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Ask HN: What do Russians on HN think about this war?

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Re: Ask HN: What do Russians on HN think about this war?

#51

Post by jiffygist »

TrapLord_Rhodo wrote: post #27

When i was in the Air Force, I interacted with alot of russians "On the other side" when wee were building FOBs in eastern europe afteer the invasion of crimea. At work, It was all about defeating the russians. After work, it was about out drinking the russians. We laughed, we joked but at the end of the day we knew our bossees thought eachother enemies. And at the end of the day we knew that we were activeely workin…

I always thought that nationalists are opposition in Russia. Their goal is national and cultural homogenity on smaller territory (e.g. without Caucasus), so they should be naturally against territorial expansion. I'd rather call Putinism/"Eurasianism" imperialist politics.

Re: Ask HN: What do Russians on HN think about this war?

#52

Post by evgeniysharapov »

52-6F-62 wrote: post #34
evgeniysharapov wrote: post #28

I am Russian living in the US, but what I can gather from conversations with my college acquaintances and family that is still living there - there's plenty of Russians who are appalled and against and can rationalize what devastation this war is for Russia, not even taking Ukraine into account, where humanitarian catastrophe is obvious. All those reasons are obvious to any person living outside of Russia and, as I s…

Current events aside, those pillars read as if they’re entirely derived from a philosophy based on fear. It’s pitiable. Also I find it rather odd, because having studied Russian literature when I was younger I always got a sense that the Russian people had earned enlightenment and a resilient, if sometimes morose, philosophy that sees life as fundamentally good, but filled with challenges introduced by those who lack…

All that still might be true, but there are a lot of instilled/inculcated principles or "rules of life" if you will. They might seem contradictory but those principles/rules fire up in certain situations differently. Hence there's no manual that one may read and follow, but rather it requires "to live" to gain that "lived experience" that would make applying those rules subconscious. One example of such rule, which I do have, by nature of growing up until my twenties in Russia is - "do not be a victim". Under no circumstance be a victim. Always turn lemon into a lemonade and make sure no one saw you being a weak/victim. There are different ways of doing it, but in light of recent events I see that this plays quite a lot. It's endurance and resilience and repeating like mantra, that these sanctions, this confrontation, as painful as they are, are to our benefits and we will better them.

Re: Ask HN: What do Russians on HN think about this war?

#53

Post by vertis »

vogre wrote: post #20

Hello! Russian SW developer from Moscow is here. First, it's been a shock for all the society. No one would imagine in a worst dream that this attack would happen. Even when Putin made his speech about acceptance of LNR/DNR we were like "phew, another shitty fake politics, nothing really changes". But then the war started. And no one expected that! I think, even military or economic ministers didn't expect that. Peop…

I have talked to a bunch of Russians recently who are fleeing.

There is definitely collateral damage happening for "Russians" that are not in Russia (and Belarusians). Belarus is a good example of where we've already forgotten that they voted to remove Lukaschenko and then were violently repressed because of it.

It's one thing to throw red paint at the Embassy, which is an official part of the Russian government. It's quite another to damage a shop that is "Russian" (I believe the picture I saw of this was in Germany, but I can't find it now because there is such a volume of content flowing with regard to Ukraine).

The other thing that seems to come up constantly is that it's the Russian peoples fault regardless (for not removing Putin, etc). Mostly I suspect people that live in Western democracies and have never had to fear anything.

I'm personally in favour, I think, of helping anyone that wants to leave Russia, to leave. Treating them as refugees from Putin, albiet in not quite as high risk as those in Ukraine.

If there is a brain drain out of Russia, that's a good thing until change happens.

Re: Ask HN: What do Russians on HN think about this war?

#54

Post by ObscureScience »

TrapLord_Rhodo wrote: post #31
gimboland wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The weak don't deserve the products of their labor if they can't defend it. We've seen this as a fact of life since life has been a fact. Amazing how "may not be able to retain" collapses down to "do not deserve" here.

how else do you justify invasion and war?

If you take away what someone else deserve you are immoral.

Morality can be complex, but I would start there.

Re: Ask HN: What do Russians on HN think about this war?

#55

Post by 52-6F-62 »

evgeniysharapov wrote: post #52
52-6F-62 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Current events aside, those pillars read as if they’re entirely derived from a philosophy based on fear. It’s pitiable. Also I find it rather odd, because having studied Russian literature when I was younger I always got a sense that the Russian people had earned enlightenment and a resilient, if sometimes morose, philosophy that sees life as fundamentally good, but filled with challenges introduced by those who lack…

All that still might be true, but there are a lot of instilled/inculcated principles or "rules of life" if you will. They might seem contradictory but those principles/rules fire up in certain situations differently. Hence there's no manual that one may read and follow, but rather it requires "to live" to gain that "lived experience" that would make applying those rules subconscious. One example of such rule, which I…

I see and agree with your distillation, but I disagree with regard to the current principle. The current reactionary stance is playing right into victimhood.

