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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I too have started to distance myself from a few Russian friends I have known 10+ years.  I'm not rude, and it's not personal, but I just cut off communication and don't want them in my life any more based on what I've seen and heard from Ukraine.  If one of them were to constantly protest against Putin very publicly, or join a very public resistance movement, then it would be a different story.

For better or for worse, sometimes people bear the shame of the actions of their leaders.

[/quote]

Are these Russian-Americans? I very much hope you aren’t indiscriminately distancing yourself from everyone with Russian heritage.[/quote]

Why do you care so much?  We all have our own ways of coping, and PP isn't hurting anyone by distancing herself from them.[/quote]

Because it’s an instance of indiscriminate hatred. [/quote]

Maybe this whole thread is part of a Russian effort to get Americans to hurt regular Russians, so it can justify nuking us.

If so: That’s nasty.

On the other hand:

- Of course we should be polite to Russians and treat them based on tough, civil liberties-guarding laws, even if they love Putin and have Putin tattoos on their bosoms. I donate to the ACLU every month partly so it will stop us if we get really mad at Russia and start wanting to take it out on Russians.

- Some hard-to-define group of able-bodied adults Russians does have sn influence over the Russian government, and members of that group do share responsibility for Russia’s actions, even if they’ve risked their lives to oppose those bad actions. Navalny is a little bit responsible for all of this. Just all of us U.S. voters are a little responsible for Abu Ghraib. Maybe Russians who’ve left Russia should be freed from that kind of social contract responsibility, but it’s hard for other people to verify whether some like that does or does not have hidden loyalty to Russia.

- Obviously, we shouldn’t let the government persecute U.S. residents and citizens who are from Russia because it’s possible that they might support Putin. Ordinary non-Russian people shouldn’t be harassing polite, law-abiding Russians, even if those Russians wear Z t-shirts. But we ordinary people are emotional, flawed creatures ourselves. If people from Ukraine watch Russia starving the people of Mariupol to death, and that makes it hard for some of them to have playdates with Russian families, or to go on vacations with Russian families, then I think it’s wrong for others to pass judgment on those Ukrainians. We have a right to expect Ukrainians who are to obey the law. We don’t have a right to expect them to socialize with Russians at such a painful time. [/quote]

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