> It hurts the Russian, but the Russian lived in the Soviet Union and survived the Crazy 90s. They can suffer way more than Westerns spoiled by prosperity.

From the Mongol invasions to WWII to the Soviet Union, Russians have a lot of experience with collective suffering and deprivation.

Yes, but why? Why do these people have to suffer all the time?

One reason I heard my Russian friends repeating is that "it's a bit country so we need a strong ruler to keep it together". But history shows this is not true. Also a federation of states like the USA would probably work better than the current setup where a short guy from Moscow is sending Buryat boys to die in a country they haven't seen before.

> a federation of states like the USA would probably work better than the current setup where a short guy from Moscow is sending Buryat boys to die in a country they haven't seen before

Excuse my ignorance… but how is it different from a tall guy from Connecticut sending, I dunno, Montana boys to die in a country they haven't even heard of? I'm just trying to understand the difference.

History does not show this is true.

Russia has historically been invaded by such people as Genghis Khan(actually his grandson, Tamerlane, Napoleon, Charles )I forget which one) of Sweden, and Hitler.

The USA on the other hand is protected by two oceans and has not had a foreign army on the continent since 1815.

What I mean is the attitude of the rulers toward their own people, not other countries, these are two separate things. In Russia, you basically have a long history of peasants and common folk trying to get free and the tsars suppressing them. Finally in 1917 they managed to overthrow their ruler only to discover they had been duped again, and the red tsardom was even worse than the white one. And it basically never ended: most Russians have never had a chance to live in a free country. And for some reason they stopped rebelling [0].

[0] Some people blame the spirits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK7l55ZOVIc

>Russia has historically been invaded by such people as Genghis Khan(actually his grandson, Tamerlane, Napoleon, Charles )I forget which one) of Sweden, and Hitler.

here is a fun one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_occu... Russia really doesnt like the fact Poland not only occupied Moscow, but also got Kings son elected Tzar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Russian_monarchs#Tsars...

> global food crisis with millions of dead people in the Third world (thanks to the sanctions, NOT the war per se)

Yeah, I keep hear Putin repeat it, always blaming the West. There are two logical fallacies here: first, the Russian fleet is blocking Ukrainian ports, not the other way round, and second, even if we ignored the situation on the Black Sea, it is Putin who started the war. I know Russian accept this logic and victim-blaming, but its' strange to see it on HN.

As for Russians living through bad times, I still wonder why do you have to accept all this crappy treatment. I know when you revolted in 1917 the result was a total mess but maybe it will be better this time. I really believe the Russian people deserve a better fate than what the next years are going to bring you.