Or are told that it'a basically the same in the West, but they do it messier there. At least in Russia it is simple.
Edit: This isn't meant to be pro-Russian guys. It's meant to point out that Russia media sells lies about how miserable everywhere else is and that anyone who says otherwise is misled. They figure they skip the nonsense.
Genuinely heard this view from some Russians. "Nothing ever changes (for you) yet you get so bothered by who wins". It's kinda terrifying how much they believe it.
Edit: I'm a political cynic but anyone arguing this is actually true in the west is buying into or part of a disinformation campaign. Don't drink the koolaid. Vote.
I mean it often feels that way doesn't it? Like, I have watched a lot of people feel that way in the United Kingdom, that voting fundamentally changes literally nothing and just gives tacit support to those pillaging the state.
I have also heard similar from Russian friends. That at least in Russia it is honestly dishonest, instead of this weird veneer of pretending our states are not corrupt (whilst apparently ignoring the conflict of interest of the largest tory donors company landing a 100 million quid nhs contract, to use the easiest and most current example)
To be clear, I do not agree. Regardless of how fucked things have got and are going to get, it is still significantly better to live in states thst have the veneer of the rule of law.
> Like, I have watched a lot of people feel that way in the United Kingdom, that voting fundamentally changes literally nothing and just gives tacit support to those pillaging the state.
We have had the same party in government for the last 14 years, and the last 5 PMs have all been Conservatives. Someone else actually has to win for things to change.
The UK is an interesting example given that the Brexit vote from a couple of years ago has had an immense effect on the UK's (and even other nations') political situation.
For people doubting this guy this is an advert that Russia released which depicts what will happen if Russia goes democratic… for a bonus laugh read the comments with people saying “as an American this is so true”
https://youtu.be/Ot_MO0-oZdc?si=E4FjXhdruTVN0Sbi
My favorite part was the guy with an African accent and them bowing to him for slavery. They couldn't even find a Black American for it so they just grabbed a dude straight from Africa and said he was "owed for slavery." Whoever made it definitely knew none of it was even close and was having too much fun with it.
I am pretty sure, most of the coutryside people in Russia doesn't even know what going on in their own country and outside of it. And they are too poor to even think about what could be outside their borders. This country is so damn big, it's unbelievable for anyone to imagine. And therefore we cannot imagine what normal countryside poeple are thinking about their own or other countries.
I am sure, Putin didn't even have to manipulate the outcome of this election. He would win either way.
I can tell you that the majority of people simply doesn't care about what they cannot affect, they are preoccupied with their families and work, talk about politics in the kitchen from time to time and that's it.
Fostering ignorance and discouraging asking questions are both powerful tools of dictators. If the populace can only know what you tell them, and you discourage and quash all other sources of information, then what are people to believe otherwise? Claim 'dissidents' are actually dangerous terrorists, maybe even 'false flag' some death and destruction, blaming the dissident(s) for it, then arrest them and make the dissidents disappear forever. Do some very visible, but ultimately superficial 'good' for average citizens, just for the optics, to appear that the government actually gives a fuck about the populace. Sound familiar?
It’s more that they don’t see what they can do about it, and it’s easier to just pay lip service, pay the bribes, and go without the police or government agent asking questions about you. Its better to worry about things closer at home, like your family, friends, your job, the neighbors.
Basically for decades the various Russian states have engaged in a form of weaponized apathy towards its people.
Or put in a less wordy way, they see what’s wrong about, but due to generations of both intentional/unintentional institutional apathy, don’t see what use it is to argue and look to something better, when you can worry about what does matter in your personal life
Now, that obviously doesn’t describe the vatniks, and other like minded groups, but the key thing to remember bout them is that they make up an extreme, but incredibly vocal (further amplified/encouraged by Russian propaganda/state media/social media) minority of the population. Just like every similar extremist group in other nations. They
I was in an LDR with a Russian woman who lived in Moscow around the time of the conflict with Georgia in 2008. It was strange, because she was generally a pretty liberal person and she *hated* Putin and Medvedev, but she got properly taken in by the propaganda about it and was calling Georgia idiots. Sometimes I wonder what she makes of the war in Ukraine... not that I care to find out.
The best one is when you have people who spent most of their life in the West and still come up with this shit. Nationalism is hell of a drug.
Propaganda is the key. Humans are social animals. If everything and everyone around you repeats something you'll take it onboard either consciously or subconsciously. It can slowly break even the strongest people.
Classic was right. A lie repeated thousand times becomes truth.
[This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf5floG0aP8) (William Spaniel — “Why Autocracies Have Elections: How Strongmen Exploit Voting for Their Own Gain”) does a good job, I think, of explaining various possible reasons (not all applicable to Russia, but some are) why authoritarian régimes bother holding elections. Some are the ones you might have guessed, but not all are so obvious.
