TEN CLAPS!
Yes you understood my intent in my last sentence. Just like the Russians, I and a minority of American also have a healthy distrust of info received. ESPECIALLY about this war. All sources so very clearly have an agenda, thus if you are transparent about your context, I can account for it appropriately and then have greater trust in what I hear. Your context is very helpful. Particularly your description of your changing stance towards Russia as bombs fell!
I have no idea if there is a good spot for you to post on Medium in order to get viewership, but I do feel your perspective on key questions of confusion about the war would be read with great interest my many!
(And my assessment of you is that you are striving to not overstate and provide an accurate picture, thus it makes your opinions even more valuable to me.)
One last question that you are in an even BETTER position to provide insight: I know there are some/many in Ukraine that feel close ties to Russia are better than close ties to the west. Before the war the west was more candid about the size of these groups, and the actions the Ukrainian government took against them.
Do you know of any somewhat trust-able source of info on sentiment across Ukraine (probably from before the war) In my mind I am imaging a survey by region that asked: closer to west, closer to Russia, no change or not closer to either.
Regardless, what is your sense of Ukraine. In the east are there cities where the percent in favor or Russia is above 50%? And what are the percentages generally in the east? (I assume the pro-Russian percentages in the west are pretty low.)
I am mostly asking about the numbers prior to the war, like you, I expect many have had a rapid shift in perspective. Still where things were (and are) are both interestng questions.
The western media is garbage on this topic. I trust VERY LITTLE of what I read. I did find one PEW trust study that looked valuable, and it suggested significant Russian sentiment in the east... but it was a bit dated.
thanks!
