• UnpopularCrow@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    While I understand people’s initial reaction to think this is a positive thing, I don’t believe it is. The less free speech and media the Russian people have access to, the more control Putins propaganda machine has.

    • Alphane Moon@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Practically all russians have had access to fully uncensored YT just one click away on their smartphones for over a decade (until today).

      That didn’t really change anything. Russia’s problems lie in the attitude of the overwhelming majority of its people, not in the lack of access to information.

      They make a conscious and fully informed choice to be genocidal imperialists and embrace authoritarianism.

      • merde alors@sh.itjust.works
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        1 month ago

        Russia’s problems lie in the attitude of the overwhelming majority of its people, not in the lack of access to information.

        They make a conscious and fully informed choice to be genocidal imperialists and embrace authoritarianism.

        “they”?

        what happens to dissidents in Putin’s Russia? It’s easy to criticize a repressed population when you’re not risking anything.

        were all U.S. citizens responsible for the invasion of iraq? In U.S. where you don’t disappear for criticising the government and it’s choices, what difference did that freedom of speech make for Iraqis?

        Where in the so called “west” do people keep buying from Putin’s Russia through cloaked trade?

        while we’re on the subject of “genocidal imperialists embracing authoritarianism”, who are the greatest sponsors of one of the longest running apartheid regime? Is “the attitude of the overwhelming majority of its people” the cause of this genocidal apartheid?

        nuances! “Overwhelming majority” is just trying to get by. Most people are not power hungry psychopaths. If Putin, Netanyahu and some more of their ilk died today, world would be a better place tomorrow.

        fuck this! it’s time to go offline and read a decent book.

        • Alphane Moon@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          What about so called russian “dissidents”? Navalniy and his team openly supported the annexation of Crimea (and destruction of Ukrainian and Crimean Tartar culture).

          The recently exchanged “dissidents” also showed their true colours by supporting the annexation of currently occupied territories in Ukraine.

          We are not discussing US right now! The US did not annex Basra state, steal all the local children, force everyone to speak English and send anyone caught talking Arabic to a torture chamber; all with support of somewhere between 65% to 85% of their population.

          The overwhelming majority of Russians are genocidal imperialists. They support invasions of foreign countries, annexations, attempts at elimatining local language and culture and setting up mass torture camps for anyone opposed to the yoke of russian degeneracy.

          The “trying to get by” pitch is a ruse. Both qualitative and quantitative research (different methodologies, including ones that attempt to account for preference falsification) show this is not true and that on an outcome basis, the overwhelming majority of russians are indeed genocidal imperialists.

      • UnpopularCrow@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        I don’t think a grassroots revolution will be taking place anytime soon, but this is aimed at the young people of Russia who are against the war. The old people there love Putin but I suspect they also aren’t watching YouTube.

        • Alphane Moon@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          The majority of the young people in Russia are genocidal imperialists. Support for extermination of other countries is of course higher in the older generations, but that doesn’t change the fact that a solid majority of young (e.g. 18 to 29) are genocidal imperialists.

          I understand that it might be reassuring to repeat platitudes like “young people of russia are against the war”, but this is clearly not true.

          Even the framing is suspect. What do you mean by “the war”; the full-scale invasion? In Ukraine, the war started in 2014 with annexation of Crimea and russian invasion of Donbas.

      • BelatedPeacock@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Not a Russian political expert, but the fact Putin keeps calling it “denazification” and a “special military operation” leads me to believe there’s a lot of people who don’t support a full blown war.

        • Alphane Moon@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Why do you say this?

          If 75% of russians support the “denazification” of Ukraine, that says a lot about them, no?

            • Alphane Moon@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              So you’re saying russians genuinely believe that since 2014 they’ve been “fighting Nazism in Ukraine” and this is not a genocidal imperialist war?

              As I mentioned in my OP, you do know that every russian had uncensored youtube within a single click on their smartphone until the last month or so? Btw, the YT app is available in russian and there is a lot of russian language content.

              This makes no sense!

  • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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    1 month ago

    That’s what you get. Ukraine doesn’t have access to YouTube either thanks to the rolling blackouts. So… I guess cry more? Or if you’re Russian and reading this, and you want change for your country: realize you are many, they are few, and the few they have aren’t currently as strong as they were before your country illegally invaded Ukraine. It won’t be easy but maybe you and your brethren can secure a safer future for your children, those children, and all the children you will never meet, by rising up against your oppressors

  • Mister Neon@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Wasn’t Russia throttling YouTube bandwidth before hand to prepare for this? Along with banning cell phones for their soldiers, I guess they’re going for complete media blackout and control.

    Edit: I guess they announced 70% slowdown a couple weeks ago and just went straight to full shutdown.

    • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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      1 month ago

      Banning cell phones for soldiers on the front line has become common since the phone transmissions are used as bombing targets.

      However, the blackout of YouTube for the civilian populace is mainly for control purposes, especially as Ukraine is fairly active on YouTube.

    • chiisana@lemmy.chiisana.net
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      1 month ago

      There hasn’t been any monetization since shortly after the invasion started. If I have to guess, Google was just footing the bills so they don’t lose presence to some local player when it’s all over.

      I’m actually more curious as to who finally pulled the plug, Google, or the Russian government; and why finally now. Article made it seem like the Russian govt wanted to violate net neutrality and slow down YT’s traffic, but makes no mentioning of which party ultimately took the service down.

      • Alphane Moon@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        It’s the russian government. There have been rumors that they are planning to shut down YT for good in the last few months.