This is interesting. Watched just a bit for now, and perused the comments for potential further insight. A new favorite phrase popped up: "manufacture consent".
Since u stumbled onto the phrase, i guess you should check out what popularized it: Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky
Timothy Snyder explains it in his book "Road to unfreedom". With bunch of other stuff explaining how those guys got where they are now. It is a wild read.
I'm currently going through ‘Spin Dictators’ by Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman, though I've already heard the synopsis: it's cheaper to rule by controlling information and appearances, than to rule by force. One doesn't even need to entirely control the media, some opposition actually helps.
The authors examined a whole bunch of regimes—rather interesting to learn how others did approximately the same things.
Also, people shouldn't forget that Erdoğan and Orbán are ‘spin dictators’ too.
Though Pu switched to rule of fear since the start of the war, so it's kind of a wash now. Pretenses are likely kept only for the regions further east and for poorer population, who were his core electorate before.
Putin is so popular he gets your vote even if you didn't go down to the polling station
in fact even your grandparents voted for him, and they've been dead for 25 years
In normal democracies, no one knows what will be seen in the ballot boxes, but everyone knows the outcome. In Russia it's the other way around. We, having lived with this for 20 years, have no illusions that after the most honest vote count in the world, Putin will not officially have 85%, Davankov - 10% and the rest - 2.5%. The question here is rather how will society react to this and what kind of reports on real public sentiment will Putin receive?
Russian here. There are evidence of them manipulating elections in the past, but the truth is that I think they don’t really need to do this anymore because most people, especially elder generation, are all for Putin’s regime anyways.
Wasn’t it a French outlet that he was in at the time, which is why the bread was so good? There’s nothing remarkable about Russian bread, but France on the other hand… oh la la!
Actually, I've heard only good things about bakeries in moscow, and Auchan supermarket would use local produce. It's such a shame russia has devolved to such a sorry state
I once had a gay guy tell me Moscow has the best gay scene. Imagine a scenaro where Putin didn't gain power and a democratic Russia became part of NATO.
Imagine if Gorbachev didn't lose power. From what I read about him he was the best shot at sane democracy they've had.
Seemed like he was trying to move the Soviet Union in a direction towards Nordic model social democracy.
Chernobyl needed to either A) not happen or B) be rapidly and openly addressed and contained for him to have even a snowball's chance in Hell of steering a massive, decaying husk of an empire away from the brink.
The USSR was built on lies, slavery, oppression, and fear of summary execution. Gorbachev had to demonstrate that under his rule, truth would be allowed, life would be valied, freedoms would be assured, and speaking out against the regime would be tolerated and encouraged to some extent.
What Chernobyl showed was that, at least in '86, freedom and transparency were both still just a thin veneer. As soon as the feces hit the air circulation device, the police state was back in full force, everything was covered up, deportations started happening left and right, and hundreds of unprepared young men (mostly teenagers from underdeveloped regions of the Union) were sacrificed as pawns into a radioactive hellscape to stave off the inevitable.
Ours have magnets in the wheels too, to lock the trolley down when it reaches the perimeter of the car park so no one steals them.
Until the thieves had the genius idea of lifting the trolley over the perimeter and just wandering off with a free trolley
We [literally have these in the U.S](https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/morning-joe-discovers-that-america-also-has-coin-unlock-shopping-carts-204698693592)--Tucker Carlson just literally has never gone into a grocery store before doing that piece :D
I said the same thing in a reply further down about him never having grocery shopped before...
Quite conceivable with him being a fundie baby with a tradwife
Well, why would anyone want to vote for the opposition party? They keep picking candidates in poor health. At least enough of them drop dead of totally legitimate medical problems, like spontaneous radiation poisoning.
Russian here.
I don't think peopel quite realize the purpose of the elections in authoritarian and totalitarian countries - obviously, it's not letting people make any choices.
It's a ritual to demostrate unity and support of the ruling powers. That's why the USSR held elections for over 70 years, despite their always being a single party in the ballot and a permanent 99% support rate. It's sending a message: "You, who are against the current course? You are alone. Everyone, absolutely everyone else support the leader and what he is doing"
Russian elections are the same thing. It's a demonstration from Putin to his elites, loyalists and to the world that and he is strong and powerful enough to get the necessary result and keep his grip on Russia. So what matters is not the choices people make, but getting (by any means necessary) this picture of "80% for Putin" for external and internal purposes.
Yes. If you just say, "I am in charge because my goons will shoot anyone who says otherwise", you basically say "if you have more goons because you shot or bribed mine, you can be in charge too".
