Reality Is An 18-Wheeler Barreling Towards The Russian People

Russian forces have been shooting each other over looting rights. Wartime infrastructure deep within Russia, such as a vital chemical plant, have gone up in suspicious fires. Russia's presumed ally China has put out a map of how Russian territory might be divided up.

Ordinary Russians must be spitting blood that things are going so badly, right? Hell no! A whopping 80% of Russians support the war, excuse me, 'special military operation' in Ukraine. What explains this?

Can't say for sure, but here are a list of symptoms of denial and some headlines about Russia.

You refuse to talk about the problem

Russia Can Now Jail People for 15 Years for Tweeting About the War on Ukraine (Vice)

You find ways to justify your behavior.

Baseless Claims of Denazification Have Underscored Russian Aggression Since World War II (Washington Post)

You blame other people or outside forces for causing the problem.

Russia Accuses Nato of ‘Proxy War’ in Ukraine as US Hosts Crucial Defense Summit (Guardian)

You persist in a behavior despite negative consequences.

Russian Economy Crumbling as Officials Reveal Inflation Set to Soar to 20% (Newsweek)

You promise to address the problem in the future.

Expect Putin to make a big announcement on May 9 (CNN)

Part of me says you can't map an individual psychological problem onto an entire nation. Another part of me says they're pretty clearly in denial about the reality of the situation.

That they're in denial isn't a radical observation. Denial isn't necessarily a permanent state though. It can end very abruptly.

As an example, Jitarth Jadeja was a hardcore QAnon supporter. One day she was making a "post online laden with QAnon conspiracies" in the morning. By the afternoon she was making a submission to a forum devoted to debunking the conspiracy entitled "You guys were right." The change can happen that fast.

If you check on the article where I cited the 80% support for the war, you'll see there are some asterisks. "...those who support and oppose the military's actions — are anxious and afraid." Not to mention that support is what people are telling pollsters--in a country where opposing the war is a crime. When people think they are alone, some different opinions come out.

There is a possibility that Putin will go to sleep one day with most Russians saying he's the sun god and wake up the next morning to find out that they're calling for his head on a spike.

In fact, there's a possible upcoming event that might spur this change of heart.

It's one thing to support a war that's happening somewhere else. It's quite another when you're being asked to go and fight yourself. Not to mention soldiers are far more likely to appreciate the realities of war than civilians. This is why so many Russian soldiers have refused to fight.

Deposing Putin would not enough. The Russian state is rotten to the bone. The whole project needs to come down. Ordinary Russians ought to stop stealing TVs from Ukraine and go after the crooks who looted their own country (I mean, if there any left). Repressed regions should seize the chance to break free.

Of course none of this is inevitable. Any future prediction should be taken with a grain of salt. Perhaps May 9th will come and go without anything newsworthy happening. Russian state media has been adept at manipulating public opinion thus far.

However, Russia can't go on like this forever. Putin has "managed to revitalize NATO, unify a splintered West, turn Ukraine’s little-known president into a global hero, wreck Russia’s economy, and solidify his legacy as a murderous war criminal." There will surely be a reckoning of some kind.

The Russian regime must not get a chance to regroup. Ukraine should get all the weapons it can take. Sanctions must be even harsher. Down with the empire. Slava Ukraini.