@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@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