Post by Marshall on Apr 11, 2024 16:47:46 GMT -5
This is an article today on Quora:
Why don't the Russian people rise up against Putin and his corruption, and outst him?
R. W. Carmichael - Former Intelligence Analyst at U.S. Air Force (1962–1970)Mar 12
I am going to give you a very different answer than most. The Russian people don’t rise up against Putin and his corruption because, in one way or another, they are almost all involved in it.
The corruption is not just at the top. It is pervasive throughout the population and the culture and has been that way for over one hundred years without a pause. It isn’t just the oligarchs who are corrupt. The traffic cop that stops you wants a bribe. The checker at the supermarket can sell you stuff that “fell off the truck.” The black market has everything, but at far higher prices. Slots in good tertiary education are bought with bribes. Military officers are promoted on the basis of bribes and connections, not competence. It is just pervasive from top to bottom.
The best way I know if to get a good understanding of how bad it is, is a television show by President Zelenskyy of the Ukraine called “Servant Of The People.” This was the number one TV show in both Russia and the Ukraine for good reason. And it is basically why he was elected President.
In the series, Zelenskyy plays a high school history teacher who is videoed by a student during a rant about corruption in the Ukraine. The video is posted online and goes viral and he is elected President of the Ukraine.
But corruption is far more pervasive and resistant to repair than he imagined. Indeed the military and government are corrupt. And there are the oligarchs. And the petty swindlers. And even his own family is taking bribes. And these are difficult to change. It seems that everyone he meets is corrupt. And the solutions are few and far between.
This TV series is why Zelenskyy was elected, not some vague CIA plot as Putin claims. The Ukrainian people felt that Zelenskyy could clearly see the corruption and would call it out. And they had a very good idea of what approaches he might take to correct the problems.
The series is quite well-written and is very very funny. I recommend it on its own merit. It is streaming on Netflix currently for free.
Why don't the Russian people rise up against Putin and his corruption, and outst him?
R. W. Carmichael - Former Intelligence Analyst at U.S. Air Force (1962–1970)Mar 12
I am going to give you a very different answer than most. The Russian people don’t rise up against Putin and his corruption because, in one way or another, they are almost all involved in it.
The corruption is not just at the top. It is pervasive throughout the population and the culture and has been that way for over one hundred years without a pause. It isn’t just the oligarchs who are corrupt. The traffic cop that stops you wants a bribe. The checker at the supermarket can sell you stuff that “fell off the truck.” The black market has everything, but at far higher prices. Slots in good tertiary education are bought with bribes. Military officers are promoted on the basis of bribes and connections, not competence. It is just pervasive from top to bottom.
The best way I know if to get a good understanding of how bad it is, is a television show by President Zelenskyy of the Ukraine called “Servant Of The People.” This was the number one TV show in both Russia and the Ukraine for good reason. And it is basically why he was elected President.
In the series, Zelenskyy plays a high school history teacher who is videoed by a student during a rant about corruption in the Ukraine. The video is posted online and goes viral and he is elected President of the Ukraine.
But corruption is far more pervasive and resistant to repair than he imagined. Indeed the military and government are corrupt. And there are the oligarchs. And the petty swindlers. And even his own family is taking bribes. And these are difficult to change. It seems that everyone he meets is corrupt. And the solutions are few and far between.
This TV series is why Zelenskyy was elected, not some vague CIA plot as Putin claims. The Ukrainian people felt that Zelenskyy could clearly see the corruption and would call it out. And they had a very good idea of what approaches he might take to correct the problems.
The series is quite well-written and is very very funny. I recommend it on its own merit. It is streaming on Netflix currently for free.
