Understanding why Russians approve of Putin

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not Russian but I lived four years in Russia. I am not sharing Russian propaganda, merely how average, everyday, work-a-day “normie” Russians in mid-sized provincial cities generally approve of Putin.

To put it simply, it comes down to stability vs. chaos. Older Russians who have nostalgia for the Soviet Union are not necessarily ideologically communist, they just miss how stable and predictable things were. Others who are not old enough to remember the USSR in that way, but remember the 90s, generally support any type of government that would avoid that level of chaos. The 90s were horrible in Russia and all former USSR countries. And then some people only know the Putin era. So for most nonpolitical, non-ideological people, Putin is the devil you know.

The other thing to understand is that Western liberal democracy just doesn’t always sell that well. Most people have a strong distrust of civic institutions since during the 90s they were hijacked by kleptocrats. Being an activist is not so laudable.
There’s also the truth that people in Russia are just conservative. Many are religious, including an exponentially increasing number of Muslims, although even non religious people tend to be socially and culturally conservative. American and Western culture is appreciated in small doses and from my experience people didn’t have a problem with Americans. It was similar to how Americans typically view Chinese… yes they are economic and political adversaries but Americans use Chinese products, eat “Chinese” food etc and don’t typically have a problem with Chinese people. That’s how Russians were about Americans. Not everything is about politics…BUT they have THEIR culture and resent excessive efforts to impose Western culture on them.
Gender roles are accepted and feminism is not valued. People with views like Andrew Tate are pretty typical and it’s considered normal. You may not like it, coming from a Western perspective, but it’s just the way it is.

Those with dissenting views that are more liberal and western-oriented found their own communities in cities but your average everyday Russian doesn’t concern themselves with them, they just want to put food on the table, heat their homes with gas, keep their families close and collect their pensions. It just isn’t worth the risk to get too politically involved.

You have no brain.

Look up dictator

You think you want that for us you are insane. Russians are not happy with Putin. Jesus freak why don’t you move there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not Russian but I lived four years in Russia. I am not sharing Russian propaganda, merely how average, everyday, work-a-day “normie” Russians in mid-sized provincial cities generally approve of Putin.

To put it simply, it comes down to stability vs. chaos. Older Russians who have nostalgia for the Soviet Union are not necessarily ideologically communist, they just miss how stable and predictable things were. Others who are not old enough to remember the USSR in that way, but remember the 90s, generally support any type of government that would avoid that level of chaos. The 90s were horrible in Russia and all former USSR countries. And then some people only know the Putin era. So for most nonpolitical, non-ideological people, Putin is the devil you know.

The other thing to understand is that Western liberal democracy just doesn’t always sell that well. Most people have a strong distrust of civic institutions since during the 90s they were hijacked by kleptocrats. Being an activist is not so laudable.
There’s also the truth that people in Russia are just conservative. Many are religious, including an exponentially increasing number of Muslims, although even non religious people tend to be socially and culturally conservative. American and Western culture is appreciated in small doses and from my experience people didn’t have a problem with Americans. It was similar to how Americans typically view Chinese… yes they are economic and political adversaries but Americans use Chinese products, eat “Chinese” food etc and don’t typically have a problem with Chinese people. That’s how Russians were about Americans. Not everything is about politics…BUT they have THEIR culture and resent excessive efforts to impose Western culture on them.
Gender roles are accepted and feminism is not valued. People with views like Andrew Tate are pretty typical and it’s considered normal. You may not like it, coming from a Western perspective, but it’s just the way it is.

Those with dissenting views that are more liberal and western-oriented found their own communities in cities but your average everyday Russian doesn’t concern themselves with them, they just want to put food on the table, heat their homes with gas, keep their families close and collect their pensions. It just isn’t worth the risk to get too politically involved.

How does the Ukraine war promote stability? Especially when you now have facilities throughout your country blowing up, subject to sabotage, missile strikes, drone strikes and so on? How does it promote stability to get the world angry at you and to cause international alliances to defend against you to add members and grow in strength? How does it promote stability to lose members of your own defensive alliances like CSTO losing Armenia?

I don't understand this Russian view of "stability" that they think they are gaining through support of Putin. If anything he has led them on a much less stable path.

I am also trying to reconcile this "we think fondly of the Soviet era" and "we resent western culture" with the fact that during the soviet era, things like smuggled-in western music and jeans and other items were highly prized commodities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why all the pro-Putin threads?

Booming economy, low unemployment, national unity, and soon a victory over NATO. America loves a winner.

Weird that they think they will somehow be victorious over NATO. They aren't even fighting NATO. They are fighting a much smaller, weaker neighbor. A collection of countries including some NATO nations have sent them their old, surplus military equipment but that's about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why all the pro-Putin threads?

Booming economy, low unemployment, national unity, and soon a victory over NATO. America loves a winner.

Weird that they think they will somehow be victorious over NATO. They aren't even fighting NATO. They are fighting a much smaller, weaker neighbor. A collection of countries including some NATO nations have sent them their old, surplus military equipment but that's about it.

Weird that people think they aren't fighting NATO when NATO is funding the war, directing the strategy, providing the intelligence, providing the weapons, operating advanced weapon systems, and providing thousands of "mercenaries" to fight.

[Anonymous]

Russia has historically been ruled by men (and the odd woman) who ruled with an iron fist. They don’t have a culture of democracy, learning, or dissent. They were dragged into the Enlightenment era by an autocrat. Most of their accomplishments as a people of the last 600 years were copying the accomplishments of more enlightened European societies.

