they don't have to be Russian journalists, they could be any type of journalists, just not agenda institutions.
They have a clear political mission, they're very obvious about it, so they report things and present things in a way that serves that political mission.
Hence it's not objective.
It's like the Epoch Times and its relationship to the Communist China.
It exists strictly to slander the Chinese government 24/7 (and again, I'm not criticizing their agenda, I'm strictly highlighting that these are biased institutions)
what are we talking about here, the fuel stuff?
with regards to that, it's possible that some successful Ukrainian oil strikes are actually minor and get repaired easily, or some are reported as successes but really aren't.
data is an attempt to represent our world in numbers and the way every data point is collected isn't perfect because of real world variables.
that's why Trump consistently outperforms data expectations and economists end up being wrong about things.
so again, you took a fact and led yourself to a conclusion because of your bias and agenda (and again, it's okay to have biases and agendas. It's a natural human thing. Maybe you're Ukrainian. Maybe your heart bleeds for your homeland. I understand, everything here is tragic).
During the Soviet Union Afghan war, there was an observed pattern that people from all the major republics were mobilized disproportionately when it comes to their cities vs rural areas.
It wasn't just Moscow and St. Petersburg, it was also Kiev, it was also Tashkent.
It's a systemic thing that might even go back to the Napoleonic wars.
I don't have answers here.
Maybe it's an economic thing. Maybe it has something to do with mobilization challenges in cities. I have no idea.
Maybe, as you suspect, there's something insidious about it.
It's normal to criticize Putin in Russia but obviously limits are imposed on people with respect to that.
Again, it's complicated and fascinating.
There's a lot of stories to tell about how Russian celebrities behave in regards to that:
- Pugacheva ran away to Israel and cried for the pain and suffering going on in Ukraine. She's a musical giant in Russia and her heart couldn't handle it.
- Some big Russian rapper, Morgenshtein or something like that, protested the war and called it a war when it was illegal (it's still illegal I think but people care less about watching their speech) then fled to Kazakhstan. Somehow he came back a couple of years later and kept his stance but didn't call it a war on television again (but kept implying it and protesting against the war in a very special way of communicating)
- Then there's Sobchak, who is the daughter of some important KGB guy who had a big influence on Putin. She seems to be able to protest the war and say bad things about the current regime without getting in trouble. Some speculate that Putin has uncle-like sentiments towards her because she's the daughter of that important KGB guy
It seems like you don't understand a lot about Russian society and Russia as a country.
Yes, the democracy they legally practice isn't a real form of democracy.
Yes, there are human rights abuses.
In my opinion, these are all symptoms of poverty.
People talk as if there are examples of poor countries with strong democratic infrastructure.
I wrote about this topic before- I'll try to scroll back on the pages and find it later.
A lot of people who post on this thread seem to be really dense-minded.
The vulgarity, the rudeness, etc., it's so immature and pathetic.
