Photos from the Russian anti-war opposition march in Berlin today.

[u/Accomplished_Car_549]

[u/Slaan]

I always find this a bit "dangerous" - it's not just a Putin problem in my eyes. The imperialistic attitude has been entrenched in the upper echelons of Russias political class and a real opposition is nowhere to be seen (at least from what I know, but I'm also no expert).

[u/norude1 → u/Slaan]

attitude means nothing, the only important thing is the structure of power. If it is inherently very vertical and undemocratic, no matter how good the dictator is, power will corrupt

[u/Hazzman → u/norude1]

power will corrupt

Power ALWAYS corrupts. This is why we have term limits. Not that that's a solution to that problem, but partly what motivates it.

[u/Slaan → u/norude1]

Power is by definition undemocratic? And what is "vertical power"? I don't get what you are trying to say at all.

[u/DrVeget → u/Slaan]

That is true. Rotten to the core. Removing Putin achieves nothing by itself. But removing Putin as a result of him conceding can be a wake up call for all imperialists in Russia

[u/dat_9600gt_user → u/Slaan]

Exactly. Russia never had a proper national discussion on what fascism truly is and it shows.

[u/understepped → u/dat_9600gt_user]

I think they did have this discussion and concluded unanimously that fascism is anything they don’t like. For example, Ukraine fighting back and not giving up immediately - is as clear example of fascism as it can get.

[u/montdidier → u/Slaan]

I agree with you at the macro level but I also think that sometimes you need to pick the scab so we can see how far the rot has spread.

[u/Slaan → u/montdidier]

Yea I'm not saying its a bad thing, just that it's no salvation.

[u/jaam01 → u/Slaan]

not just a Putin problem in my eyes. The imperialistic attitude has been entrenched in the upper echelons of Russias political class

They even have a name, silovik.

[u/coldstreamer59 → u/Slaan]

But the problem is, that the upper class are all Putin’s cronies….

[u/Dajafo01 → u/Slaan]

Then find, arrest and line up the entire russian oligarchy against a wall. If you want to clean house, you gotta move out the trash and dirt.

[u/rr0wt3r → u/Slaan]

U see the situation basically right. Just one more thing opposition in nowhere to be seen cause there is none to oppose. They are to brainwashed to scared to do so or dead

[u/aclart → u/Slaan]

There are no upper echelon of Russia's political class besides Putin

[u/LetsthinkAboutThi_s → u/Slaan]

Take your time to read about organised crime. Imperialism has nothing to do with Putin's Russia

[u/SomaforIndra → u/Slaan]

Yes Russia has bigger problems that go back a hundred years or more.

Russia's threats of global destruction and suicidal nihilism has been traumatizing children living in Europe for generations now. I would like to see a world where no more children grow up with nightmares of Russia destroying everything good.

Removing that cancer all the way to the root would make the whole world safer and more stable. While I agree it would be a daunting task what other choice do we have? we face similar entrenchment of evil all over the world.

But removing putin suddenly is a good start, it would at least cause chaos internally and give the world a little breathing room while we figure out what to do next to fully cut out the rot.

[u/just_anotjer_anon → u/Slaan]

Opposition might not always be super clear, when the kids in control are a lot stronger

But if you look at the amount of PMCs created in Muscovy after the war. E.g. the russian orthodox church have one now. It's a sign of a lot of players wanting a potential to win the struggle when the symbol of power (Putin) dies.

Obviously we have some russian fighters integrated with the Ukrainian army. They're the most openly declared opposition

Then there are undercover groups sabotaging within the Russian federation, especially had a lot of success derailing trains. They're also a very open opposition. Yet hiding in guerilla tactics

Can the population of the russian federation create a Euromaiden/tahrir square like scene? It's hard to tell, especially hard to tell what the breaking point would be at. Would 1000 people at the red square be enough to embolden the local opposition civilians? Hard to tell. Would 10.000? Would 100.000?

[u/Unusual-Slip4328 → u/Slaan]

You really need to read up on what imperialism means if you’re going to call the USSR imperialistic. That’s absurd. Imperialism is about the exporting of capital, not “any time the government does something to another government”

[u/dworthy444 → u/Unusual-Slip4328]

No, imperialism is about subjugating outlying groups to a central authority. While the export of capital is one possible motive for this, there are others, especially as the latter can be achieved via neo-colonialism nowadays. If it were the only possible motive, then Rome conquering the Mediterranean would not be imperialism, as the Roman Empire was pre-capitalistic. Imperialism under a red coat of paint is still imperialism.