@useless_idiot Yeah, Moscow's huge, bigger than some European states. Considering the density population the way they carry out those drone strikes is nearly surgical — it definitely worked as demonstration that we're vulnerable, but from what I know, few actual people got injured.
People are also mostly clueless — that doesn't feel right, but it contributes to the calm. Hell, my own mother went downtown right on the morning of Prigozhin's mutiny, I call her and she doesn't pick up.

@useless_idiot So I naturally get worried — turned out, she was attending some lecture. And she's not exactly clueless, I've set up a VPN for her so she can read the real news, not the bullshit they feed us.
Most don't have a slightest clue. A friend of mine who now lives in Spain tells me: "You always paint it black, but others aren't like that, they remain positive, look — they are attending the cafes".
So I had to show her some WW2 footage.

@useless_idiot War had been going on for like 2 years and people are still sitting in cafes, both in Germany and in e.g. Paris — people do it all the time, there will be guests in cafes even as bombs are falling, it's just a cope mechanism, not a real indicator that everything's okay.

@m0xee

Yeah, I know, I have been in active war zones. Going to the city in Moscow is one thing, but taking your family on a vacation in Crimea is insane right now and might be a better lesson!

I like your city, I hope it won’t get too damaged (except for Lubyanka, which should be blown up, bulldozed into the Moskva, and the soil seeded with salt!)

@useless_idiot
I was born in Moscow, both my parents were born in Moscow, I'm what is considered a native/indigenous Muscovite in Russia. I knew people who have literally built this city, I've seen old Soviet-era maps with projected/anticipated streets that never became a reality… And I still didn't learn to love or even appreciate it. I think it's about hypocrisy — how Moscow changes to suit the political landscape. Some things are portrayed as "historical", but in fact are relatively new.
Cities with real history like Krakow are nothing like it — it's not even the capital anymore and it still has its history. Moscow is always the showcase of what Russia is today.

You're right about Lubyanka though, I don't know why they didn't finish the job after the collapse of USSR. Yes, tearing down monuments might seem kinda stupid, but I know it does have symbolic meaning. If people are fine living near subway station named after some party functioner — they are fine with more of the same shit. I've been visiting Baumanskaya subway station with my mother after a major overhaul there, shortly after 2014 events, and what do I see? A mosaic with Lenin, Soviet flags, pioneers, Soviet army bullshit? And I say to my mother:
 — What the fuck is that?
— Oh, don't mind it, it's my youth — it's for me to enjoy…
And she never was a model Soviet citizen, both she and my father knew English well for that time, were huge The Beatles fans (that is in part why I hate them 🤣) — they were no dissidents, but still highly westernized, but it's still some nostalgia for her. Few have seen where this was going. All these military parades and Victory Day ribbon — I've always encouraged my friends and family to not take part in any of this and that is why we're fine now. There are a lot of stories of families torn apart by current events, it's nothing like that for me. For a lot of people this was an opportunity to be proud for their county, few have seen it turning into a new dangerous "religion" cult-like ideology.

Like I said, I'm not worried about the city, but Moscow being densely populated, I'm still worried about the people — other than Ukraine's operations and even US interfering, there might be false flag operations. I'm NEVER into conspiracies, but living in Russia you start believing in a lot of things 😅
But my main fear is not even that, but "our boys" returning home… Other than a lot of unaccounted for guns they are carrying, most think that we're safe because "they are Russian too" — I don't believe that: a lot of them have PTSD, alcohol and drug addiction, a lot of them are from very poor regions and very poor families and they have no hope for peaceful life in a country with crumbled economy, their "beast within" got unleashed, and I'm afraid that they will go on raping and pillaging here — and there will be no police to stop them. Police was shaped to counter unarmed protestors, not armed men with battlefield experience. That is way more scary than drone strikes!

@m0xee

@m0xEE

they were no dissidents, but still highly westernized, but it’s still some nostalgia for her

Mothers are like this, I’m afraid. My mother even in her middle age was a total hippie and liberal, now she turned into a devout conservative Roman Catholic which is an endless source of sarcasm for my and my sister.