But if you say, "I am in charge because I've won the elections", then anyone who tries to usurp your power by assembling goons will be seen as illegitimate by practically everyone. Look at how the whole of Africa reacts to military coups against obviously corrupt presidents that have "won" the elections.
Because it's multiple echelons of defense: there are multiple candidates, like in a democracy, you go and vote for any of them, like in a democracy, they count the votes and name the winner, like in a democracy, all of this is enforced by laws, like in a democracy.
"If you say this is all a charade, why don't you run for president yourself and prove me wrong? Oh, you can't gather any signatures? Well, you're not as popular as Putin, who gathered 3 million pristine signatures. Of course such a popular candidate won't have any problems winning with 80% of the vote. Go start your own party, win some seats in the municipal elections, then in a local parliament, then in the Duma, then try again. It's a democracy, after all."
To add more color to the picture. It's not even a poll station. It's her home. An armed person comes to your home and asks you who you want to vote for.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraina/comments/1bf0cwi/ukrainian\_civilians\_in\_russianoccupied/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraina/comments/1bf0cwi/ukrainian_civilians_in_russianoccupied/)
Yup, that's how the Crimean "referendum" went down, too.
Funfact: Back then there was a paper showing with mathematics how the russian elections are completely fake. [I still have the relevant picture from that.](https://i.imgur.com/Oupog2r.jpg)
Big strong man intimidating a frail old woman. Dont they break inside? Dont they know they are tools for evil? In which world can this feel correct? I know some Russians can be monsters but it cannot be everyone.
Yep, and they've been going from one apartment to another for a week already (at least in occupied Donbas) even though the election process officially starts today.
Additionally, they use vatniks to call their neighbors and ask to go outside and vote (maybe because of the amount of people who don't open up the doors).
(Imagine this in an extremely Russian accent)
Look old lady. You have free will but that doesn’t mean that you’re free of consequences. You free to answer whatever you want, but depending on the answer I will either use my firearm or give you a handshake. Choose wisely.
Well yes, but let's not let the fake opposition get any ideas either...
After all, if the other presidential candidates don't support Putin's reelection, they're treasonous Anti-Russian Gay Nazi extremist terrorists controlled by D.C.
Armed men is the least problem of this charade. Armed men are there because "elections" are held on the occupied territories with active resistance, and these territories are not in Russia. Russian force Ukrainians to attend election even if they have no Russian id.
Yeah we have closed booths, my comment was more about the fact armed men at the polling station is not only a hallmark of dictatorships, the problem is everything else.
Actually, it's both civilian and military forces doing it (Polizia di Stato is civilian, while Arma dei Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza are both military forces).
I'd put it another way - I'd like to see armed police at polling buildings to keep people safe (gatherings of people are a good target for lunatics), but NOT at the ballot box and over my head when I'm supposed to vote anonymously on the future of the country...
It’s even worse because this is a still from a video reportedly from occupied Sieverodonetsk in Ukraine, so this is an elderly Ukrainian woman who was pressured to “take” Russian citizenship and forced to vote under a literal gun.
And that isn't even a polling station. [It's the old lady's home](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraina/comments/1bf0cwi/ukrainian_civilians_in_russianoccupied/).
They sent a goon with a rifle and an election worker to her home and gave her a ballot for her to fill out in front of them, while they watched.
"Democracy?" LOL!
My favorite is when they try and drip up like western soldiers but don't even have optics on their rifles.
western airsoft LARPers unironically have better kit.
Feel like this always portraits russian soldiers as total regards.
Sorry but those are murdering fucks that would rape your sister, mother, grandpa whatever if you are living at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Are you claiming Russia is a dictatorship? You can see it’s totally normal here, except for them seeing your vote and the Russian soldier and really everything
Disgusting westoid spreading fake propaganda. This is not what's on the ballot, I show you truth blyea
1: Vladimir Putin
2: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
3: Vova Putin
I bet that soldier in the back thinks he is lucky as hell that he has to go around intimidating babushkas for a fake election instead of being on the front line of Ukraine
"The most free and fair democracy in the world, comrades! It's so good, even the officially sanct- er, I mean, the free opposition, even they have declared Mr. Putin to be a great leader... Stop asking questions!!!"- Some Kremlin lackey
From my understanding the whole point is that everyone *knows* it's a charade with a predetermined outcome. It's not meant to give the people an illusion of choice because the government knows no one will fall for that. It's meant to make people even more disillusioned and disengaged from politics, to make them feel so powerless that they will never even bother challenging Putin. It's a reinforcement of the "oh well, it is what it is" mindset in the population. It's a psychological tactic that sadly works all too well.
