It's a strange day when I have to agree with you more than with somebody listed as my "friend", but it happened today. Moving my personal emotions aside, your arguments are actually solid and sound. Well... kudos to you!

Perfect! Playful and powerful political prose is pretty precious presently. Please, proceed, promote personal prudence.

Really? Ever heard of Anschluss? Doesn't ring a bell?

Please, read this poem to the last line and tell me what do you feel about it.

Some of us here do remember them too, and most of us just can't still get over the shock of the speed with which the high tide of nationalism and chest-pounding has risen here. We still thought that old SU was left dead and buried back in the 1991, now just a horrible husk to warn the future generations. Nope, it seems to raise its ugly head once more, and suddenly there are so little sane people left, so little ways to change things back or even to run from them... Strange times here, really.

One People, One Empire, One Leader? Hmm, somehow sounds familiar...

Well, even the opposition (at least the sane ones) today admit that Putin's popularity is quite high - much higher than popularity of said opposition. Even in our social networks (including LiveJournal) there are many, many people who honestly believe that Putin is doing a great job. And the silent majority are mostly apathetic, because of "If not Putin, than who?" mentality. There is no reason not to trust these polling figures, as there is no political or social force strong enough to prove them wrong. Some historical parallels (1933-1939, anyone?) are quite scary, to be honest.

Well - try and tell them that it's bullshit propaganda. You'll be instantly branded as a "unpatriotic liberalist scum" and no further discussion would be possible. Propaganda works best when its seeds fall on the right soil. If most of the people in Russia wouldn't want it to be true, all this crude and blunt bullshit that's pouring from the official TV, radio and newspapers wouldn't work so good.

It's really painful to see young, bright and generally decent people honestly protecting this shameless invasion of the other country. It's a zeitgeist, not just a scam by some political and media crooks.

Well, it's nice to hope, but Putin's rating is at its highest in the last 3 years, somewhat about 71%. There is no realistic hope for any "push back" anytime soon. Its not like some crazy dictator and small group of his henchmen took over the country - no, its like the majority of population is winding up some sort of mass psychosis. Which is a much more terrifying thought, really.

Ah yes, "c". We all now the ugly reality, aren't we?

Wait, I can swear that I've heard that one before somewhere...

Wait, it's 2 = 0 then? Great Scott, my whole life is a lie!

Please mod parent up, sadly out of mod points today.

Russian here. I just had a laugh of the day, thanks )

Well, for example, it's much easier for third parties (*cough* NSA *cough*) to obtain user's data in bulk from one "cloud service" than from dozens/hundreds/thousands of workstations or SBS's.