I’m NEVER into conspiracies, but living in Russia you start believing in a lot of things

“Ryazan sugar”, 1999…

@useless_idiot @m0xee

@kravietz
No, she's neither too conservative, nor into Soviet stuff (although some habits like not discussing things aloud come up from those memories) and not a model citizen either, but first she was like.
— You're just a marginal who hates his country and why can't you change your cell plan?
— I've already told you it's not that easy as this number is not even in my name
— Why are you so paranoid? And why do you call the taxi cab to the next block.
Now she's like: 😐
It's just a lot of things I say start making sense in a couple of years, until that, they look at me like at some madman.
My friends used to be like that too, I've always told them at least not to use real names, especially for something like Vkontakte — and suddenly, in mid 2010s it started making a lot of sense. But that didn't make they believe me more about other things — which is sad. As for me it's not about having the last laugh, but more about helping people not get into trouble. Well, at least some of them have listened to me and left the country before all this started. I don't even know why I didn't do it myself, not like I don't have skills and feel uncomfortable speaking foreign languages — had a lot on my plate, private matters. Maybe it's still not too late, and with what lies ahead, I think it's never too late 😅
> “Ryazan sugar”, 1999
Exactly! Try reading Litvinenko's book now — it feels like it was written two years ago, not in early 2000s, a lot of things not only make sense, but it's like a person living today has said them.
That reminds me that I've found some new British documentary about him yesterday. Well, more like about his wife, but still. Maybe that is what I'm going to watch today, should be interesting.
@useless_idiot @m0xee

@m0xEE

The first part reminds me about a number of people I knew in Russia and whose contacts I had in Telegram, who for years argued Russia is 100% based on rule of law — even if it's harsh law, it's still law, and if you don't do anything illegal, you have nothing to worry.

And then all of them enabled disappearing messages in Telegram 😁


@useless_idiot @m0xee

@kravietz @m0xEE@breloma.m0xee.net @m0xee@librem.one

Don’t mock your mother! Or mock me too: I used to do all kinds of stupid useless bs, multiple gfs, etc.

Then I saw that much less talented family and friends had much better lives than me, so I turned into a devout Catholic as well.

@useless_idiot

I don't mind devout Catholics in general, but how that works in Polish edition is that for 6 days you hate everyone, starting from your neighbour, family, Jews, immigrants etc etc only to attend a mass on the 7th day, automatically mumble "as we forgive those who trespass against us" and not see any contradiction here 😉 So it's not really Catholicism, it's a kind of national ritualised cult loosely based on Christianity, mostly tribal, with elements of Old Testament rites.

@m0xEE @m0xee

@kravietz @m0xEE@breloma.m0xee.net @m0xee@librem.one

I know the Polish Church has many problems, political involvement, exploiting and relying on the authority of previous generations of clergy, merciless conservatism, etc.

My wife is Polska (I am in Silesia now) and she likes to listen to the better Dominicans from Łódź.

The hypocrisy you point out doesn’t bother me in other people (in myself it does!). Not sure why it doesn’t.

The tribalism will show up somehow anyway. Lesser evil I suppose.

@useless_idiot

Each ethical system has its rules, that make its foundation from the very beginning. For Christianity, forgiveness and brotherhood across tribal lines were one of the fundamental ones. In the process of following an ethical system it's necessary to watch for its compliance with these fundamental rules in order to capture a moment, when it becomes its negation. At this stage, staying with it is only matter of inertia. Inertia, in the face of evil, is its approval. The very concept of "tribal Christian" is literally an oxymoron, which is why I can't just accept the notion that Polish Church still represents Christian values.

@m0xEE @m0xee

Hewe go yaw awrite so duh Roamin Empire be our home way from home n we chillin dere, my ansessuh's name was Orange Julius Dindulius yahurr, throw some respekkin on his name cuz he be the one who crossed duh Rubkiscube Rivah n sheet, he kilt dat nigga Caesar salad yaw unnuhstan me yet whyboi?

@m0xEE@breloma.m0xee.net @m0xee@librem.one

Thanks for writing that up! I was there before Ryazan, during the chaos of Yeltsin. Attractive optimism, and the old lady selling Stalin paraphernalia seemed such an anachronistic curiosity.

I am glad you managed to keep your family together. More important than any ideology, and in fact a defense against it!

The worries about returning soldiers make sense, but after Prigozhin opened the door I even worry about a full civil war.

@kravietz

@m0xEE@breloma.m0xee.net @m0xee@librem.one

A Russian friend of mine said a year ago that he supported/identified as “The Whites”. I asked if he wasn’t 100years too late, but he was dead serious.

@kravietz