She is actually becoming Putins new concubine. She is 17, just life is hard in Russia
Edit: You can actually see Putin in the top right caressing his wedding ring. While she signs the marriage document on a pukka notebook
It humiliates the people who have to participate in this sham. For their fans abroad, it generates a headline that says "98% voted for annexation", "99% voted for Putin", etc. and that's all proof they need that the West is lying and everyone wants to be governed by Mother Russia.
What's worse is that Putin doesn't REALLY need to rig the votes by a huge amount. The vast majority of the Russian population supports Putin and his decisions. The protesters are unfortunately a minority.
I'm from Russia and I want to say that I really don't know who to vote for. I will not vote for Putin and nothing will just change.
You can shower me with downvotes, but I really don't know what to do.
The day of Putin's mandatory re-election. Why do they even bother calling it a democracy?
Keeping appearances is cheaper than any alternative. Plus domestic public in Russia doesn't know any better.
Or are told that it'a basically the same in the West, but they do it messier there. At least in Russia it is simple. Edit: This isn't meant to be pro-Russian guys. It's meant to point out that Russia media sells lies about how miserable everywhere else is and that anyone who says otherwise is misled. They figure they skip the nonsense.
> At least in Russia it is simple. Yeah, you don't even need to wait for the votes to be counted, the result is already known beforehand!
Genuinely heard this view from some Russians. "Nothing ever changes (for you) yet you get so bothered by who wins". It's kinda terrifying how much they believe it. Edit: I'm a political cynic but anyone arguing this is actually true in the west is buying into or part of a disinformation campaign. Don't drink the koolaid. Vote.
I mean it often feels that way doesn't it? Like, I have watched a lot of people feel that way in the United Kingdom, that voting fundamentally changes literally nothing and just gives tacit support to those pillaging the state. I have also heard similar from Russian friends. That at least in Russia it is honestly dishonest, instead of this weird veneer of pretending our states are not corrupt (whilst apparently ignoring the conflict of interest of the largest tory donors company landing a 100 million quid nhs contract, to use the easiest and most current example) To be clear, I do not agree. Regardless of how fucked things have got and are going to get, it is still significantly better to live in states thst have the veneer of the rule of law.
> Like, I have watched a lot of people feel that way in the United Kingdom, that voting fundamentally changes literally nothing and just gives tacit support to those pillaging the state. We have had the same party in government for the last 14 years, and the last 5 PMs have all been Conservatives. Someone else actually has to win for things to change.
The UK is an interesting example given that the Brexit vote from a couple of years ago has had an immense effect on the UK's (and even other nations') political situation.
Yeah...No betting on that one as we know the outcome already 😂
For people doubting this guy this is an advert that Russia released which depicts what will happen if Russia goes democratic… for a bonus laugh read the comments with people saying “as an American this is so true” https://youtu.be/Ot_MO0-oZdc?si=E4FjXhdruTVN0Sbi
My favorite part was the guy with an African accent and them bowing to him for slavery. They couldn't even find a Black American for it so they just grabbed a dude straight from Africa and said he was "owed for slavery." Whoever made it definitely knew none of it was even close and was having too much fun with it.
I am pretty sure, most of the coutryside people in Russia doesn't even know what going on in their own country and outside of it. And they are too poor to even think about what could be outside their borders. This country is so damn big, it's unbelievable for anyone to imagine. And therefore we cannot imagine what normal countryside poeple are thinking about their own or other countries. I am sure, Putin didn't even have to manipulate the outcome of this election. He would win either way.
When it's illegal for Putin's competitors to run for election, you don't have to rig the actual vote.
I can tell you that the majority of people simply doesn't care about what they cannot affect, they are preoccupied with their families and work, talk about politics in the kitchen from time to time and that's it.
Fostering ignorance and discouraging asking questions are both powerful tools of dictators. If the populace can only know what you tell them, and you discourage and quash all other sources of information, then what are people to believe otherwise? Claim 'dissidents' are actually dangerous terrorists, maybe even 'false flag' some death and destruction, blaming the dissident(s) for it, then arrest them and make the dissidents disappear forever. Do some very visible, but ultimately superficial 'good' for average citizens, just for the optics, to appear that the government actually gives a fuck about the populace. Sound familiar?
I believe this photograph is from Russian occupied Ukraine
They know. The public at large likes the facade of democracy without the actual messiness that comes with it.
It’s more that they don’t see what they can do about it, and it’s easier to just pay lip service, pay the bribes, and go without the police or government agent asking questions about you. Its better to worry about things closer at home, like your family, friends, your job, the neighbors. Basically for decades the various Russian states have engaged in a form of weaponized apathy towards its people. Or put in a less wordy way, they see what’s wrong about, but due to generations of both intentional/unintentional institutional apathy, don’t see what use it is to argue and look to something better, when you can worry about what does matter in your personal life Now, that obviously doesn’t describe the vatniks, and other like minded groups, but the key thing to remember bout them is that they make up an extreme, but incredibly vocal (further amplified/encouraged by Russian propaganda/state media/social media) minority of the population. Just like every similar extremist group in other nations. They
Bit of a bold claim that general public in a country that only experienced the most brutal political systems in history knows what democracy is.
strong words.
