Also many forget how high Putins aproval rate is, espacially these days, Russians like him and want him, they think the war is justified and most are oblivious to how rest of the world thinks of them and Russia.
The Russian leader saw an increased approval rating from 69 percent in January 2022, to 71 percent in February, 2022. That is the highest Putin's approval rating has hit in Levada Center polling since May 2018, when he scored a 79 percent approval rating.
Russians also lack any kind of empathy towards strangers, the first and foremost is own interest at no matter what cost, this is not a generalization but a fact, people who area gainst the war are a small minority.
Yah and how hard would it be to low-key send out sampling on the issue for feedback from your people...for years before you make the executive decision.
I mean this is country where Stalin is remembered quite fondly to large degree too (I have seen all kind of polling on it....anything more than 10% is ridiculous to me for a people, esp after the de-stalinisation done too).
Look... blood, sweat, toil (and the power to consolidate this in a reactionary/excuse/void psyche to all kind of brutalities).....that stuff matters a lot to some people in places colder, darker and more bloodied and sullied to yours....
This is what the West really doesnt understand (and also doesnt understand much of its own conservatism and "lower strata")..... people fundamentally think different way in other contexts and cultures on certain things.....well past materialism and kumbaya niceties.
West default thinking is always ...oh everyone just thinks the same as us in the end...rather than genuinely talking and understanding things first at the deepest levels (base of pyramid stuff) and being as cautious as possible factoring in worst case in mind always.
This bribe, appeasment "quick fix" crap has to end from these western types in ivory towers.
Be it all the 90s stuff done with china after meat pie tianenmen.....or the big energy importing from literal evil empire USSR remnant.
All just switches and turns on a dime in their head.
It always a war that starts (or they start if target is small enough) and they still dont learn from it....what they did from their end to precipitate it to begin with.
Then during and after its always some simplistic "dumb blonde" take... of its some guy at the top thats bad....the people are all just like us in the end. Get rid of the bad guy....flush in the money/debt and some "democracy"....and the problem goes away because people are all just putty clockwork dolls.
They just dont learn to look at system and complexes as whole....on matters of such great importance in the end......absolutely ridiculous.
They are the true "no bread? well let them eat cake!" behind so much of this in the end.
They dont understand or care for their own people lately at large.....so how much can they for others?
I'm not saying the regular people in any country are "Bad" or "Good"....but you have to understand them in broader deeper way first...they have issues of psychological reckoning always..... just like yours.
www.timesofisrael.com
