Albert Einstein, a famous scientist, once said: "The restriction of knowledge to an elite group destroys the spirit of the society and leads to its intellectual impoverishment."
It is this restriction of knowledge, that during history has been used by the authoritarians, and that includes the Russian leader Vladimir Putin, to keep themselves in power. We saw the Russian leadership get rid of media that didn't comply with the narrative they were pushing. We saw them censor the internet in Russia. We are now seeing him go as far as to remove the entire country from the public internet.
Why is this? I think we have to realize something if we want to change things.
A leader like Putin needs an "enemy" of the state. The Ukraine isn't that enemy, the west is. The population needs to be scared to accept certain actions. Ukraine is not that "great devil" that Putin needs to unite Russians. It's not big enough, and many people living there actually have family in Russia. The narrative that does unite Russians is that a giant NATO army and all western countries are against them. All these NATO countries acting together against Russia actually doesn't weak Putin's position, because it confirms the story his government has been pushing all this time. To Russians, it is proof to support the story that NATO was always trying to move towards the border to weaken Russia. And that they all hate Russians.
The last few weeks we've been reading about endless economic sanctions, in reality, I've seen the following happen behind the scenes:
March 1: China & Russia new gas pipeline deal
https://businessinsider.com/russia-china-gas-pipeline-sanctions-ukraine-putin-gazprom-soyuz-vostok-2022-3
March 1: Imran Khan (Pakistan) strikes huge deal to buy Russian gas
https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1573845/pakistan-russia-new-world-order-gas-ukraine-war-putin
March 4: The European Union buys record amount of Russian gas
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-04/eu-s-payments-for-russian-gas-surge-amid-war-chart
March 5: Shell buys 100.000 tons Russian oil at a bargain price
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/russia-ukraine-latest-news-2022-03-04/card/shell-buys-russian-oil-at-bargain-price-2ZljvO2HQlmPm5d5aAgG
March 6: Gazprom and Turkiye's BOTAS sign four-year gas deal
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/energy/energy-projects/gazprom-and-turkiyes-botas-sign-four-year-gas-deal/34370
It is my personal belief, as an observer from The Netherlands, that this is the information the Russian government is trying to keep hidden, because it destroys the whole narrative that the entire west is targeting Putin, while instead they are still doing their energy trades. Ukraine as an enemy itself, won't be enough to pull Russians into war for long. I believe that when it becomes clear to ordinary Russians that their government is still deeply involved with trading with the west, that he will be seen as someone who sends troops to a neighbor for profit. Not for survival. I would like to hear you guys opinion on this.