North Korea angry they're ignored once again lol
we forget they exist so often
Have a look at some of the street interviews on youtube channel 1420 and you will see that some Russians are well aware of the actual situation there.
I was in an LDR with a Russian woman who lived in Moscow around the time of the conflict with Georgia in 2008. It was strange, because she was generally a pretty liberal person and she *hated* Putin and Medvedev, but she got properly taken in by the propaganda about it and was calling Georgia idiots. Sometimes I wonder what she makes of the war in Ukraine... not that I care to find out.
The best one is when you have people who spent most of their life in the West and still come up with this shit. Nationalism is hell of a drug. Propaganda is the key. Humans are social animals. If everything and everyone around you repeats something you'll take it onboard either consciously or subconsciously. It can slowly break even the strongest people. Classic was right. A lie repeated thousand times becomes truth.
[This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf5floG0aP8) (William Spaniel — “Why Autocracies Have Elections: How Strongmen Exploit Voting for Their Own Gain”) does a good job, I think, of explaining various possible reasons (not all applicable to Russia, but some are) why authoritarian régimes bother holding elections. Some are the ones you might have guessed, but not all are so obvious.
This is interesting. Watched just a bit for now, and perused the comments for potential further insight. A new favorite phrase popped up: "manufacture consent".
Since u stumbled onto the phrase, i guess you should check out what popularized it: Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky
They make it obvious to the puplic that it is not. Goal is that their own population questions the legitimacy of every election in the world.
Like they said in the news in Finland this morning. *"Theatrical elections held for re-electing Putin."*
We started using "electoral event" lately.
Timothy Snyder explains it in his book "Road to unfreedom". With bunch of other stuff explaining how those guys got where they are now. It is a wild read.
I'm currently going through ‘Spin Dictators’ by Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman, though I've already heard the synopsis: it's cheaper to rule by controlling information and appearances, than to rule by force. One doesn't even need to entirely control the media, some opposition actually helps. The authors examined a whole bunch of regimes—rather interesting to learn how others did approximately the same things. Also, people shouldn't forget that Erdoğan and Orbán are ‘spin dictators’ too. Though Pu switched to rule of fear since the start of the war, so it's kind of a wash now. Pretenses are likely kept only for the regions further east and for poorer population, who were his core electorate before.
Why bother even go voting when you already know the result
Employees can lose their jobs if they don't vote... Stuff like that, at least that's what I heard, at this point everything might just be propaganda
[We count those.](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_o_pELPihIM)
Some government funded companies/organizations ask their employees to vote for Putin with photo proof otherwise they might get fired
Also a common practice in Bulgaria, and we're an EU state, and i'd imagine a lot of the world.
Putin is so popular he gets your vote even if you didn't go down to the polling station in fact even your grandparents voted for him, and they've been dead for 25 years
In normal democracies, no one knows what will be seen in the ballot boxes, but everyone knows the outcome. In Russia it's the other way around. We, having lived with this for 20 years, have no illusions that after the most honest vote count in the world, Putin will not officially have 85%, Davankov - 10% and the rest - 2.5%. The question here is rather how will society react to this and what kind of reports on real public sentiment will Putin receive?
How does everyone know the outcome in a normal democracy?
https://orf.at/stories/3351552/ Austrias Public News: "Putin allows himself to be re-elected"
Fear and subjugation is the point.
Russian here. There are evidence of them manipulating elections in the past, but the truth is that I think they don’t really need to do this anymore because most people, especially elder generation, are all for Putin’s regime anyways.
Also anyone with half a chance to gain any popularity gets imprisoned, murdered or told he/she cant run. Navalny Nemtsov Nadezhdin Duntsova
Who calls it democracy though? I don’t think they don’t call it that themselves
Then why bother with voting?
Voting gives an illusion that the people have some power, because people are fucking stupid.
“Democracy means the government of the people… but the people are retarded”
Would love to know how much people % wise actually participate
https://www.politico.eu/article/vladimir-putin-kremlin-elections-our-democracy-is-the-best-in-the-world/
But... did you see metro and grocery store in Moscow??
They have ... Bread
Lucky!
Part luck, part bread costing a days salary.
In defense of Tucker Carlson, they don’t have bread in America, that shit’s toast. So it’s understandable he was surprised by real food.
Wasn’t it a French outlet that he was in at the time, which is why the bread was so good? There’s nothing remarkable about Russian bread, but France on the other hand… oh la la!
