“Who would have declared such a war on us in Moscow?”

After six consecutive days of drone attacks on the Moscow region this week, one would think the shock of sudden late-night explosions might compel some Russians to consider what Ukrainian civilians have endured during 550 days of relentless Russian attacks.

Instead, some residents near the Russian capital have taken to social media to vent about the inconvenience of being woken up in the middle of the night, question why the “international community” isn’t coming to their rescue, and blame Ukrainian “terrorists” for targeting civilian areas. (Never mind that Moscow has repeatedly attacked residential areas in Ukraine with Iranian-made Shahed drones.)

No injuries have been reported in the recent string of attacks, and Russian officials claim to have shot down most of the drones that they say caused only “minor damage” to a building in Moscow City and several broken windows elsewhere. Kyiv has not confirmed or denied involvement in the drone strikes.

Russian media widely covered the attacks, airing interviews with residents who showed off their broken windows.

“It was scary to go up to the window,” said one man recounting his shock to wake up and find his window shattered. “This is the first time anything like this has happened to me.”

Separately, he told Deutsche Welle, “At first, there was panic. I thought the building had been hit by a shell.”

“It’s very scary. What if it hits the house next time?” another resident told DW, noting that she has a young child in the home. “Who would have declared such a war on us in Moscow?” she asked, unironically.

archive link: https://archive.is/xFkDe

  • jballs@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    In a video that went viral, a well-known blogger complained about how rude it is for drones to be launched “when people are sleeping.”

    “Ukraine is going crazy. Drones at three in the morning. Have you lost your mind?”

    This made me laugh way harder than it should. Like, “I don’t mind the war but can we keep it from 9:00-5:00? Oh and I was thinking of stepping out early on Friday so maybe call it a half day?”

  • Chickenstalker@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    A Soviet Russia joke: A Russian man was accosted by KGB goons and had his expensive watch stolen by them. After the KGB had left, the unfortunate man then cried out loudly, “The Swiss stole my Russian watch!”. A bystander heard this and retorted, “You meant the Russians stole your Swiss watch”. The man then replied, “Yes, but you said it!”

    The Muscovites are not stupid. They are merely beaten down so hard and so long that they know to feign ignorance.

    • CoderKat@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I dunno, if they were just afraid of speaking out, why even talk to the media? Though I can certainly imagine that many of the smarter people knew better than to talk, leaving only those with chronic foot-in-mouth syndrome to get interviewed.

  • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    “The Nazis Russians entered this war under the rather childish delusion that they were going to bomb everybody else and nobody was going to bomb them.”

      • Cylusthevirus@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        I don’t get how a supposedly socialist instance shills so hard for an oligopoly run by a low grade Bond villain.

        • yip-bonk@kbin.social
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          Because they were socialist for, like, ten minutes? Then went straight to totalitarianism?

        • LoveSausage
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          Yea not cheering on attacks on civilians are such shilling lol edit admin removed my previous comment as uncivil. I guess there is a big difference of being uncivil depending on the nationality of the victims. Fuckin libs

      • Hank@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        I bet the terrorists feel really stupid now knowing that two decades later they could just use drones.

  • geekworking@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    So propaganda, government control over media, and threats against anyone who questions the government story works to control public reality and opinions.

    Thanks Comrade Obvious.

  • Th4tGuyII@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    It’s kinda sad how misinformed many Russians are about what their state is up in Ukraine, and act like Ukraine has no right to fight back

    • Llewellyn@lemm.ee
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      Most of us just afraid. There’re more and more cases of prosecuting people for “discrediting Russian army”, for refusing to be conscripted and so on.
      Fear of going to prison is almost in genes, due to the loong history of being heavily oppressed by own government.

      • uphillbothways@kbin.socialOP
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        Is it better to lose life, freedom and loved ones in the pursuit of an unjust war in Ukraine that will provoke further violence at home? Or, is it better to direct violence at home against the ones who would send you or your loved ones to be killed fighting the Ukrainian people who themselves are just trying to defend their loved ones and their homes?

        If you are too afraid and unwilling to fight back against the architects of your current torment, are you not already imprisoned?

