According to The New York Times, “The Kremlin has dispatched still more forces to shore up its faltering war effort, but the units are headed not to Ukraine but to Russia’s borders with other countries, where on Tuesday they were confronting young Russian men trying to join an exodus out of the country. As the avenues for Russians to escape a draft order issued last week narrowed, the Federal Security Service sent armored vehicles to the frontiers, where some men waiting to flee were being served military call-up papers, the state news media reported.”
I had predicted that Putin would close the border, but I suppose this is the next best thing. He effectively closes the border to fleeing military-aged males by drafting them as they’re about to cross. How perfectly Russian! Will we see images of the von Trapp-like families crossing over snow-topped mountain trails instead of men (and boys) walking on highways and vehicles backed up for miles?
Look, f***tards. These Russian men should just stop f***ing walking right where they are and turn around. They may not like the war and the idea of conscription, but they made their collective bed; they need to lie in it. Since Putin came to power, Russia is the authoritarian police state they have condoned, allowed, or ignored (or all of the above) for years! Nonetheless, it is the state of government they either elected directly or acquiesced to indirectly. This is what happens when what could have been a thriving democracy 20 years ago is neglected and ignored by the citizenry — it devolves into a dictatorship. To be fair, Russia has never had a history of a free and fair democracy as an example to live by, so one may forgive the population for resorting to what the collective intergenerational memory has ever only known: authoritarianism. But democracy is hard and takes constant tending to and work.
All that being said, Russians — as I see it — have only two options. 1.) Stay, get conscripted, and die in Ukraine. 2.) Stay and revolt against Putin. But they should not be fleeing to avoid the consequences of the population’s failure to check their dictator at every turn over the last two decades. Oh, well. People get precisely the government they deserve and desire, including the consequences thereof. I would feel bad for the Russians’ plight, but I cannot, for they refuse to want to change. Get rid of Putin for the sake of the world! I get it: Easier said than done. But life is not easy. Never has been, never will be.