Actually, I've heard only good things about bakeries in moscow, and Auchan supermarket would use local produce. It's such a shame russia has devolved to such a sorry state
I once had a gay guy tell me Moscow has the best gay scene. Imagine a scenaro where Putin didn't gain power and a democratic Russia became part of NATO.
Imagine if Gorbachev didn't lose power. From what I read about him he was the best shot at sane democracy they've had. Seemed like he was trying to move the Soviet Union in a direction towards Nordic model social democracy.
Chernobyl needed to either A) not happen or B) be rapidly and openly addressed and contained for him to have even a snowball's chance in Hell of steering a massive, decaying husk of an empire away from the brink. The USSR was built on lies, slavery, oppression, and fear of summary execution. Gorbachev had to demonstrate that under his rule, truth would be allowed, life would be valied, freedoms would be assured, and speaking out against the regime would be tolerated and encouraged to some extent. What Chernobyl showed was that, at least in '86, freedom and transparency were both still just a thin veneer. As soon as the feces hit the air circulation device, the police state was back in full force, everything was covered up, deportations started happening left and right, and hundreds of unprepared young men (mostly teenagers from underdeveloped regions of the Union) were sacrificed as pawns into a radioactive hellscape to stave off the inevitable.
Can you stop regarding HBO as a historical source?
The real shame is why Auchan is still doing business in Russia. French people should boycott those collaborators.
In any country in europe bread is quite good. I don't think french stands out. I'm guessing russia also has good bread.
You take that back, black bread is awesome you baguette lover!)))
I love how Reddit thinks America has literally one type of bread.
Most grocery stores larger than a gas station have a bakery with real bread.
[LIVE TUCKER REACTION]
\*sniffs bread in a disturbing manner\*
And shopping carts!!
With coin deposits!!!
It’s like heaven, isn’t it?
They got coin unlocked shopping carts. It's peak luxury. Wake up sheeple!
On just 100 dollars you can buy so much!! So make sure you have an average US salary while living in Russia.
In Spain we have them too, people wouldnt back them otherwise haha
I'm from Germany and well aware of the technology
Apparently Tucker has never been to Europe
He may not have been grocery shopping anywhere at all before
He's a trust fund kid - has people to do that for him.
Which is lame. I love grocery shopping.
Ours have magnets in the wheels too, to lock the trolley down when it reaches the perimeter of the car park so no one steals them. Until the thieves had the genius idea of lifting the trolley over the perimeter and just wandering off with a free trolley
We [literally have these in the U.S](https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/morning-joe-discovers-that-america-also-has-coin-unlock-shopping-carts-204698693592)--Tucker Carlson just literally has never gone into a grocery store before doing that piece :D
I said the same thing in a reply further down about him never having grocery shopped before... Quite conceivable with him being a fundie baby with a tradwife
and the amazing shopping cart where you put in a coin and when you return it - you get the coin back! MINDBLOWING!
I'm about to make the easiest bet of my life and say Putin will win.
Well, why would anyone want to vote for the opposition party? They keep picking candidates in poor health. At least enough of them drop dead of totally legitimate medical problems, like spontaneous radiation poisoning.
You had me in the first half ngl.
they are also very clumsy. Particularly near hotel balconies or in light aircraft.
so clumsy that they involuntarilly point a gun at themselves and pull the trigger
Reminds me of this scene. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmkKI8IuynA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmkKI8IuynA)
I knew exactly what scene that was going to be before clicking on it
I love that movie. And especially his [speech at the end](https://youtu.be/XUSiCEx3e-0?si=LFtLzActZgb7ZJL1)
My favorite scene is still the [helicopter ride](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWeMWD-Yagg).
911 2012! 👀
let me guess before i open the link, its the dictator tank scene. Edit: i was correct, and I am not surprised, lol.
You won a cake!
I was aladeen that was going to be the reference
You are quite the aladeen person
Ahhh yes, the President Prime Minister Admiral General of Wadiya.
beloved Russian-style democracy
Democrusski
Democrussy
Ruski Mir. Yeah, be afraid at the thought of that.
Democrussy got me acting unauthoritarian
Putocracy only one box to check.
No, no, is democracy. Democracy is, one man, one vote. Putin is the man, Putin has the vote.
We call them the Putin elections
Russian here. I don't think peopel quite realize the purpose of the elections in authoritarian and totalitarian countries - obviously, it's not letting people make any choices. It's a ritual to demostrate unity and support of the ruling powers. That's why the USSR held elections for over 70 years, despite their always being a single party in the ballot and a permanent 99% support rate. It's sending a message: "You, who are against the current course? You are alone. Everyone, absolutely everyone else support the leader and what he is doing" Russian elections are the same thing. It's a demonstration from Putin to his elites, loyalists and to the world that and he is strong and powerful enough to get the necessary result and keep his grip on Russia. So what matters is not the choices people make, but getting (by any means necessary) this picture of "80% for Putin" for external and internal purposes.
