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A comment on Chernobyl power plant captured by Russian forces. Parent comment

Re:Chernobyl power plant captured by Russian forces by throwaway894345 on Thursday February 24, 2022 @05:44PM (#30461390)
Genuine question: how much does Russian public opinion matter? It's not like Russia has free elections. Iran's Islamic Republic seems pretty secure despite low public approval. I'm sure public opinion is important, but I don't understand its role in a dictatorship.
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Re:Chernobyl power plant captured by Russian forces by vkou on Thursday February 24, 2022 @08:52PM (#30462825)
> Genuine question: how much does Russian public opinion matter

If it didn't matter, internal Russian propaganda organs wouldn't be firing on all cylinders. The press is not just a 'jobs' program.

Every government requires the consent of the governed. Democracies, semi-democracies, dictatorships, autocracies, theocracies, all of them only work because people believe in them.

For this reason, all forms of government put a lot of effort into manufacturing consent among the people they govern.

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Re:Chernobyl power plant captured by Russian forces by outworlder on Thursday February 24, 2022 @07:05PM (#30462121)
Popular opinion in a dictatorship matters very little. Much more important is the opinion of other people in power. Those might see how unpopular the dictator is with the masses as an opportunity and 'forget' to deploy some security measures...

There's a reason sanctions are being applied to rich families.

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Re:Chernobyl power plant captured by Russian forces by hutrdvnj on Friday February 25, 2022 @06:30AM (#30466158)
If Putin would be seen as a brutal murderer by many russians, then chance are that there are some who could try to assassinate him, like there were many assassination attempts to Hitler.
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Re:Chernobyl power plant captured by Russian forces by sofixa on Friday February 25, 2022 @02:45AM (#30464647)
It matters of course, because if the people get pissed enough they'll topple the dictatorship, especially if the security services get disenchanted as well.
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