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Squirrel_Master82 t1_ja6jaly wrote

"Thank you, Russian soldier, for saving me from your unprovoked attacks. I'm so thankful that you were there to save me from you" (The crowd erupts in thunderous applause)

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passinghere t1_ja7d1m8 wrote

Yeah how fucking insane is it that anyone believes this propaganda / indoctrination

.....Oh thank you so very much for saving us from being killed because you were the ones bombing and killing us... FFS they could have saved millions more simply by not doing anything in the first place and not starting their illegal war

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Bodach42 t1_ja8gzqq wrote

And if we don't thank you now you will probably kill us, Russia is a truly disgusting place for doing this.

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serrol_ t1_ja97fv9 wrote

They're Russian. Romney tried warning everyone and he was laughed at. Plenty of people before him brought up just how bad Russia was, but everyone continued to say, "blame the government, not the people," as if the people were perfect and moral.

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ChaotiNeutrSamaritan t1_ja9j1cg wrote

If you saw everyone who didn't believe taken away from the filtration camp never to be seen again you'd also believe everything you're being told.

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passinghere t1_jabxf5b wrote

Or at the very least you'd publicly claim to believe it to save yourself

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boringhistoryfan t1_ja6qpgm wrote

Unfortunately I can't blame the parents for going along with this. If you and your children are in Russian custody, what else would you do? It's not like the Russians are above straight up kidnapping or even killing the kids. Even if they were the staunchest anti Russians, I doubt they had a choice here. There's a reason Russia is using kids and not adults for these displays. Easy to threaten both, whereas a captured adult might still go rogue. Confused and terrified kids aren't likely to, and their parents will be too concerned for the safety of their babies to risk anything either. Any parent would.

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FeuerroteZora t1_ja6vb4j wrote

That's not even getting into the fact that they've abducted tons of kids without their parents and are evidently "re-educating" them - some of these kids might be in that situation, without even a parent for safety. Of course they're going to do what they're told.

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boringhistoryfan t1_ja6veuw wrote

Yeah. For the kids there without parents there's no question of blame at all. They're kids. This is why it's supposed to be a crime against humanity to do this.

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Leading_Ad9610 t1_ja75sqp wrote

Also remember Russia has a fucking huge population gap in the 20-45 bracket…. Like seriously low… they’re abducting and re-educating kids to fill that void. Pretty much a lot of people born in the 70’s to 80’s fucked off real fast when the iron curtain fell… and they never really recovered… who knows what this war will do to that bracket now… you could be looking at the only way Russia has to persevere it’s population…

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SimpleSyrupLime t1_ja8mvo9 wrote

I feel like that’s a stretch. Even if losses were 300,000, and then maybe a million left the country not to participate in the war, that would probably only half of a percentage point of the population of that age group

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Basas t1_ja93j23 wrote

1.3m is almost 1% of all age groups in Russia.

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Miserable_Law_6514 t1_ja7grzx wrote

> It's not like the Russians are above straight up kidnapping or even killing the kids.

They have torture sites specifically for children in occupied Ukraine. There's also been lots of rape.

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SuperstitiousPigeon5 t1_ja8rihu wrote

Rape has been Russia's bread and butter pretty much forever. Though they really did kick into high gear in WWII.

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[deleted] t1_ja8pqe4 wrote

[removed]

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oldgeek123 t1_ja8xtuk wrote

Russia is well known for it's use of rape to terrorize the people they are invading.

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cry_havyc t1_jaaa6lp wrote

Rape is a prevalent form of hazing in Russian Military too.

“Dedovshchina encompasses a variety of subordinating and humiliating activities undertaken by the junior ranks, from doing the chores of the senior ranks, to violent and sometimes deadly physical and psychological abuse, not unlike an extremely vicious form of bullying or torture, including sexual torture and anal rape. There have been occasions where soldiers have been seriously injured or killed.”

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loopsygonegirl t1_ja70kiq wrote

> what else would you do?

I think quite some people would naively answer this question with 'I would fight'. The whole gun ownership logic in the US is based on that rational. From the safety we are in, it is quite easy to imagine we will be brave and resist. But in the end of day most of us (at least I know I will be) are cowards with just the will to survive/live, even if it means betraying ourselves/country.

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boringhistoryfan t1_ja70r1g wrote

Thing is, i can still imagine them saying that if it was just adults. Indeed many did. But once you have kids? And the occupying power can threaten those kids?