“The west has done this to us”, “the west is corrupting us with homosexuality and libertine behaviour”, and so on.

It’s a declaration that one (or ones nation/identity) has been wronged directly rather than remain dignified immovable force battered by waves of circumstance.

Hence the violent backlash.

Not to say anyone who feels battered by circumstance should just let it happen, but perhaps if the reaction is to lock down, restrict freedoms, imprison their compatriots for asking questions and bomb their neighbour’s residential villages into dust then I rather think they’ve lost the dignified plot.

Re: Ask HN: What do Russians on HN think about this war?

#56

Post by ainzzorl »

Software engineer from Moscow.

This is an absolute disaster for us. I can't imagine how and when we recover from this. The damage already made to our country is going to be devastating, and it's not even over yet. I even envy Ukrainians a little because they have a future (if they survive all this of course), and we don't.

Most people in my bubble, including myself, are strongly against the war. Many are fleeing the country. I'm currently on vacation abroad, and I haven't made up my mind if I'm coming back.

SWEs like myself probably are going to be the least affected by this because most of us can work for foreign companies just fine and make decent money, but most other people don't have this privilege and have nowhere to run. Generations of people are doomed to live in poverty because of decisions made by our genius of geopolitics. The old man actually thought we would win this war in 3 days and get away with it. I don't think he has a plan B. And I take his threats of using nuclear weapons very seriously.

While I blame Putin for most of this, I also think the collective West has gone mad too. The campaign to cancel, ban, boycott and belittle everything and everyone that has anything to do with Russia is out of control. People are not to blame for the actions their government. The talks like "let's hurt the regular people so they revolt against Putin" are just like that villain from Shrek: "Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make".

Re: Ask HN: What do Russians on HN think about this war?

#57

Post by runjake »

TrapLord_Rhodo wrote: post #27

When i was in the Air Force, I interacted with alot of russians "On the other side" when wee were building FOBs in eastern europe afteer the invasion of crimea. At work, It was all about defeating the russians. After work, it was about out drinking the russians. We laughed, we joked but at the end of the day we knew our bossees thought eachother enemies. And at the end of the day we knew that we were activeely workin…

The ugly truth is that at the root of it all, violence is the foundation upon which society sits. Society is held together by the threat of violence.

A pacifist gets to live their pacifist lives, because they are kept safe by those who would inflict violence upon those who would threaten society.

Re: Ask HN: What do Russians on HN think about this war?

#58

Post by orangepurple »

crownvic wrote: post #26

On the streets here, almost everyone I hear supports everything in full. Probably, around 70% support this, and the other 30% are not sure/against it. The local and nationwide TV states that they found 30 Pentagon-funded biowarfare labs in Ukraine, got all the docs, and are preparing some statements for the West. Obviously, high-level propaganda flows from Russia and the West both. I suspect the truth is somewhere in…

> And if you take a look at videos from Feb, people in the Eastern part of Ukraine don't mind the Russian army there, even wave and show high-fives. My highly incorrect calculations suggest that about 80% of people in Eastern Ukraine support Russia. In the middle part, that figure is maybe 30-40%, and in Western Ukraine near zero.

This could explain the normalization of the openly Nazi Azov Battalion. Another commenter here last week pointed out that 30-50% of the regular Ukranian army may sympathize with Russia so the ultra nationalist Azov Battalion became an official military unit since they are die-hard Ukranian loyalists.

Re: Ask HN: What do Russians on HN think about this war?

#60

Post by yellowbanana »

MattGaiser wrote: post #38
throwaway_9357 wrote: post #32

I am disgusted at all 3 political sides involved. Most disgusted with EU/US, followed by Ukrainian government and finally by the Russian Government. A war does not happen for no reason. Putin is a known to be a rational actor. Obviously ordinary people do not want war. So you have to ask yourself, what events led to the war? What was done to prevent it? What is done to stop it now? Why am I disgusted with US/EU? Firs…

> Thirdly they are now actively encouraging war by sending weapons The alternative to sending weapons being Ukraine being brutally beaten rather than given a chance to defend itself. There is a reason that nearly every former Soviet occupied country fled to NATO.

> The alternative to sending weapons being Ukraine being brutally beaten rather than given a chance to defend itself.

I really don't understand this point, Ukraine is very unlikely to win against russia. giving them more weapons is just going to make the war long and more brutal.

The sane thing is the diplomatic route and give putin enought to stop the war.

Otherwise sending weapons for ukraine to fight russia, is like supporting your friend with a knife to a gun fight.

Unless it's important enought that the west is willing to fight alongside ukraine, this will just lead to more loss of life and end up russia winning.

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