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[ButAJape] Conspiracies
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2025
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Insert "Russians" instead of "Jews", and suddenly that's a mainstream position, not conspiracy theory.
Depends on the theory.
There's a constant barrage of media pieces stating Russia covertly did X or Y, but for most of them the source is just gut feeling or some weirdo in a Telegram channel claiming random things on Russia.
And suddenly Russia is a scapegoat for anything bad that happens in Europe or the US. And Russians themselves are often held responsible for it (but then Jews don't answer for the acts of Israel?)
Don't get me wrong, Russia is an aggressor in a brutal war, one where my actual relatives are under fire, and it deserves scrutiny for what it does in Ukraine, and also for the confirmed cases of political assassinations and espionage. This shit must be stopped.
But claiming everything on Russia without any investigation just waters down an actual journalism highlighting the real atrocities committed by Russian army and ruling elite. We need truthful stories, not propaganda, unless we want to be the same.
Besides, holding Russians accountable for what their extremely undemocratic elite is doing is playing into Putin's deck, as claims are made in Russian propaganda that Russians are targeted just based on ethnicity - and this becomes increasingly true as they get denied entry or asylum, and as sanctions pressure everyday people over things they barely control.
Followers of a specific faith are not the same as citizens of a country.
And honestly I'm not bothering to read the risk of this garbage either. If Russia wants to stop being accused of crimes then Russia should stop committing the crimes.
I mean ethnic Jews, not followers of Judaism - since it is ethnic Russians that are attacked and apparently constantly tied to Russia the country.
Of course you aren't. You don't really have any stakes here, sitting in a comfortable bed in a safe country, not having to worry about how it all impacts real people. You just take a "principled stance" with 0 nuance and think you're good now.
My people are struggling. There are rockets fired at their homes there in Ukraine, and there are armed drones flying over my head here across the border in Russia, although on the grand scale of things I got to see the latter as something minor.
I gotta tell you, one last time. Sitting here, and seeing Russians change, I can tell you this blame game is a disaster. People that just yesterday supported Europe and even felt sanctions are "deserved", are now turning against it as its actions have mostly hurt the regular folks, and didn't impact the elites all that much. These people go on to support, arm, and even join the Russian military forces. You can call them scum all you want, and so can I, but this could have been avoided, and that's what I get to care about.
At the same time, news attributing every disaster ever on Russia has further deteriorated any trust in reporting on Russia, especially among Russians themselves. This further fuels the conversion of people into Kremlin's puppets.
Whatever was done to further support the view of Russia as the enemy, and of Russians as the people who enabled it to exist this way, turned Russians to get more violent and united on the act of destruction.
I like it when Russians (pretending to be Ukrainian, like you) beg for the sanctions to stop. It means they're working.
I'm currently living in Russia and have Russian citizenship; my father is Ukrainian, and I've spent a fair share of time there and I have my close people I worry about there; my mother is Russian.
Make of that how you will, I don't pretend to be anybody.
I'm concerned about my people in Ukraine, living in Dnipro - my uncle and aunt, my cousins, all of whom I love and keep in touch with, despite not seeing them since the beginning of the war. Moreover, it's not uncommon for people in the west of Russia to have Ukrainian roots, or to migrate/flee from Ukraine to Russia, or to gain Russian citizenship in annexed regions of Ukraine, so my situation is by no means unique.
Despite not being straight on the frontline, my Ukrainian relatives have witnessed firsthand the rocket strikes when they've hit the city, they are often left without electricity and other supplies, and on the other side they also know the horrors of Ukrainian mobilization (i.e. busification). You can be bombed in your house by a drone, or you can go buy groceries and be forcefully put on the bus directed straight to the frontline - even if you're not eligible. Good luck standing for your rights from there.
I beg for the war to stop, and I see what happens around me and how one thing ties to the other. Sanctions are meant to influence political decisions made within a country - and it doesn't happen. Instead, it aggravates many within Russia to go against "the West", because the only people actually struck by this are everyday Russians - people who, in the huge part, didn't support the war in the first place, and are speaking up against it as much as it's still even legal.
Sanction military supplies - many Russians would support you. Sanction billionaires and the ruling elite - Russians were absolutely thrilled when this happened and will be again. Don't show yourself as the enemy of the Russian people, though - because then, some of them might decide to "fuck over the West" by stamping my people with their boots, something they already do. You'll be fine, though - it's not that they're gonna attack NATO - so feel free to feel righteous.
You've spoken well and made some good points supporting your position. They make sense, assuming your point of view. But if you look from a little farther away you'll see how misguided that view point even is.
I'll make an analogy. You're complaining that Ukraine is punching and kicking you. "Why does it hit me" you say, "I'm not the one forcing myself on her! I'm only holding her hands down while Putin and the oligarchs take turns. It should only kick them!"
If your position is that "you're suffering too and wish you weren't" when your countrymen, your work, your taxes, your silence all support the raping and killing of your neighbors (and even family, you say) you're already starting from the wrong position.
I see your position, thanks for answering in good faith.
But that's not quite what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the way indiscriminate carpet sanctions and other imposed limitations end up fueling Putin's war machine, and subsequently harming Ukraine.
The sanctions imposed on Russia and the common attitudes towards Russians don't make any difference between people that are genuinely opposed to this war and could be used as a voice against oppression, and people that are totally up for the murder spree. Much of the former had pro-European values and could become instrumental to shaking Putin's war machine from the inside. Proper asylum mechanisms and more aid with censorship acoidance would allow them to move the sentiment from the private kitchens to the public space. Inside Russia as we know it now, these people have no chance to be heard.
These people, the very people who could help make a change, see themselves neglected, hated, equalized to murderers - which lays neatly in the propaganda narrative. Some then get disillusioned in their support of Europe, take up arms and follow the Russian elite in murdering people. Others have to hide their opinion in fear of persecution. Brave souls who did say what they mean out loud are now in jail, being offered no safer way out, thrown away as if expendable. Folks who get legitimate reasons to stay somewhere outside the country face issues finding a job or any sort of stability as they often find themselves severely ostracised, and live in fear of having to go back home, where each and every of their anti-war words will add years to their future sentence.
What Europe could use to help stop the war, it just blew away, not understanding, or maybe not caring for, what it means for the actual war, and pleasing its electorate with Yet Another Big Sanctions Pack that will surely help this time. It won't, because it misses the point.