Even if the parents are eager to fight, hate collaborating... I can't hate them for it. They aren't the ones facing risk here. Their kids are too. "I would fight" is that much harder to say when your child is also in the power of the one you want to fight. When that power can threaten to kidnap or murder your child as much as you.

I imagine most parents, if forced to choose between their country and their children will choose their children. And I would never blame them for it

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loopsygonegirl t1_ja7i05x wrote

That is my whole point? When it comes to right to bear arms, the argument 'I need it against arbitrary government/a tyranny' is often used. And that is the whole problem I am pointing out. I don't think those/most people take into account that a tyrant government will go after your kids (or you as a person for that matter), making it very hard to actually pick up arms. Like I said, it is easy to claim something when you are not in danger. We all imagine to be heros from the safety we are in, but when it really comes down to that moment I doubt most of us are those heros.

I don't understand where the 'I can't hate them for it' part comes from and I prefer to leave it out. I am just explaining why it is normal and human to do it like that... taking a hate into any discussionis so polarizing.

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Witchgrass t1_ja76luw wrote

Uhhhhhh I don’t think their parents went along with it

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boringhistoryfan t1_ja76ojx wrote

The article talks about survivors from the city speculating about their parents doing that.

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Trance354 t1_ja8fpz7 wrote

Parents aren't there. These are the kidnapped kids. If you were wondering what happened to them, you can stop wondering.

I'd very much guess there are more kids behind the stage with guns to their heads. "Do what we tell you or your new BFF is dead, and it'll be your fault."

Putin blew up his own people to get into power, what's a few more foreign kids' blood on his hands?

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TwoFrontHitters t1_ja62j1e wrote

Not so easy to brainwash adults though. These poor kids were stolen and trafficked.

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illy-chan t1_ja6a16p wrote

On the other hand, after knowing freezing and starvation, I bet a lot of people would do much to avoid that again.

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justhereforsee t1_ja6jph9 wrote

Donald trump recently brainwashed millions.

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Gaskii t1_ja6mju0 wrote

They were already following the music, I think he just picked up the flute

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gozba t1_ja719cg wrote

A very small flute?

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LordOfThePinkyRings t1_ja7bqa7 wrote

No, people are saying it’s the best flute, the greatest construction, and played with the most skill ever seen on earth. People come up to me all the time with tears in their eyes, asking if I’ve heard this amazing flute.

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Intelligent-Parsley7 t1_ja7ctm7 wrote

Then he plays that flute in a Mickey D’s. And Hannity speaks of the bestiest flute playing since Ron Burgandy in Anchorman.

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aynhon t1_jaaf2i5 wrote

"They told me, you know, they said to me, "Here's the pan flute." Folks, I'm telling you, I couldn't believe it. I looked at it, I couldn't believe it. There's the flute; where's the pans? Here's a pan flute with no pans on it! Do I blow it? People, do I rub it? Do I blow it?

So I go and I play the flute, and I tap a finger on it and I blow it and it sounds beautiful. The best, folks. The very best sound. They told me that no one ever played the pan flute like that. Never before, everybody. Special. They called it special. I'm the special pan fluter. What do they say is the sound? Flooting? Not farting! Not farting, folks! That's Slick Willie Dee, am I right? That's Slick Willie Dee farting!!"

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clovisx t1_ja7egoq wrote

He has the lips and hands of a piccolo player

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gozba t1_ja7fej5 wrote

Maybe he could just master a dog whistle

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Mythosaurus t1_ja7lqpf wrote

Exactly, Trump just lived up to decades of conservative propaganda and said the quiet parts out loud.

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stout936 t1_ja6z8mw wrote

Nah. Trump wasn't the problem, he was a symptom of it. The right wing had been going down that road for a long time. Trump and his cronies simply told them what they wanted to hear.

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clovisx t1_ja7hjrc wrote

If you’d told 1990s me that we’d come to a point where the Republican Party and American conservatives were openly schilling for Russia and strongman, pro-authoritarian/proto-fascist leaders like Putin, Orban, Kadyrov, Lukashenko, etc… I wouldn’t have believed you.

I grew up at the end of the Cold War, saw the Berlin Wall come down, and caught the end of the proxy war in Afghanistan. Russia was “the enemy” and the authoritarian, Communist regime they represented was bad. Now we’ve got Putin who wants to be president/dictator for life, suppress rights and freedoms, and hates America. The conservatives, who wouldn’t have been caught dead saying anything good about the USSR, are openly praising his strongman posturing and the iron fist he tries to run his country with.