        • Llewellyn@lemm.ee
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          If you are too afraid and unwilling to fight back against the architects of your current torment, are you not already imprisoned?

          That’s a lofty sophism. There’s a huge difference between some philosophical imprisonment and a real one.

          • uphillbothways@kbin.socialOP
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            1 year ago

            You are right. That’s fair.

            You know, as an American, I have difficulty trying to figure out how to react and resist against my country’s imperialistic endeavors, among other things. Many other things. I think our police probably share more qualities with yours than they have differences, as one for instance.

            But, I think that, again, when family and friends, neighbors and loved ones are being conscripted in a draft and killed in a war that isn’t even a matter of self-defense, but that is also inviting retaliation closer to home that philosophy becomes much less lofty. Much more practical.

            When you are being forced into seriously unjust actions that invite current harm AND future harm, that calculus seems much easier to figure out. When there is already harm being directed at you by your government, the path of less harm might just be taking direct action to solve that source of all the attendant problems.

            I sincerely hope the Russian people can find a way to limit the harms their government is targeting them with. And, that they find a way to prosper and contribute and enjoy both the fruits of their labor AND their renewed place in a world that can similarly find itself on a better track. Because, honestly, humanity as whole is a fucking mess and we all need each other right now and going forward.

            • Llewellyn@lemm.ee
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              Secret of passivity of an average Russian is in eternal “maybe” in our heads: maybe government won’t notice me, maybe I will be spared, maybe a situation will fix itself somehow. We even have special term for it: “авось”.
              It’s all learned helplessness.

              As for me personally - I have decided that if they will try to conscript me then I will try to flee or go to prison rather than actively participate in that war.

              • uphillbothways@kbin.socialOP
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                1 year ago

                I’m sorry to hear it’s like that, and sad to report it’s getting that way here, more and more; though we don’t have a word for it, yet.

                You sound like a good person. Glad to have chatted. Best luck.

              • ElZoido@kbin.social
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                1 year ago

                So it looks like you think “maybe” it is not going to affect you, and you are only willing to do anything once it does. I think that is in general how everyone there thinks. “Maybe it won’t affect me” but by the time it does it is already too late to react. If you want to flee, do it now. Don’t wait for the “maybe”. Because if you do, it will be too late to react.

          • PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Over 100,000 dead Russian soldiers paid with their lives. What did that accomplish?

            Amazing how the wagnerites drove 3/4 the way to Moscow and then gave up. They can’t even coup, when they hold all the cards.

            Plus, most Russians are fucking FOR the war.

            • Llewellyn@lemm.ee
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              Over 100,000 dead Russian soldiers paid with their lives. What did that accomplish?

              I don’t know. Why are you asking me?

              Plus, most Russians are fucking FOR the war.

              I don’t know where you take that one from. It’s not like we can have independent polls here in Russia and people a certainly don’t feel safe to answer honestly.
              I, of course, only have anecdotes, but very few people I know support war.

    • Synnr@sopuli.xyz
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      It’s very sad. They are locked into informational echo chambers that only repeat the words of state media and anyone repeating anything else gets arrested or a ‘visit’. The only ones who know how to bypass this are mostly younger tech savvy Russians with VPNs etc who care enough.

      • whataboutshutup@discuss.online
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        Arrests and visits are not that widespread yet. Problems are atomization of society and lack of trust, that doesn’t help organizing for literally anything too. Someone in higher comment remembered the long and hardly broken by 90s history of opression, but there’s an old anecdote: ‘If Stalin is such a monster, who sniched on others millions of times?’. If you don’t vet a person\company before dropping heavy topics and opinions, they can tell on you just out of spite. On a local, small people level, folks aren’t found out by secret services, they are snitched on. A girl painted a pro-peace picture and teacher called a police, resulting in her father imprisoned and her put into shelter. Some guy overheard a couple talking in a cafe and boyfriend was pressed face-to-floor before they had a chance to leave. Some college students snitched on a classmate just for lulz to FSB and she got a prison sentence out of blue, she was 19. It’s despicable, but these facts aren’t systemic oppression, but rather ugly POSes having a new leverage over others. When Zs are plastered everywhere, you aren’t really sure who’d hear you at all times.

