The Russian Web and Casualties

Russia has been signaling for some time that it intends to close Russia from the global web. They can’t do this to North Koreans because every Russian almost has a smartphone. So this toda6 was not precise a surprise once both posts came through

What Russia intends to do is geofence the country. This is precisely what China is doing as well. But first, they needed to create some pain. So here is post number one:

The biggest glitch in RuNet is that sites with the .ru domain are unavailable

Yandex websites, a number of news portals, banking applications, taxis and deliveries do not work. Clients of large Russian operators, as well as compatriots abroad, for example, in Europe and Armenia, complain about problems with access.

In specialized communities they write that the failure may be associated with DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions) — this protocol is used to increase the security of sites. For example, to prevent attackers from replacing data or a site’s IP address.

So this one came about an hour later:

The Coordination Center for .RU/.РФ domains confirms that the breakdown of the Runet is associated with the DNSSEC protocol

Now they are “working to eliminate the problem,” writes Fontanka.

Lawyers from the human rights project “Network Freedoms” suggest that “experiments with the creation of a national domain name service” could have led to the failure of sites in the .ru domain zone. “Russian authorities have long warned that they will try to transfer all users in the country to a national DNS server. This is probably what is happening now with a lot of sites in the .ru zone,” says the Network Freedom channel.

UPD: The Ministry of Digital Development also confirmed a failure due to DNSSEC — they promise to restore access to .ru sites “in the near future.”

Access has been restored. But this is one way to geofence a country. They have also been talking about removing, a.k .a. blocking, access to YouTube and other Western sources. It is also a clear signal of where they want their citizens to get all their information. I am unsure if this will isolate Telegram, but it’s possible.

None of this is accidental. They are trying to close off the country from Anglo-Saxon information and propaganda contrary to the family values of the motherland, the Rodina.

Never mind, this is a country with insane divorce rates and other issues. But they also continue their war against the LGBTQ community in the name of family values.

So realize that every time you read this. We are talking of a country with very high divorce rates. A high alcoholism and drug rate. It’s also a country where twenty percent of households still lack indoor plumbing. And those who do are now having issues with a decrepit system.

So, I suppose there are good reasons to want to block Anglo-Saxon propaganda. People may still see another future. Or worse, find out things like this from Russians on Twitter, in Russian.

Casualties

This is data from the British Ministry of Defense through Yigal Levin. It is an eye-watering half a million casualties. This is what is expected. Here:

The UK Ministry of Defense believes that the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will lose a total of more than 500 thousand people if the Ukrainian military continues to eliminate the invaders at the same pace during 2024.

Losses of more than half a million soldiers. The numbers are slowly approaching the great battles and long-term conflicts of the past. Who in their right mind would believe in 2021 that the Russian Federation would soon begin a senseless meat grinder in which it would hand over more than half a million of its soldiers to Moloch killed, maimed and missing.

And the most important thing is that Russian society will be completely okay with this, no acts of self-immolation, mass terrorism, attacks on officers and officials.

Or is it still not ok? And somewhere in the distance you can still hear the roar of that very thing, completely meaningless, endlessly merciless, but bright, wild and purifying everything with its fire.

Now, I am not sure Russian society will be ok with this. But Russians feel powerless in many respects. Yes, a resistance has been taking trains out and working with Ukrainian allies. We also have both a Russian legion and the RDK fighting against the motherland in Ukraine. There is also a Chechen unit fighting for Ikhteria.

Here is why I write this:

Disappearance of the reformist masses

One circumstance might be of interest to those who, time after time, on the approach to the next “presidential election” in Russia, “grasp” at the “straw” extended from the darkness — Prokhorov, Sobchak-daughter, Nadezhdin.

Every time the “candidate for salvation” is random, and it is obvious to everyone who supports him that there is no chance of his election. At the same time, everyone who supports him is sure that there are no elections — who was the “wizard Churov” or the current “iron Ella” is clear to everyone.

Those. there are no elections, and there are no candidates. Then why vote? The answer is clear — we don’t want to sit on the “protest couch”, we need to do something, we vote in order to respect ourselves.

But there is an inner, hidden despair in this decision: when the negative result is known in advance, and you have to support any rogue or rogue who is able to utter the “right words.” Convincing yourself that you are voting for what is needed.

How did this happen? Where did the millions of rally masses of the late 80s who wanted change disappear to? 📷 Why did they turn into relatively small queues wanting to sign for Nadezhdin?

The question is: why is the movement for change not widespread in our country? When the majority of society wants change. When the majority (“active”, “passive”) understands that it is no longer possible to live like this.

For those who like to argue that “everything is decided by the elites” and the people are a passive mass, let us note that it happens in different ways and, in any case, when the majority of the people understand that changes are necessary, the “elites” “catch up” to them.

Actually, when politics in our country ceased to be of a mass, democratic nature, the “elites” rotted and led the country through several stages to the catastrophe of February 24th. Perfectly showing what these “elites”, degenerated into Putin, Medvedev, Lavrov, Naryshkin, are worth without democracy.

So what is the answer to the question? It is likely that, although not “everything is going according to plan,” public opinion does not yet believe that change is necessary. There is no mass demand for them. The spider of Putinism has not yet completely sucked the vital juices out of its victim; the country is still twitching its arms and legs, thinking that what is happening is, if not normal, but still life.

Historically, the fate of Putinism in Russia has been decided. Through the riotous zeros, the disastrous tenths and the sunset twenties, the country breaks through the thicket towards the hellish thirties. The result of Putinism is already visible — the alarming question about the state of Russia “after the storm”, even the question about its existence in the form in which we know it.

Against this background, what is another special operation to keep Putin in power in March 2024 with an outcome that is clear in advance? Any little details about the possible or impossible registration of Nadezhdin? Vanity that will be forgotten in a month.

Perhaps the most important thing for Russian society now is not the “elections” that are peripheral to the fate of our country, but the question that is worth asking ourselves — what’s next? What are the prospects? What awaits us at the end of Putinism?

When this question is “in the air”, Russian society is imbued with it, and the time for change will begin.

In my opinion, this is why they want to close the country completely. People are asking questions in an authoritarian space that’s always dangerous. This means that minds are starting to imagine a different world. They did in the late 1980s. They did in the 1990s. Putin had the FSB retook control and is in the process of closing in.

In the meantime, some nationalists want to spread the adventure beyond Ukraine. Every accusation is a confession:

Russia’s problem in Ukraine is not the US and NATO. Russia’s problem is in Ukraine itself. The problem is that in order to defeat the US and NATO in Ukraine, Russia will have to destroy the lives of tens of millions of people who are not completely strangers to Russia. Because otherwise than through complete destruction, the West will not give Ukraine to Russia. I think this is what is stopping Vladimir Putin now. Aunties walk with strollers in Kyiv, remember? This is why Russia constantly talks about peace negotiations. And this will continue until the threat to the existence of Russia itself becomes a reality. However, at the same time, a threat to the existence of the United States and NATO countries will become almost inevitable. Western politicians say that Putin is bluffing, and the war in Ukraine is beneficial to the United States, so it must be continued. Is this arrogance, adventurism or just schizophrenia, I don’t know. But anti-Russian hysterical propaganda is now being fueled in all Western countries. As I have said more than once, to avoid a direct clash with NATO, Russia must advance in Ukraine using all means. And this is a completely different war.

At some point, if Russia perceives weakness…they will try. It’s not just me saying this. Other people agree. I recommend this video on YouTube from Anders Puck Nielsen. He will give you some of the nuances of this.