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Ask HN: What do you, Russian hackers, think about the situation in Ukraine?

5 points by wczekalski ↗ HN
As far as I know there are many great Russian hackers out there. I have heard about many accomplishments by them. So, Russian hackers, what do you think about the things that your government is up to do (or rather already doing) in Ukraine ?

6 comments

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raquo
Most of the people I know who like Putin are those who buy into his mass media propaganda. Such people agree with pretty much everything he does, including invading Ukraine to liberate them from the "fascist coup". I wish I could say that these are typically older people, but sadly this is not the case, such naiveness transcends age and gender.

As for hackers, they are an educated and independent bunch who know to use their brains. Those whom I know pretty much unanimously believe that Russian troops should not be in Ukraine. IMHO Hackers worldwide tend to think much more like each other than their native countries populations.

Non-technical young people are somewhere in between. In my circles they generally condemn the invasion, but that is not a given for every young person.

I'm seeing this pattern on a lot of issues that I consider blatant Putinism.

rainmaking
Suggestions for non-suicidal things that can be done in- and outside Russia to stop this nonsense?
avmich
Education.

I think a good target would be to diminish the effects of propaganda. That could be hard to do, actually - for example, Putin supporters point out many things done by and in USA as examples of what is supposedly "normal", and USA doesn't have nothing like stellar record lately - be it in human rights, surveillance, invasions etc.

But education looks very important - especially if your goal not only to "fix the Ukrainian invasion problem", but also prepare for life after Putin - be it in two months or twenty years.

rainmaking
Educating Putin supporters on the merits of non-invasion sounds a lot like selling wheat grass juice to Texan open carriers. You could do it, but it's going up an awful fast stream with an awful small paddle. Where could we get more leverage?

U.S. bad behavior is certainly not helping, but there's not an awful lot anyone can do about that. I'm looking for ways to undermine centralized power that can go viral. Less centralized power, less confidence in your invasion capabilities.

raquo
I think Russians will blow up in a rebellion in the next few years. It's hard to explain why, but younger people get more and more furious with Putin. They see through his shit. They get older, replacing made-in-USSR elders. Putin's power grabs become more blatant. Social and economic problems keep mounting. The stability that he promised is evaporating to corruption. Rich people are also becoming sick of corruption as they increasingly face the other end of it.