        Telegram is very widespread and not blocked (while most VPNs are). Many under 45 follow the situation there, see videos and news. They just don’t know what to do with that, to fully comprehend what’s going on themselves and see their role in it, and totally unlikely to talk about it publicly. It’s going back to close kitchen talks of later USSR. Everyone understands everything, but mantra comes to mind. Not many take a hard stance now, but try to put together a Frankenstein’s creature of conflicting thoughts\bits of information to somehow explain the situation (like the viral beheading done by Wagner), or isolate themselves from it altogether to keep moving. Only to then get very surprised, when this thrown away and long forgotten puzzle suddenly blows up under their bed.

        A very weird place to observe.

        • Concetta@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          I mean genuinely it’s the chapter in 1984 where his idiot buddies kid snitched him out to Big Brother. It’s a human personality trait, and one that’s always there.

        • Llewellyn@lemm.ee
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          That’s the brave new world: everyone and everything has a digital trace now and therefore is transparent to oppressive government. A world of a dream for a dictator.

    • drathvedro@lemm.ee
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      Yes, it is. But you too, are in a bubble, if you think this petty vandalism is “fighting back”

  • Oofnik@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Honestly I hate the way this article is written, like yeah, let’s dunk on some random Russian citizens for complaining when things are worse in Ukraine. As if they have some kind of say in what Putin and his cronies are up to. I’m not against the Ukrainian drone attacks, but we need to stop with this general anti-Russian sentiment.

    • Rusticus@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      we need to stop with this general anti-Russian sentiment.

      Let us know when Russia stops committing war crimes and gets the fuck out of Ukraine. Until then, STFU.

    • Th4tGuyII@kbin.social
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      Whether you like it or not people are going to carry resentment towards the Russians, as it’s their government that is over in Ukraine literally committing war crimes.

      It’s the irony of Russians complaining when Ukraine does even an iota of punching back that frustrates people.

      • 31337@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Russians are probably the ones behind the drones. Either anti-war/anti-Putin Russians, or false-flag attacks by the government on its citizens. It’s unlikely the drones flew all the way from Ukraine.

    • snooggums@kbin.social
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      By framing it as an attack on Moscow instead of the result of Russia invading Ukraine, they have shown they are complicit. Fuck 'em.

    • randon31415@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      America had its turn when it invaded Iraq. Americans started wearing Canadian patches when traveling aboard. Iraq wasn’t as bad as Ukrane. American turned on support for the war after 2 years. Russia has an election coming up. They should use it - even if it is rigged.

      • Omniraptor@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 year ago

        I hate to be a Russian whataboutist but the American record of antiwar protest isn’t stellar either. Imo the closer comparison is Vietnam, that was the last one where we were forced to draft people. And it did result in significant protests from multiple groups (incomparable to Iraq imo. What exactly did the Iraq protests 2 years in accomplish, again?)

        The vietnam protests were actively suppressed by intelligence services and ultimately followed in the 80s by a wave of reactionary public sentiment that set the tone for republican politics even to this day (and we can all see how well that’s going).

    • _wintermute@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Lol, let the xenophobia flow through your down votes. This is what you get for having a normal take. Americans love to hate other populations based on what their corrupt governments do. Ignorance is life here.

      • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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        We are not all American, and I will not stand for that level of insult.

        “Normal take” my ass.

        • _wintermute@lemmy.world
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          Just owning up to being a piece of shit lmao

          You can be against Russia and the war on Ukraine and still realize that the majority of Russian citizens didn’t ask for this and don’t want it.

          It’s the same thing as hating all Americans when they invaded Iraq and Afghanistan (and then overstayed by a decade and a half).

          But nuance is a little too much to ask for right? Just need to be on the hate train 24/7.

          • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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            Can you please understand that my issue is when you and every other American make everything and everyone around you an American. Get out of here with your whataboutizums and assuming you have a say on who I dislike.

      • yata@sh.itjust.works
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        It is ironic that you are the one making ignorant and bigoted generalisations, especially when you categorise everyone here as Americans. Which we definitely aren’t.