Sometimes there's people you just don't stand up to, because they have no middle ground between not retaliating and commiting mass murder. Putin is not one of those types of assholes.
The world should have backed Putin down HARD with a show of force when he invaded Ukraine.
It's not just putin though, it is at the very least a strong majority of russian population who are supporters of genocidal imperialism.
And this holds true across every demographic segement (age, income, rural vs. urban, education).
But in the beginning it was Putin alone who decided to invade, and we missed our chance to nail the son of a bitch to the wall.
That's not true. The beginning of the invasion of Ukraine started with the annexation of Crimea in 2014. This was supported by 84% of the population (consistent across 7 years of polling 2014 to 2021). Even with list experiments to account for preference falsification, the support number largely stays the same at 80%.
And support for the full scale invasion was at 65% in 2022 even with preference falsification adjustments.
And then there is the matter of the russian population: 1. electing a KGB goon in 2000 (considered largely free and fair) 2. Reelecting the KGB goon after he shut down mass market independent media (also free and fair) 3. Supporting the comical Medvedev seat warming plan in 2008 4. Electing putin as leader for life in 2012.
Don't get me wrong, I agree you that Western support has been very weak (if funding is an issue, there was 550 billion in russian assets) and failed to effectively challenge russia.
I agree and find it rather disgusting that they try to blame a single person when in reality most Russians want this. Now the actual question is how they got so radicalize and how much they deserve to suffer for it. For wanting to do terrible things to others they deem as less worthy because they were told their whole live that this is the truth. I think they deserve what the Nazis got, and that has so far been the only "cure" for this extremist nonsense. It also worked with Japan.
To start with, it would be good if EU, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand banned visits/residence for russian citizens until russia leaves all occupied territories, hands over all war criminals and provides financial compensation for all damage.
With a explicit notice that they are welcome to play the victim and talk about alleged "russophobia"; this is not going to work.
Realistically, a change in attitudes would require other measures, but this would be a start.
One issue with this is that if people want to get out of Russia, then can not get out. But we want them to leave. Everyone leaving is a loss for Russia, and smart people tend to leave first too.
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