Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Not Genocidal.....

Yeah it's easy to understand your opinion when you can't see this war as Genocidal. When you equate 700 prisoners in Guantanamo Bay as comparable to this war and it's 50k+ war crimes (comparable as expecting the same public response/mass protest)

But this thread and this war are not about conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan as you repeatedly have tried to deflect.

It is about Russia's empirical invasion of it's neighbour and a brutal war of occupation and oppression.

Ordinary Russians know this is going on for well over a year now, they are complicit and will pay the price. Full stop.

And yes personally I would advocate for the forced repatriation of Russian citizens in our state - send them back to the motherland.

Ah I get it, pointing out hypocrisy is now considered "deflecting" 🙄

Scenario: You're a Russian male, you have a wife and 2 children, both of your parents live nearby.

Are you going to loudly protest and risk jail or being sent to the front line? Are you going to put your wife/children/parents in danger?

I guarantee (no matter what you will claim) that the true answer is no.

I'll give you a recent example how Russians by not speaking out are painting themselves into a corner. Sitting on an interview panel for software developers, a cv was passed for a candidate having studied at Samara State University. The applicant wasn't even considered.

What’s that saying again ‘evil prevails when good men/women do nothing’ ?

727 work permits issued to Russian citizens in 2022. Compared to just 191 in 2021 and 205 in 2020. 100 issued so far this year.

If we take out 2022 all together since in 2022 more Russian citizens decided to leave the country then usual hence the increased numbers of permits issued, I am not seeing any decrease if we compare 2023 with 2020/2021. So it looks like decent specialists still have no issues finding employment in Ireland.

As for not speaking out. I know at least two Russian couples that travelled all the way to Dublin at the start of the war to protest alongside other people of various other nationalities in front of the Russian Embassy. However, as a Ukrainian, I personally think it's pointless because firstly nobody takes any notice of this whatsoever. Secondly, if Irish government itself doesn't care about kicking Russian diplomats out and even invite ambassador Filatov to do various interviews on the radio, what a Russian citizen standing by the Embassy in Dublin going to achieve? Nothing.

It's the flag waving Russians living in the safety of the west and having all the benefits of that which annoys people .Not a chance they would return to live in their great country and their great leader Putin .Personally I would love to see them booted out and go back home .

That's an absolutely fair criticism. But there are also plenty of Russians in the west who criticise their government and I personally know more than a few who hosted Ukrainian refugees or volunteered in other ways to relieve their suffering. They aren't all evil Putin supporters

The people you are talking about are not out waving flags and praising Putin even though they are not living under his regime. Of course there are lots of decent ones and I have posted earlier that I can understand those living in Russia that protesting is very dangerous .

Yeah, I set my account up in 2014 just so at this moment I could try and "deflect" from Russias invasion of Ukraine 🙄

I'm not defending russias invasion, I'm pointing out the stupidity of the usual posters trying to ostracise a whole nation of 140,000,000 because they're not happy with the level of "protest" by the population.

The fact protesting could get you and your family sent off to a siberian gulag or worse doesn't matter to the Irish lads posting from the comfort of thier homes, they're angry and bejeesus they will angry post to ensure the world knows it!

Some amount of fighting going on in this thread today. Must be a slow news day

Furze, nothing I can say will change your mind, but I guarantee you that if you lived in Russia as I did for nearly 5 years, you would have a completely different opinion on it. Coming from a democratic western back ground, its nearly impossible to understand the Russian mindset, situation and circumstances. You have not got a clue. And I do not mean that in an insulting or derogatory way. I cannot even begin to explain it. Basically, everyone and everything is controlled. I've been stopped by different police several times in the same day, they don't need an excuse. Document Check, is all they need to say, and they can hold you, and shake you down for cash, or any one of myriad excuses. You do not want to be "invited" to the police station .. for any reason. I had that experience one time, and I still remember it vividly. A big bleak building, iron bars on the window's, a corridor leading to a big square and in its centre was a huge iron bar cage maybe 20' x 20' packed with people. And, I can assure you, there was no one laughing or joking either. Want to be a hero? Step out on the street, or stand up in a bar or restaurant and shout out " Down with Putin the Dictator". The place will empty so fast, you wont believe it, (because no one will want to be associated with the place, never mind you,) but will fill again just as fast with police and special forces. Putin rules with and through terror, and anyone who has seen this first hand will under stand why Russian's at home and abroad are reluctant to voice anything other than support for the regime. When he attempted to murder the Skripals in Salisbury, and actually succeeded in murdering many more world wide ( not to mention the many window and assisted suicides at home in Russia) Believe me. he can kill you and you family and relatives just as easy, even here. I have many Russian friends, and I can assure you they ( and many more like them) do not support Putin, but they're powerless to do anything about it. Even when we talk to each other, they have to be very careful in what they say, and while saying one thing, they are nodding their heads or moving their hands indicating the opposite. Now Furze, go live in a world like that for awhile, and them come back and tell me what you think.

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I think we can all agree that there are good Russians and that in all probability the vast vast majority are not genocidal maniacs. The problem is they are completely irrelevant in this conflict. Talking about the general Russian public is only generating hot air and rising blood pressure. They have no standing no influence a complete irrelevance until they are not. There is some way to go before they are.