I personally feel sorry for the Russian people.
I'm one of those people who read history books in their spare time.
I'd recommend "The Court of the Red Czar" by Simon Sebag Montefiore to give you an idea of just how bad Stalin was.
There is also a "Young Stalin" book by the same author which describes how he got to become that dictator.
They are interesting not just for what Stalin did, but what the Czars' secret police, gangsters, and other revolutionary types (and later White\Red Army) did to each other, themselves and anyone else.
I believe that Putin and most of his inner circle grew up in that Soviet mindset that Stalin was "Good" and the West was "Bad" and he's done everything he can since to channel that inner Stalin.
As we know (and previous comments show) that nothing is ever as clear cut as we might like and things are always seen from a particular point of view.
The title of this comment is due to the fact that I travelled to St. Petersburg before the Crimea invasion, and found the Russians I met welcoming and helpful.
That they have had to endure their leadership trying to destroy Ukraine in an "It will all be over in 8 weeks" invasion and everything that has come since is not their fault.
If there is no one else on the ballot paper other than Putin (because all the other candidates have been blocked from standing or are in prison) there is not much they can do, even if they had the ability to read news that is not propaganda.
I'd like there to be a simple solution, but as history teaches us again and again, nothing is simple when it comes to conflict and wars.
It will come down to a single event (such as a limited nuclear strike on Kyiv, or Putin being assassinated) to start an actual negotiation that will probably drag on for years.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