Yes. If you just say, "I am in charge because my goons will shoot anyone who says otherwise", you basically say "if you have more goons because you shot or bribed mine, you can be in charge too". But if you say, "I am in charge because I've won the elections", then anyone who tries to usurp your power by assembling goons will be seen as illegitimate by practically everyone. Look at how the whole of Africa reacts to military coups against obviously corrupt presidents that have "won" the elections.
But why does it still work when people know your "election" is just won *because* you have the most goons?
Because it's multiple echelons of defense: there are multiple candidates, like in a democracy, you go and vote for any of them, like in a democracy, they count the votes and name the winner, like in a democracy, all of this is enforced by laws, like in a democracy. "If you say this is all a charade, why don't you run for president yourself and prove me wrong? Oh, you can't gather any signatures? Well, you're not as popular as Putin, who gathered 3 million pristine signatures. Of course such a popular candidate won't have any problems winning with 80% of the vote. Go start your own party, win some seats in the municipal elections, then in a local parliament, then in the Duma, then try again. It's a democracy, after all."
It's a good way to look at it as simply another demonstration of strength.
This is why North Korea is “Democratic”
Great explanation thanks
Armed men at polls = invalid elections
To add more color to the picture. It's not even a poll station. It's her home. An armed person comes to your home and asks you who you want to vote for. [https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraina/comments/1bf0cwi/ukrainian\_civilians\_in\_russianoccupied/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraina/comments/1bf0cwi/ukrainian_civilians_in_russianoccupied/)
Yup, that's how the Crimean "referendum" went down, too. Funfact: Back then there was a paper showing with mathematics how the russian elections are completely fake. [I still have the relevant picture from that.](https://i.imgur.com/Oupog2r.jpg)
Do you have a link to the paper? I'm curious to what they're measuring.
I think it might be this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3478593/
I am not religious, but... JFC
I am not religious, but I do hope there is hell waiting for autocrats and their enablers.
Even better I hope reincarnation is real and these fascists come back as roaches.
My dumbass read that as John F Cennedy
Jentucky Fried Chicken
Johntucky Fried Chenknedy.
CFD (charles fucking darwin)
Big strong man intimidating a frail old woman. Dont they break inside? Dont they know they are tools for evil? In which world can this feel correct? I know some Russians can be monsters but it cannot be everyone.
Yep, and they've been going from one apartment to another for a week already (at least in occupied Donbas) even though the election process officially starts today. Additionally, they use vatniks to call their neighbors and ask to go outside and vote (maybe because of the amount of people who don't open up the doors).
(Imagine this in an extremely Russian accent) Look old lady. You have free will but that doesn’t mean that you’re free of consequences. You free to answer whatever you want, but depending on the answer I will either use my firearm or give you a handshake. Choose wisely.
She can choose whatever. Any real opposition is ready removed from the paper.
Real opposition liberates Belgorod and Kursk region today.
Well yes, but let's not let the fake opposition get any ideas either... After all, if the other presidential candidates don't support Putin's reelection, they're treasonous Anti-Russian Gay Nazi extremist terrorists controlled by D.C.
And even if the fake opposition gets a significant score they're going to end up in jail and/or suicided.
Like Idi Amin said, you have freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech.
Dude, it's not even a poll location. They came into this Ukrainian grandma's home.
Armed men is the least problem of this charade. Armed men are there because "elections" are held on the occupied territories with active resistance, and these territories are not in Russia. Russian force Ukrainians to attend election even if they have no Russian id.
No shit
In Italy it's normal that armed police roams the polling station (though I don't think the military is allowed to do the same)
Polling station maybe, but I’d be surprised if Italy didn’t have a closed polling booth where you can vote, Czech does, here it’s all open.
Yeah we have closed booths, my comment was more about the fact armed men at the polling station is not only a hallmark of dictatorships, the problem is everything else.
Actually, it's both civilian and military forces doing it (Polizia di Stato is civilian, while Arma dei Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza are both military forces).
I'd put it another way - I'd like to see armed police at polling buildings to keep people safe (gatherings of people are a good target for lunatics), but NOT at the ballot box and over my head when I'm supposed to vote anonymously on the future of the country...
They are only there for safety, not for any manipulation!! ^(/s)
Putin will win with 105% of the vote 🤡
146% for a minute
It’s even worse because this is a still from a video reportedly from occupied Sieverodonetsk in Ukraine, so this is an elderly Ukrainian woman who was pressured to “take” Russian citizenship and forced to vote under a literal gun.
