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MEGATHREAD: whatever the hell is going on in Russia right now (beehaw.org)
submitted 3 years ago by [M] to c/news@beehaw.org
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please post any subsequent updates here unless they're huge happenings. i just woke up and half our news front page is updates which is nice but also A Lot and most of these don't have to be their own thread

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[–] 12 points 3 years ago (4 children)

Having some of these countries turn into democracies is better than having none of these countries turn into democracies. Large countries like Russia cannot cohesively rule over its populace without establishing some sort of dictatorship. Democracy in Russia didn't last because there were too many rich oligarchs corrupting government power back to a form they could control. China is in the same category.

If they have any hope to establish and maintain a democracy, the country must be broken up.

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  • [–] 7 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Nice theory but it doesn’t hold up very well. Both Canada and Australia are enormous countries that are both well functioning democracies.

    There are a number of great sources that describe the conditions for good democracies - and intolerance of corruption is a vital condition. That’s something that has never really been taken seriously in Russia, so in some ways it’s no surprise it’s come to this.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago

    India is also an example of a very corrupt and badly managed democracy, so your point is moot.

    The reality as far as we've seen is that certain cultures where information is tightly controlled, traditional masculinity is prized, and sole survivor mentality among men is very valued, there tends to be more of an acceptance if not casual support for the simplicity of a dictatorship.

    The other issue is that not all democracies are equal and an educated and experienced populace where individuals are most capable of taking care of themselves while providing maximum utility for themselves and others is where democracy is most likely to be of greatest compliment for a system.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago

    About 90% of Canada lives 100 miles from the southern border, so I wouldn't call the whole country "populated". Australia is in a similar situation with its deserts. Sure, Russia also has cold, sparsely populated regions, but most of the landmass is still habitable.

    Even then, Russia is still twice as large as both of those countries, and has at least double the population density.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago

    How about a republic or collective of smaller democracies? Similar to the EU, but with borscht, saunas and separate regional currencies, and one major shared currency, e.g. Ethereum, for cross country business exchange of goods.

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