The hope among many is that the sanctions on Russia will cause the Russian people, or business class, or military, or *somebody* to pull their thumbs out and give Putin the boot. And it’s starting to look like those sanctions are really making a mess of sizable chunks of the Russian economy and daily life. but… as has been noted here and elsewhere, many, MANY times… Russians are kinda used to trouble. No boom today. boom tomorrow. Always boom tomorrow. Consequently, if the Russian government can adequately spin this mess as being the fault of EEEEVIL westerners, rather than their our bad behavior, chances are pretty good that the Russian people will simply muddle through as they’ve always done. The effects of sanctions are hardly likely to make things worse in Russia than they were during the Soviet years, at leas after the initial confusion settles down, and Russians lived under communism for 70 years without overthrowing their dictators.
Some relevant videos on the subject. The first one is the source of the title of the post:
The next one, if the translation is to be believed (I don’t speak Russian beyond “blyat” and “suka,” so for all I know they’re actually debating the merits of Cardi B vs. Justin Bieber), is some rather brave soul doing vox pop in Russia, showing locals photos of the attacks in Ukraine. A distressing number think – or at least express – that Putin is doing the right thing. Disturbing that the dangerhaired girl is on the side of right and reason here…