porn. Also useful to have the ability to see where they are, although I don't use this feature too much.

No post body was provided.

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#477

Post by ayngg » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 9:48 AM UTC

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.”

If someone feels like they are losing either way (through words or conflict), making everyone lose through conflict instead of just them might not seems so bad. For the most part, people in western developed nations are sheltered from the fact that most of the world lives under much less secure circumstances, where things can fall apart very quickly. Even in the privileged world of developed nations, it doesn't take much to see the soft white underbelly of humanity that exists alongside us but is often ignored. Power and politics rarely align incentives in ways where everyone benefits equally.

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#478

Post by wnkrshm » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 9:48 AM UTC

teekert wrote: post #386

ihateolives wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize that only thing EU and US have done about Russia escalating situations all over the place (Crimea, North Caucasus, Georgia, South Ossetia, Chechnya, Dagestan etc) is talk, talk, talk. Has it helped? Nope. Russia seems to be immune to talking.

We talked, but what concessions did we make?

From the start, if we think in realpolitical terms, we let him effectively keep Crimea and Donbas/Luhansk without giving the Ukraine material support to take them back, out of the fear of pouring fuel into the fire.

Putin had demands that were de facto impossible to fulfill, they read as if the US/European governments had power over e.g. the desires of the inhabitants of the Baltic states. They all wanted into the EU/NATO after the Cold War for reasons that aren't hard to empathize with.

In a security-political sense, making concessions that impact your weakest allies is a surefire way to destabilize your own alliance.

Also, why do we have to make concessions in terms of Ukraine and guaranteeing that Ukraine won't join EU/NATO? Putin should have been talking to Ukraine about that and giving concessions to Ukraine in exchange for staving off any alliance memberships - but it's now clear why he didn't.

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#479

Post by euroderf » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 9:48 AM UTC

squarefoot wrote: post #302

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.

Chechnya war also was very close and nobody cared since they were mostly Islamic, and the war in the former Yugoslavia happened just in the middle of Europe, but apparently many have already lost memory of it despite the atrocities committed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica_massacre

Also Chechnya got little attention because early on, the separatists kidnaped journalists and held them for ransom. Gee, why was there so little subsequent coverage ?

Re: Tell HN: If You Are in Russia

#480

Post by ceilingcorner » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 9:48 AM UTC

Seems like this barrage of sanctions and anti-Russian sentiment will do nothing but push Russia further toward China. I really don’t see the West removing them easily, even if Russia withdrew immediately. No one seems to care about arriving at a solution that will minimize bloodshed. Instead the media is more reminiscent of 1984 and drumming up a war against Eurasia than of rational realpolitik.

This is the true birth of a multipolar world. Let’s hope it doesn’t lead to more conflicts.