The Dark Side of Russian Opposition?

As Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine continues, we look at the question of imperialism among the Russian opposition.

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WATCH MORE:
Why All Russians Are Responsible for Putin's War

Putin: The Problem of Evil in Politics

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00:00 Imperialism & the Russian opposition
01:05 Russia's bigness myth
02:10 Prejudice at work
04:38 Chechnya vs Ukraine
05:29 The "normal country' myth
09:35 Beyond imperialism

[VladVexler]

WATCH NEXT:
Why Losing Crimea Will Destroy Putin

The Riddle of Why Russians Don't Protest
---
You can now support Vlad's work on Patreon!

Support Vlad via PayPal

---
WATCH MORE:
Why All Russians Are Responsible for Putin's War

Putin: The Problem of Evil in Politics

Why Putin Miscalculated So Badly In Ukraine

Why Russians Rejected Freedom (Gorbachev)
---
00:00 Imperialism & the Russian opposition
01:05 Russia's bigness myth
02:10 Prejudice at work
04:38 Chechnya vs Ukraine
05:29 The "normal country' myth
09:35 Beyond imperialism

[annabelvnoucek]

The Ukraine invasion took me back to 1968 when I was a little girl. My mother (from Prague) burned the dinner after I told her that the news showed Russian tanks in Prague (where her parents lived). We didn't eat that night. (My mother had escaped Czechoslovalia at 19. She was an 'enemy of the state', as was my father). 'I think that after many centuries there is a kind of Russian problem: that Russia doesn't know exactly where it begins and where it ends', Vaclav Havel (2008)

[katerinas.]

Dear Vlad, many thanks to you for your time and effort to help us to find the answers & hope. Love 💕 from Czechia 🇨🇿

[nikitastarikov]

Damn, as a Russian myself, I found this video quite truthful. We need to think about the future, but the future is possible only if we recognize the past.

[nepashas]

There's a military base in town i live in Russia with a huge billboard saying: Russian borders ends nowhere. This is all you need to know about current political mindset of the state. That's very sad.

[dougcoombes]

My godfather was a leader of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising and was featured in the 2006 CBC documentary "The 56ers". Some of my earliest memories were him and my parents discussing life under Moscow control in Hungary and the events of the uprising. The first thing he said in that program was "communism was a sin".

The brutally of Moscow imposed regime in Hungary was incredible and so was the reaction by Moscow to the uprising. My godfather had been forced to join the communist party - which he hated - to attend university and was in his last year of study in 1956. When the uprising began his entire class joined. His roommates organized a relief column to transport supplies into Budapest and my "Uncle" organized 300 fellow students and they got small arms from local military units in support of the uprising and they marched from Sorpon to the nearby border crossing to Austria. They held it open long enough for 200, 000 Hungarians to flee to the west. Over 30, 000 came here to Canada.

My godfather had a tough choice, either stay in his homeland which he loved and likely die horribly, or leave forever. He didn't even talk about his involvement in the uprising for decades for fear of what would happen to his family still in Hungary if the authorities there connected them to the uprising.

My overriding impression of Russians my entire life is of a very brutal and violent people. In recent years I've intentionally tried to change that thinking it was a baseless bias learned at a very young age.

Now I see that it was entirely appropriate. It doesn't matter why Russians are so callous to the very interests of others. They have a very long history of brutal oppression and violence towards people across that region.

One of my childhood friends never knew his father's parents because they had been killed by Russian bombs on Helsinki when Moscow decided it wanted Finland in 1939. After destroying Poland earlier that year with Nazi Germany.

So no, Russia's issue isn't just who sits in the Kremlin, it is a shared delusion by millions of Russians that they have rights that exceed and preempt the basic right to life of everyone around them.

As the Russian government rushes to move thousands of people out of the potential blast zone of a Russian dropped bomb in Belgorad, its forces have fired MILLIONS of missiles, bombs, shells and rockets into Ukrainian cities. Some now look like moonscapes.

There is something truly broken in the Russian mentality to keep doing this while at the same time playing the victim as Timothy Snyder explained so clearly at the UN Security Council meeting that the Russian government demanded by held over the growing "Russophobia" in the world. Snyder explained that the very meeting was evidence of how Russia has justified genocide in Ukraine. By claiming it is the victim and therefore all its actions however violent and criminal are justified.

How do we deal with a nation like that that also has the largest nuclear arsenal on the planet?

edited for typo - Sopron not Sorpon.

[larryhankins]

This was well worth the wait, and you have done a awesome job presenting this to us laymen.

[JakeBroe]

Loved this one! It's great you pointed out that opposing Putin is not enough. Russians have to have a vision for what will replace him.

[SyKnife]

Your videos just get better and better. You’ve mastered the tricky graphics/ideas balance to give forward motion and excitement without overwhelming the viewer. This content seems critical for all of us to understand along with our pro-Ukrainian enthusiasm. Thank you Vlad!

[danyf.]

Forever grateful to the YouTube gods for recommending your channels! I hadn't done any serious thinking about this kind of topic since college (international relations classes and such) and now I am finding it helps immensely in having a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the current events. Your efforts are very much appreciated.

[laleluleilo]

This is crazy. I read Frickers book literally last week and now you are citing it. Such an important work and such an important distinction that you are making. I am (as always) deeply impressed by your content. Lots of love and take good care.

[BassCannonGunner]

What a video Vlad! I feel like you really out did yourself with this one. Extremely clear headed and pragmatic analysis which I haven't seen covered in such an honest manner anywhere else. Keep it up, content like this is extremely important.

[AmbivalentMind]

I love the editing, it keeps me engaged, without being too chaotic

[jtdg]

I really appreciate your distinction between Image and Belief. Thank you.

[lornamorgan]

Thank you. I know you haven't been feeling great and pushed yourself to give us this video.
You have made my tangled thoughts line up and finally make sense. I felt this but couldn't express it.
Take care of yourself.

[Grant_S_M]

I know how much effort it takes to create these incredible lessons. THANK YOU, Vlad. I appreciate you so much ❤🇺🇦

[UkraineMatters]

Gotta say, was hovering above the thumbnail for some hour as I have very strong opinions on the russian opposition.
I was really afraid that it could sour our friendship. But boy oh boy I was wrong, should have trusted that you know what you are talking about really well.
I think what you explained here is spot on and expressed in such a nice manner, from now whenever there will be a disussion about how I feel about the RU opposition I will just direct everyone to this video.
Mostly because when I explain it, it's just some half-coherent nonsense with a lot of cursing.
Thanks for making this Vlad, more people need to see it.

[woodbliss]

Happy Sunday Vlad.
Greetings from New York City.
Thank You for your generosity of mind and excellent work.

[ayindestevens]

Recent Viewer first time comment on the channel. Your videos give me clarity and hope even here in the states. Feels at times the worlds gone mad but you’re a lighthouse in the storm. Be well Vlad.

[Andrzej]

As a Ukrainian, I'm very sceptical about russian opposition for one reason only. Nobody has told, what are their plans, how to guarantee Ukraine's security. The most common answer "we will be a normal country, so we won't attack you". But for me it sounds like a pinky promise. Nobody speaks about real thing: nuclear disarmament, demilitarised zones, etc