Comment by steve_adams_86

Historically, when jails have been cramped the solution has been dead bodies in trenches. Putin has demonstrated that he can be ruthless and he admires ruthless people who preceded him. If I was in Russia and I had a family (as I do here in Canada) I would be very afraid of them losing me because I expressed dissent during an extremely contentious and high-pressure war. Maybe that makes me weak or part of the problem; it’s just where I’m at and I can sympathize with people there who might be responding to the situation the way I would.

Priority 1: Stay alive and take care of my family

Priority 2: Do something about the social and political issues if I can, but not at the expense of priority 1

There is some overlap and conflict there. Maybe the government can put my family directly at risk, for example. In this case that doesn’t seem to be what’s happening unless your family has been sent to fight. For those people, god, I don’t have words. It’s unthinkable.