For the sake of better understanding the inner workings of the "mysterious Russian soul", I've compiled a long list of polls which, put together, make for a rather compelling image, one that I hope will dismiss the idea of the "silent majority of the good Russian people". 🧵
While apparently a lot of people in Africa still hold somewhat of a positive view of Russia, less then 1 in 10 Russians would even conceive having someone from Africa as a family member, neighbor, friend, coworker or all round go as far as to see them as a human being.
When it comes to the Central Asian migrants, I presume those miniscule percentages of the good Russian people willing to see them as more than slaves, are the Russian people of Central Asian origin.
Despite the claims of various academics and the Russian opposition of a silent majority of Russians that feel something even remotely close to compassion or sympathy for Ukrainians, these surveys spanning across the past 6 years paint a very different image.
It turns out the self appointed champions and crusaders of "de-nazification" view Jewish people strikingly similar to how 1930s Germany did.
Being a Russian ally and keeping the Russian economy alive, didn't seem to have made that much of a difference to how the good citizens of Russia see the Chinese people.
Only about 30% of the good Christians of Russia would have an issue with the capital punishment, with the rest either not caring or being in favor of it, despite fully knowing just what kind of a justice system Russia has.
While it's widely claimed the young Russians are different given they aren't as "touched" by regime propaganda, it turns out they're the least likely Russians to actually have an issue with torture.
While this particular poll does probably have some bias, do notice how many chose a whole heartedly "definitely yes" instead of just a "yes".
While bombing children's hospitals and obliterating everything in their path in Ukraine at the price of about 1000 of their own people a day, the good Russian people are about as much bothered by the war as they are about the rising retirement age.
When looking at the reasons given by those Russians who would leave Russia if they could, it becomes rather hard to believe the image painted by the Russian opposition of the "good Russian people that are lied to about the West".
Because when they talk about "traditional values" they probably mean hypocrisy, your average Russian would rather chose a "woke, decadent and collapsing" Western democracy to move to, instead of their Chinese BRICS overlord and champion.
While for the most part the pro-Palestine "activists" seem to somewhat gravitate towards Russia, Russians at best don't care about Palestine. And never did.
In the spirit of making it harder for your average Russian propagandist to label everything in this thread as "Western lies and manipulation", all the polls listed here are done by Levada Center, a Russian polling institute fairly well tied to the Russian state.
@billrfinearts Those surveys I did leave out (from those done by Levada in 2024) are essentially just the ones referring to the Russian elections and Putin approval ratings, which we are all aware of and probably contain most bias.
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With the president of the United States now thinking of himself as Jesus, I figured I’d tell you about the very Trump like Chinese peasant who, after having dreamt one night that he was the younger brother of Jesus, started arguably the bloodiest civil war in human history. 🧵
Born in 1814 in an impoverished Chinese village, the sound of mind Hong Xiuquan would misguide his family into pouring all their meager savings into his education, in hopes of him dragging them out of poverty by passing the infamously difficult Chinese Civil Service Exams.
Having spent his entire childhood and teenage years preparing for it, he managed to completely fail the exam three times in a row, more or less bankrupting himself and his entire extended family in the process, which led him to have a rather understandable mental breakdown.
The greatest triumph of the incessant hurricane of lies coming from Russia, MAGA, and the likes of Elon Musk has been convincing a significant share of the world, including Europeans, to believe in a “decaying and collapsing” Europe that exists solely in their imagination.🧵
Nearly every single country on the European continent, the one that is supposedly "a totalitarian hellhole with no free speech", ranks significantly higher than the US in terms of freedom of the press, with every single one of the top 10 spots being occupied by European countries.
Things are so terrible in Europe from an overall quality of life perspective that last year, just like every other year really, European nations topped the charts of the happiest nations on earth, somewhat taking away from the "Europeans are on the verge of civil war" narrative.
I believe it is worth revisiting just how utterly tragic EU accession has been for some of the most recent member states to join, and, in doing so, explain why all local anti-EU actors, for all the backing of Donald Trump and Russia, will always ultimately end up defeated. 🧵
Since tragically joining the union in 2004, Poland has barely even managed to quadruple its GDP and start what is routinely referred to as "The Polish Golden Age", likely an achievement completely unrelated to the quarter of a trillion dollars worth of EU funds it received.
Joining in 2007, moment at which it famously topped world charts in efficient governance and standard of living, average wage in Romania went from a nickel and a smile to about $1200 net, with Bucharest alone now having a bigger GDP than all of Serbia and Bulgaria combined.
With less than 24 hours left until Hungarians head to the polls, I figured it is a good moment to take one final look at what Viktor Orbán has achieved in his 16 years of uninterrupted, near absolute reign in Hungary, by comparing Hungary’s performance with that of Romania.🧵
In 2010, just as Orban started his second reign, the country stood as the 53rd least corrupt country in the world, while Romania was ranked as 75th.
In 2026, after nearly 16 years of Viktor Orban, Hungary succeeded in being ranked as significantly more corrupt than Romania.
Pre-Orban Hungary could at the very least pride itself in having a minimum wage about twice that of Romania, even more, at various points in time.
In 2026, thanks to Viktor Orban's sovereign economic genius, the average wage in Hungary and Romania stands about equal.
Given that we all could probably use a bit of lighthearted humor right now, and since it’s been quite some time since my last “News from Romania” thread, here’s an all time best of collection of the funniest and most absurd real bits of news I’ve collected over the years. 🧵
Enjoying the location and not allowing himself to be disheartened by the fact that it was very occupied, a Romanian man built his house right on top of an apartment block.
Due to some obscure piece of legislation and the sheer difficulty of it, the house cannot be demolished.
After having built a brand new school in the village, a mayor made an appeal to his fellow villagers to come help demolish the old decrepit school. The entire community answered the call and, in a misguided zeal of enthusiasm, demolished both schools, old and new.
Over the past year, I’ve constantly asked myself how it is possible that 77 million people voted to have this abomination as their president for a second time. While I certainly don’t have the answer just yet, I think I’ve come up with a rather accurate how-to guide of sorts.🧵
First and foremost, it is essential to acknowledge that ending up in an autocracy or a full fledged dictatorship is something that can only happen to other people. Of all times and all places, you alone are lucky enough to find yourself in the one spot magically immune to it.
Of all things promised by the simpleton you plan to vote for, it is most important to keep in mind he obviously only intends to do the things you agree with. Every single one of those plans or promises you personally disagree with, he obviously can't or won't actually do.