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Jan 3, 2023·edited Jan 3, 2023

I understand the power of propaganda inside totalitarian state like Russia. But even so, the Russian people are still not completely isolated from real information from external sources. So what I don't understand is their utter passivity as the lives of their countrymen continue to be thrown away in this failing invasion of Ukraine. Over 100k dead in under a year, and as things are going it will be more than 100k dead in this new year. So many of them due to incompetence. And, for what? A sliver of Eastern Ukraine that few if any Russian citizens will ever visit?

A state artist of the Russian Federation recently stated that perhaps the greatest strength of the Russian people is their ability to die. This got some push-back on the propaganda TV shows, but maybe he was right. The culture there is profoundly servile in its relationship to the czar, that is clear.

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It is just another in a growing list of "blunders" that concern me about what is going on in the chain of command. Your thoughts, Andrew. Are there traitors in the ranks and among the Kremlin policy elite? I also cannot believe that Russia continues to allow Donetsk and Lugansk to be continually shelled. Russia surely has the weapons to wipe out all of those locations that are attacking Donbass.

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Russia has many enemies but it is also winning the hearts of non-Russian citizens throughout the world.

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