Every October we write an article looking back over some aspect of our time producing these weekly stories. This year is no different. We asked our three contributors how their countries have changed since RUSUK started.
In my case, the greatest change probably took place here in Russia. Over this period, my country has remarkably degraded from being a somewhat authoritarian but still almost ‘normal’ state to a fascist regime that unleashed the biggest war in Europe since 1945, attacking a sister country, Ukraine. Well, it will be a former sister country for decades to come.
February 2022 still haunts me as this nightmare goes on and on. I still can’t imagine how a Russian leader can issue an order to bomb Kyiv, Odessa, and Kharkiv and then try to occupy them. Something that reminds me of what happened in June 1941.
In today’s Russia, you can get fined, at best, and jailed, at worst, for posting an anti-war or anti-Putin message on social media. I mean, those social media that are not banned yet. Facebook and Instagram are now only available with a VPN.
In today’s Russia, you could be declared ‘a foreign agent’ if you get any funding from abroad for any reason. If you’re, say, a musician touring abroad, you earn money this way. Bingo! The foreign agent status leads to definite civil rights restrictions. Plus, it serves just like a yellow star issued to a person, if you know what I mean.
In today’s Russia, plenty of offline and online media are banned—just like that. They are not there anymore. Many journalists are now immigrants working from abroad.
In today’s Russia, plenty of book authors are also banned. These authors are now ‘foreign agents’ who had to leave the country. Their books have been removed from offline and online stores.
In today’s Russia, around half a million or up to a million Russian citizens have to leave the country because they don’t agree with what’s happening but have no legal opportunities to protest, as the only option is jail. Others escaped the country because they didn’t want to be drafted to the war they didn’t support declared by a president they didn’t elect.
Millions more still stay within, silently, and I am one of those. And RUSUK, being a foreign website on a foreign language, targeting a foreign audience, is an opportunity for me to speak out. God knows, for how long.
Yet, there are signs of hope – even in today’s Russia.
A recent all-Russian poll conducted by ‘The Levada Center’ agency, one of the country’s leading pollsters, revealed that 47 percent of respondents believe that ‘the special military operation brings more harm than use.’ Yes, the question is a bit indirect as you can’t just ask: Do you support the war against Ukraine or not? The opposite opinion – that the SMO ‘brings more use than harm’ – is shared by only 28 percent.
The numbers speak for themselves, considering that the previous poll, conducted three months ago, showed 41 percent in the first case (now a 6 percent increase), and 38 percent in the second case (now a 10 percent decrease). Public opinion, even blinded by the propaganda and suppressed by the fear of repression, is shifting. Some of those who previously supported the SVO, are now wondering: What’s the use of taking another 20 square kilometers in Ukraine at the cost of hundreds of lives of Russian soldiers?
Another example: Boris Nadezhdin, a legal anti-war presidential candidate, who was very wary in articulating his position, was taken out from the election in February. The reason: his support numbers soared from single digits to double digits in just a couple of weeks. The Kremlin couldn’t afford the second leg of the elections.
This perfectly reflects what many Russians think of Putin and the SMO. I mean, the Kremlin propaganda says that Russian people stay united behind fearless Vladimir Putin to destroy Nazi Ukraine and their Western masters. Well, some Russians do think so. Some just don’t care and want to live their lives without it on the agenda. Finally, many others don’t support it; they are afraid to express their opinion. Boris Nadezhdin’s short-lived election campaign turned out to be a unique legal way to protest against both Putin and ‘the special military operation.’
So this is how we live here. In today’s Russia. Seven years after RUSUK was established.
Seven years on – what’s new?
My country of birth has changed – for the worse. The hopelessly fraudulent, and inept Conservative party had already been in charge for seven years when we started these blogs in 2017, and remained so until this year, when it was replaced by the equally shambolic Labour party. The damage done during that time is probably irreversible.
We have experienced an accelerating, depressing mixture: several Prime Ministers, (one of whom lasted fewer than 50 days), two financial emergencies, a once-in-a-century constitutional crisis, and an atmosphere of fatigued, but constant drama. This has been performed by a tiny group of self-centred, utterly deluded middle-aged men and women, all safely ensconced in a bubble created by elite private school education, and one without a hint of what the real world actually feels and looks like.
We have had years of loss and waste, low pay, unstable job market, and chronic underinvestment. Our trains are constantly late, our traffic is unreasonably heavy, and the housing market is a complete joke. Poor health abounds, and Brexit and austerity didn’t just happen, they were political choices.
As always, Britain’s richest twenty per cent have been spared the effects of the past few years, so they cannot possibly understand the damage which has been caused. They are delighted that the burden of adjustment has almost entirely been borne by the less affluent members of the British population.
Everything in Britain appears to be crumbling. Our revered National Health Service is not far from extinction. We have weakened several of the country’s key climate-change targets. We have decimated the future of HS2, the new high-speed rail network, so there will be no benefit whatsoever to the ailing North of England. We are cocking everything up, and much like America, Britain is becoming a laughing stock to the rest of the world.
And you know what? I reckon the next seven years will see no improvement whatsoever. Long live RUSUK!
Seven years on, what’s new?
If you open it up to eight years, the changes are astonishing but we will limit it to seven. For the average American day-to-day life hasn’t changed that much; the economy has improved only a little and most folks still go about their daily lives like nothing has changed.
But that’s only on the surface. The MAGA wing of the Republican Party has lost their minds. I think people should stop slamming entire parties, both parties, not only is it not fair, it’s actually wrong. Let’s take a quick tour of current wild lies making the rounds in the MAGA circus:
- The Agency task with helping those hurt by the recent hurricanes (FEMA) is withholding relief from Republican areas. (Donald Trump)
- The $750 they gave anybody living in these areas was a loan not a gift. (In FB, search $750 hurricane relief)
- The $750 is all the support these folks will ever receive. (It is actually for food and shelter for the next few days)
- The Democrats control the weather and sent the hurricanes. (Marjorie Taylor-Green)
- There’s no money for hurricane victims because Biden gave it all to illegal immigrants. (Donald Trump)
- Biden refuses to take calls, or speak to Republican Governors impacted by the hurricanes. (Refuted by Republican Governors themselves)
- The Federal Aviation Administration was shutting down airspace and blocking rescue and emergency supply flights. (Elon Musk)
- The Government is withholding helicopters so there can be no rescues. (Fact Check Link)
Keep in mind this is only one topic for only one week. Imagine the sheer volume of lies flooding conservative airwaves over a period on months and dozens of topics weekly.
According to CNN, the lies by Trump & Musk are so thoroughly believed that threats are being made against FEMA personnel. Facebook is absolutely flooded with these lies. To a point, I suppose I can understand the anger; If you believe the people spreading the lies, then you have every right to be angry.
If you live outside the US, maybe you are starting to see why Trump is still a viable candidate. I would vote against Harris too if I believed even a small fraction of the absolute ocean of lies.
The biggest change in my country over the last seven years is the audacity and volume of lies push by a small number of well-placed people. I guess this is proof that power really does corrupt.