A thread/rant about #BuchaMassacre and why ordinary Russians vote for Putin and don't mind commiting war crimes.
Things are a bit complicated, so we need to dive into Russian culture and society to understand it.
I promise you, the ride will be worth it.
A lot of foreigners who never had to deal with Russia or Russians hold stereotypical view of "vodka and bears" that was created as a cold war propaganda and doesn't have anything to do with modern realities.
The reality is both better and worse.
The modern day Russia, at least how its government is desperately trying to portray it, is a large modern economy with GDP PPP per capita of Greece and economy almost the size of Germany.
It has a lot of smart people with deep culture that want to see their nation thrive.
But the brutal reality is, there is humongous inequality within the country. What is worse, this inequality is both geographical and social.
Such inequality is the result of oppressive system reliant of natural resources to keep itself running, where humans are also a resource.
While there are millions of progressive, educated and ambitious people, mostly in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the rest, 120+ million people are agressive, jealous, greedy, corrupt and overall pathetic humans.
They won't mind voting for Putin and supporting his actions.
You might think that such pathetic moral state of population was the result of years of propaganda and economic hardships, but in reality, the overall mentality of said population allowed Putin to take control and commit atrocities on their behalf.
All Russians are responsible.
While majority of Russian population are passive-agressive, inert masses, they won't start raping and murdering civilians left and right. But they will support such actions if they are to gain anything from it.
To understand who does it, we need to look at the RU army structure.
Ever since dissolution of Soviet union, serving in army stopped being a necessity, and people with money or influence started to dodge the draft.
Over the years, less and less people were drafted, and now most of RU army are contract soldiers from the poorest regions of Russia.
Those of Russians who live in poor-ish (all except Moscow and St.Petersburg) cities still have at least some morals, albeit egocentric and selfish.
However, those who live in remote villages are subjected to daily suffering and depression, with no electricity, internet or hope.
It's exactly those Russians who live in remote villages, battling every day for survival, who have lost absolutely all morals or humanity.
For them, stealing and slaughtering is OK if there is no consequences. They see army as a way to earn money and escape miserable existence.
These savages from God-forgotten Russian outskirts are the bulk of Russian army enlistees. They value nothing except money, and no one values them.
Russian officers completely understand who they are dealing with, and act accordingly.
On the other hand, Russian officers also don't come from westernized Moscow or St. Petersburg, they come from other, much poorer cities. For them, army is a social lift and a way to grab as much power as possible.
This explains their reckless, dangerous tactics during the war.
For Russian officer, success of operation is paramount, since they won't be able to succeed in life otherwise.
There is no career opportunities in Russia outside of Moscow or St. Petersburg, so if they don't outdo other officers during war, they have no future in their cities.
And that is why we see what we see in Ukraine.
Russian society is rotten to it's core, and army is just one side of it. Don't have illusions that "golden 10%" from Moscow is the real representation of Russia.
The reality is cruel, and everyone needs to understand it.