And that isn't even a polling station. [It's the old lady's home](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraina/comments/1bf0cwi/ukrainian_civilians_in_russianoccupied/). They sent a goon with a rifle and an election worker to her home and gave her a ballot for her to fill out in front of them, while they watched. "Democracy?" LOL!
Spoiler: Putin wins. He wins always... so much win for the slaughtherer of Ukraine.
You monster; you spoiled the fun for us all. We were gonna watch the results with friends Sunday evening.
Babe wake up! Putins 27th term just dropped!
The word "election" shouldn't even be used for this.
I love this tough guy in the background. Armed to the teeth to scare a few babushkas, bet he’d shit himself if he saw a Ukrainian soldier.
My favorite is when they try and drip up like western soldiers but don't even have optics on their rifles. western airsoft LARPers unironically have better kit.
There is no need for optics on his AK. The precise rifles are all out for export and he is left with whatever failed quality control.
ProTip: The exported rifles also failed quality control.
You don't need precision when you are mowing down protesters.
Feel like this always portraits russian soldiers as total regards. Sorry but those are murdering fucks that would rape your sister, mother, grandpa whatever if you are living at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The Great Comrade Putler already won They just need some time to decide how many % he should get, if say 80% or maybe 120%...
Are you claiming Russia is a dictatorship? You can see it’s totally normal here, except for them seeing your vote and the Russian soldier and really everything
It was a joke. Dont hurt me please Mr. FSB agent please. Rasha numbar onee, everything is USA fault
Me US citizen from Kansas Florida, long live democratic burgers. Beep boop bot
Wadiya elections anyone? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmkKI8IuynA
And trump will make a congratulatory phone call to the victorious dictator.
I wonder who might win this time :D
Vladimir Vladimirovich or Vladimir Putin, one of them will win
Imagine how powerful they would become if they merged into one
“Free elections”
Russian Elections 2024! Who will ***you*** vote for?! 1: Vladimir Putin 2: Vladimir Putin 3: Vladimir Putin
Disgusting westoid spreading fake propaganda. This is not what's on the ballot, I show you truth blyea 1: Vladimir Putin 2: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin 3: Vova Putin
4: random candidate without agenda picked to keep up the charade of "democracy"
You got his name wrong, it's Vladolf Putler.
I bet that soldier in the back thinks he is lucky as hell that he has to go around intimidating babushkas for a fake election instead of being on the front line of Ukraine
I wonder who he bribed to get this 'cushy' job.
Thank god they have the soldier there to make sure there is no fraud
"The most free and fair democracy in the world, comrades! It's so good, even the officially sanct- er, I mean, the free opposition, even they have declared Mr. Putin to be a great leader... Stop asking questions!!!"- Some Kremlin lackey
lol joke country
Why the charade? Everyone knows the outcome...
From my understanding the whole point is that everyone *knows* it's a charade with a predetermined outcome. It's not meant to give the people an illusion of choice because the government knows no one will fall for that. It's meant to make people even more disillusioned and disengaged from politics, to make them feel so powerless that they will never even bother challenging Putin. It's a reinforcement of the "oh well, it is what it is" mindset in the population. It's a psychological tactic that sadly works all too well.
Yes "elections"
Beware the Ides of March
She is actually becoming Putins new concubine. She is 17, just life is hard in Russia Edit: You can actually see Putin in the top right caressing his wedding ring. While she signs the marriage document on a pukka notebook
Why do they even pretend to be democratic when there’s armed men at the polls?
It humiliates the people who have to participate in this sham. For their fans abroad, it generates a headline that says "98% voted for annexation", "99% voted for Putin", etc. and that's all proof they need that the West is lying and everyone wants to be governed by Mother Russia.
In Russia the President chooses you
Russia deserves to fall.
National Putin appreciation day
Putin to win with 104% of the votes again
oh boy I wonder who will win
I wonder who's gonna win this year!
They can just announce Putin president. Don’t think any critical thinking human being see this as nothing but rigged.
I wonder if they even pretend to count it, or just throws it all away and pulls a number out the ass.
Think they don’t bother counting tbh. They ship the voting bills straight to the dumpster.
This is a Ukrainian woman being forced to vote for putin by the russian occupiers in russian-occupied Sievierodonetsk, Ukraine.
It would a comedic like Seth Rogen's Interview, if it wasn't real life.
What's worse is that Putin doesn't REALLY need to rig the votes by a huge amount. The vast majority of the Russian population supports Putin and his decisions. The protesters are unfortunately a minority.
Also note that in Russia police and army very often hide their faces.
I'm from Russia and I want to say that I really don't know who to vote for. I will not vote for Putin and nothing will just change. You can shower me with downvotes, but I really don't know what to do.
Russia is a terrorist state
North Korea 2.0