I’ve recently been accused of not understanding how russians feel. They said something like: «I see you are angry, you have the full right, BUT you don’t understand our situation. Many russians are against the government but can’t say it out loud».
And for some time I felt bad about being so numb to other people’s pain and guilty about saying out loud “ban ALL russians’. Full disclaimer, I know there are a few exceptional people. But they don’t come to us asking for compassion.
Sidenote, I am so pissed off with ‘peace’ messages from russians living abroad. We all want to live in peace, without wars and aggression, be good to and for everybody. But so it happens we are already dragged in this ‘conflict’. The whole two nations, each and every one of us. There is no life outside politics. No dance, no sport, no art. With your country being at war, either you declare your side or it becomes automatically clear: you support your country.
‘Just for peace’ is not the position. It is escapism in an effort to please both sides or promote a positive image in the eyes of the ‘uninvolved’ international public. There could be no ‘peace’ between and the aggressor and it’s victim. You wouldn’t wish it for humans, why do you wish it for nations?
Back to the comment about feelings. Here is the reply: «I see you are clearly frightened. Frustrated. You have the full right. And I probably don’t have the full information about the internal state of affairs in russia BUT I do know that your country attacked my country. Those people who drop bombs on my friends’ houses and kill children in my country, destroy cities and send washing machines back home… they call themselves ‘russians’. They do it very proudly.”
