It’s incredible how Putin was able to turn Russia’s image from “occasionally drunk, but beloved funny uncle” to “scumbag murderer rapist” in a bit more than a decade.

It has always been a sketchy place, but they at least kept an okay image up, and a lot of people in the cities enjoyed a significant quality of life increase since the 2000s. I have some Russian colleagues who fled before/after the war, and I see their sorrow as they see the horror Russia is doing to Ukraine and its own citizens. You cannot choose where you are born, and they are sad to see the decline of the country they grew up in.

Holy shit, the crypto bros are really triggered by this, out in full force in the comments. If the only argument you can bring for crypto is that you make/made money on it, that sounds a lot like a Ponzi scheme