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Beard_o_Bees t1_ja8fp9a wrote

Right there with you. Solid GenX here.

Lately i'm just fucking speechless at the pro-Russian spew from the GOP.

Like, they've openly said - for fucking decades - that their goal is to destabilize and destroy as much of America as possible. Last I checked, that's still their perhaps largest geo-political aspiration.

Not to mention Putin has been nothing if not consistent in his desire to watch us burn. I sincerely believe that he's capable of 'pushing the button' taking us all out rather than being perceived as a failure on the world stage.

He's fucking dangerous in a way that's too often missed because he doesn't shout and pound tables.

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StuperDan t1_ja6ylie wrote

Lololol. Trump didn't create the market he exploits. You give him wayyyyyyyyyyy too much credit. He'd love your comment.

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justhereforsee t1_ja7kiyg wrote

Just an easy way to show how adults can easily be brainwashed.

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Hopeful_Hamster21 t1_ja6nk9a wrote

I want to downvote this, because I hate how true it is. Take my upvote and gtfo.

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DonnerMcgregor t1_ja6z2ud wrote

Including you for thinking what he did was brainwashing but what every other political does is fine

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Mythosaurus t1_ja7lxsf wrote

Reminder that no other US President or politician has ever whipped up a mob to storm Congress and disrupt the peaceful transition of power.

People that can’t see the dangerous precedents of Trump are… brainwashed.

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DonnerMcgregor t1_ja7yygl wrote

George bush whipped up a mob to invade Iraq, that’s brainwashing

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Squire_II t1_ja8ctxj wrote

> Not so easy to brainwash adults though.

The QAnon movement, among others, shows otherwise. Just show things close to a person's belief and then keep ramping up as they go down the rabbit hole. Jordan Petersen has been a gateway drug to right wing extremism for years (even before he went full mask off).

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code_archeologist t1_ja5qfvt wrote

So... Yet another war crime. Add it to the pile.

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Bunch_of_Shit t1_ja6cgz1 wrote

Jesus Christ, there is no limit to the evil of Russia. Russias supporters, especially when they live comfortable lives like here in the US, make me want to fucking vomit.

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nps2407 t1_ja7emhc wrote

I wonder why they aren't in Russia if they think things are so great there.

(I don't actually. We all know the reason.)

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AtomicBlastCandy t1_ja7qrhb wrote

Knew someone that said Pakistan is the greatest country in the world for everything. He had no answer as to why he was working in America. Or why he went to college in England.

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Nostrildumbass9 t1_ja7iugi wrote

ruZZia is a MAFIA controlled state. They prove it everyday with this kinda shit.

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TBSchemer t1_ja6oe4t wrote

You do what you have to to survive.

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thedarthvander t1_ja6vww9 wrote

I’m starting to realize that Putin is a fucking monster

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AustinLurkerDude t1_ja6oknq wrote

Wow this article is straight from some horror flick. The part about avoiding dead bodies while searching for food in a bread factory heartbreaking.

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MOTUkraken t1_ja70drj wrote

We are literally living in 1984. „I love big brother“

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GeekFurious t1_ja7132h wrote

This may surprise some people but... it's possible that everyone talking to the press about this story thinks they are 100% correct about their assessment. Because there may very well be "good people" on the Russian side who, after Mariupol fell under Russian control, "helped" the family and showed them kindness.

Not everyone in Putin's murder machine is a cold-hearted Soviet Union wannabe. And so, when shown kindness, people who have suffered may truly believe they are now "on the right side."

OR, possibly and simply, the parents did what they felt they needed to do in order to keep their kids alive.

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fish_on_dude t1_ja7tdu2 wrote

Is it weird that she thanked a cosmonaut, or is "Yuri Gagarin" a common name?

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brumac44 t1_ja7y7yg wrote

Yuri Gagarin is the soldier's "nickname", which obviously is after the cosmonaut. So why do soldiers need pseudonyms? I'll tell you its probably not for good reasons.

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Nonbinary_Tea t1_ja7utvh wrote

I wonder how long it will be before uprising in Russia

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Chasmerm t1_ja8wc18 wrote

Right now, it’s like the whole world is misunderstanding every assignment, all at once.

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newbrevity t1_ja79xki wrote

Straight from The Handmaid's Tale

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