Any man who would have otherwise been willing to flee the country is not going to be worth anything in Ukraine. He's going to run away at the 1st sign of trouble.
The only fight he might be willing to stick around for is a riot/revolution.
Russia has a long history of forcing people to fight under threat of execution or deportation of their family members. When there's no way out of them, they will fight.
It worked for Stalin because he was a stone cold killer who would Gulag you in a heart beat and genocided his own people without a second thought. Stalin had to tell people to stop clapping for him because if he didn't they'd go on forever out of FEAR to not be the guy who stopped clapping first.
It was this abject terror for Stalin and his power apparatus that allowed the Soviets to mobile on a whole different level from anything the world had ever seen before or since, in response to Barbarossa.
I do not believe Putin inspires anywhere near that level of terror or control. I don't think anyone in Russia honestly believes that Putin would bring back gulags or kill people en masse for not wanting to go to Ukraine. If anything, if that DID happen, people would just rise up against Putin. His grip on power is nothing like what you saw in the USSR, let alone Stalin. He basically runs a Kleptocracy of Oligarchs.
It worked for Stalin because he was a stone cold killer who would Gulag you in a heart beat and genocided his own people without a second thought.
You think there's anyone who is different - Biden, Leyen, Putin? The difference is that they think alternative ways would advance their interests better, and that there are (institutional) restraints that would prevent them from doing something like that.
I do not believe Putin inspires anywhere near that level of terror or control. I don't think anyone in Russia honestly believes that Putin would bring back gulags or kill people en masse for not wanting to go to Ukraine
They'll face severe punishment regardless. It doesn't need to be mass terror. So yeah, they'll fight.
They are helping the Russian war effort, ultimately being rather self-defeating.
Any man who would have otherwise been willing to flee the country is not going to be worth anything in Ukraine. He's going to run away at the 1st sign of trouble.
The only fight he might be willing to stick around for is a riot/revolution.
Russia has a long history of forcing people to fight under threat of execution or deportation of their family members. When there's no way out of them, they will fight.
(Obviously, I don't approve of such measures.)
It worked for Stalin because he was a stone cold killer who would Gulag you in a heart beat and genocided his own people without a second thought. Stalin had to tell people to stop clapping for him because if he didn't they'd go on forever out of FEAR to not be the guy who stopped clapping first.
It was this abject terror for Stalin and his power apparatus that allowed the Soviets to mobile on a whole different level from anything the world had ever seen before or since, in response to Barbarossa.
I do not believe Putin inspires anywhere near that level of terror or control. I don't think anyone in Russia honestly believes that Putin would bring back gulags or kill people en masse for not wanting to go to Ukraine. If anything, if that DID happen, people would just rise up against Putin. His grip on power is nothing like what you saw in the USSR, let alone Stalin. He basically runs a Kleptocracy of Oligarchs.
You think there's anyone who is different - Biden, Leyen, Putin? The difference is that they think alternative ways would advance their interests better, and that there are (institutional) restraints that would prevent them from doing something like that.
They'll face severe punishment regardless. It doesn't need to be mass terror. So yeah, they'll fight.