Russia begins moving troops into eastern Ukraine

[Bengalzona]

(03-03-2022, 01:18 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: I think the effectiveness of these sanctions is dependent on the country. Because of the propaganda machine in Russia, the people are not going to see this as the government being punished for doing wrong. They also don't have a real mechanism to do anything about it. Russia is only nominally democratic and they are oppressive of free speech beyond just about any western nation and even if there were avenues to do something, the majority of the country has been fed this propaganda for so long that they believe Russia is still in the right on this. Meaning, of course, that the sanctions are seen as attacks on Russia and not a justified retaliation.

I suspect that, like most of the rest of the world, Russian people are divided. Some will always believe what the gov tells them. Some will always distrust what the gov tells them. Most, like folks here, are not really sure what to believe. They know the gov lies to them sometimes. At the same time, they know the West cannot always be trusted. They trudge off to their boring jobs to make a living, buy groceries, and come home to watch TV or make new little Russians. The war is distant for most of them. And when the bite of the sanctions impacts them more fully, most will probably go into 'survival mode' rather than 'blame mode'.