If Russia didn’t have an endless supply of people or gas to throw at wars, they would be completely irrelevant. This is why Russia supports strong men- they make them feel better about themselves as a people because they have nothing they can be proud of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why all the pro-Putin threads?

Booming economy, low unemployment, national unity, and soon a victory over NATO. America loves a winner.

Weird that they think they will somehow be victorious over NATO. They aren't even fighting NATO. They are fighting a much smaller, weaker neighbor. A collection of countries including some NATO nations have sent them their old, surplus military equipment but that's about it.

As a little reminder, if Russia thinks they are able to "defeat NATO" - 90% of Russia's population lives in just 10 cities - all of which are reachable by NATO ballistic missiles, many of the launch sites for which are unreachable for Russia to target and pre-emptively destroy.

Have a nice day

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why all the pro-Putin threads?

Booming economy, low unemployment, national unity, and soon a victory over NATO. America loves a winner.

Weird that they think they will somehow be victorious over NATO. They aren't even fighting NATO. They are fighting a much smaller, weaker neighbor. A collection of countries including some NATO nations have sent them their old, surplus military equipment but that's about it.

Weird that people think they aren't fighting NATO when NATO is funding the war, directing the strategy, providing the intelligence, providing the weapons, operating advanced weapon systems, and providing thousands of "mercenaries" to fight.

Either you are a Russian propagandist, or you are deeply bamboozled and deluded by Russian propaganda. Either way you're still a clown. NATO does not have front-line troops on the ground fighting under NATO command or on NATO's behalf etc. NATO is providing bits of information and advice but is not in any way "directing strategy" et cetera - this is and always has been Ukraine's war.

[Anonymous]

The only reason Russians still support this war is because Putin has suppressed the media and any honest coverage of the war and has filled the airwaves with lies and propaganda, and many Russians don't actually know or understand the full truth of what is going on in Ukraine or how damaging this war has truly been for Russia and its future.

There are at this point only two kinds of pro-war Russians: a.) those who are connected to the regime and are propping up the lies and b.) those who are unwitting stooges who haven't yet figured out how big Putin's lies about the war are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why all the pro-Putin threads?

Booming economy, low unemployment, national unity, and soon a victory over NATO. America loves a winner.

Weird that they think they will somehow be victorious over NATO. They aren't even fighting NATO. They are fighting a much smaller, weaker neighbor. A collection of countries including some NATO nations have sent them their old, surplus military equipment but that's about it.

Weird that people think they aren't fighting NATO when NATO is funding the war, directing the strategy, providing the intelligence, providing the weapons, operating advanced weapon systems, and providing thousands of "mercenaries" to fight.

Either you are a Russian propagandist, or you are deeply bamboozled and deluded by Russian propaganda. Either way you're still a clown. NATO does not have front-line troops on the ground fighting under NATO command or on NATO's behalf etc. NATO is providing bits of information and advice but is not in any way "directing strategy" et cetera - this is and always has been Ukraine's war.

The only thing NATO doesn't have there are front line troops, and Macron may be rectifying that shortly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why all the pro-Putin threads?

Booming economy, low unemployment, national unity, and soon a victory over NATO. America loves a winner.

Weird that they think they will somehow be victorious over NATO. They aren't even fighting NATO. They are fighting a much smaller, weaker neighbor. A collection of countries including some NATO nations have sent them their old, surplus military equipment but that's about it.

Weird that people think they aren't fighting NATO when NATO is funding the war, directing the strategy, providing the intelligence, providing the weapons, operating advanced weapon systems, and providing thousands of "mercenaries" to fight.

if they hadnt invaded ukraine, none of this would have been necessary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why all the pro-Putin threads?

Booming economy, low unemployment, national unity, and soon a victory over NATO. America loves a winner.

Weird that they think they will somehow be victorious over NATO. They aren't even fighting NATO. They are fighting a much smaller, weaker neighbor. A collection of countries including some NATO nations have sent them their old, surplus military equipment but that's about it.

Weird that people think they aren't fighting NATO when NATO is funding the war, directing the strategy, providing the intelligence, providing the weapons, operating advanced weapon systems, and providing thousands of "mercenaries" to fight.

Either you are a Russian propagandist, or you are deeply bamboozled and deluded by Russian propaganda. Either way you're still a clown. NATO does not have front-line troops on the ground fighting under NATO command or on NATO's behalf etc. NATO is providing bits of information and advice but is not in any way "directing strategy" et cetera - this is and always has been Ukraine's war.

The only thing NATO doesn't have there are front line troops, and Macron may be rectifying that shortly.

current aircraft, current equipment, and troops. NATO is sending Ukraine outdated surplus and they are still fighting Russia to a stand still

[Anonymous]

Q. Do you approve of Putin or are you likely to fall out of a window?

Russians: We approve of Putin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Q. Do you approve of Putin or are you likely to fall out of a window?

Russians: We approve of Putin.

This.


And to anyone who thinks its’s great, google the Canadian couple who moved there to “escape wokeness” and their experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why all the pro-Putin threads?

Booming economy, low unemployment, national unity, and soon a victory over NATO. America loves a winner.

A victory over NATO? They can't beat a third rate army in the field. If they somehow manage to win, their prize is years of insurgency

Was there insurgency in Crimea the last ten years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The masses of Russians do not "approve" Putin.

They don't have a choice. They didn't under the USSR and they didn't under the Czars.

When they had a chance for freedom, they took it, and then it was stolen by the Russian mafia, who are now in the process of stealing the USA as well.

+1