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I don't believe those claims at all.

1) it's a very well known fact that 70% or so of the electorate can't be moved from their positions, even if their party said they were gonna harm them people will still not vote the other ones, thus any real advertisement or anything is gonna only impact a few % of people

2) extremism is on the rise everywhere in the world, from Germany to US, from South Africa to South America. Narratives have made centrist governments, especially those coming from larger coalitions made weak (often for good reasons)

3) we have had multiple scientists (stats, sociologists) look at these allegations of interference and no single data seems to demonstrate that political discourse on TikTok is any different than other media platforms. In fact, if anything, it seems way less controversial than other US based ones.

4) The average European finds supporting Ukraine not only a lost cause nowadays, but gives part of the blame to the west



The average European finds supporting Ukraine not only a lost cause nowadays,

So what's an "average European"? You and your friends?

A recent poll from Germany, for example, found solid (>60 percent) support for both sanctions against Russia, and military support for Ukraine:

https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1312216/umfra...

They would also prefer a diplomatic solution, but that doesn't mean they think "Ukraine is a lost cause".


> More than half of Romanians believe that Ukraine should be pressured to negotiate peace with Russia, while less than 20% think that Ukraine should continue to receive military support, according to a survey conducted in several European countries by YouGov and Datapraxis.

In Italy, where I live only 55% of the polled people support sending money to Ukraine, and only 33% support sending weapons.

The only Europeans I know that are very pro helping Ukraine, like where it's an exception to be sceptical are Poles.

https://www.ispionline.it/it/pubblicazione/due-anni-di-guerr...

https://www.romania-insider.com/romanians-ukraine-negotiate-...

The average European believes that Ukraine cannot win the war (meaning getting back their 1991 territories), but that's also a reality and the opinion shared by analysts, and is honestly tired of it.

This war is extremely expensive on Europe and with no realistic prospects of Ukraine going anywhere it's hard to be a die hard supporter for Zelenskis official line.

In any case what happened in Romania is a tragedy.

A court canceling a democratic election because one candidate allegedly got financial support from Russia (something that many parties currently ruling in Europe like Italy did too by the way) is a very disturbing fact.

This should've been handled, if true, weeks ago. Not after the candidate got so many votes.


Hmm - we can't go on dissecting polls each day, but here's one (dating from January) which measure sentiment across 10 countries and along several key questions:

https://ukandeu.ac.uk/how-strong-is-public-support-for-ukrai...

If the poll were taken today, the percentages would probably shift a bit on some of these questions. But what's more interesting is the spread across the 10 countries.

Notice that Italy and Hungary tend to sit more on the "doomer/skeptic" side (in accord with the poll you offered in regard to Italy's sentiment), while countries like the UK, Finalnd and the Baltics are more on the "there's still hope" side. And Germany seems to fight right in the middle.

Which suggests that no, the average European does not simply think Ukraine is a lost cause.

The average European believes that Ukraine cannot win the war (meaning getting back their 1991 territories), but that's also a reality and the opinion shared by analysts, and is honestly tired of it. ... It's hard to be a die hard supporter for Zelenskis official line.

Well that's obviously no longer Zelenskyy's position, right?

Also, you're setting up a false dichotomy here -- either the (now basically collapsed) "die-hard" position, or the "Ukraine is lost cause" position.

My observations indicate that the median sentiment falls somewhere between these extremes.


OT why is your comment history all about politics and mostly Russia?

It's odd for a startup/tech oriented board.


OT why is your comment history all about politics and mostly Russia?

It's not "all about politics". You could have said "Why is it mostly about ...?" and the question would have had an entirely different ring to it. But the wording you chose was weird and distracting, so I don't think I'll be able invest much time in answering.

Other than to say: I respond mostly to muddled thinking and misinformation (and in some cases outright disinformation). Which not coincidentally seems to bubble forth continuously from posts referencing that country (and a certain other one). Which also tend to appear in bursts, as we have seen. So the intent is to keep the conversation at least borderline reality-centered. And hence, per the site guidelines, more "interesting".

(Not that your post is in this category. I just think you're probably mistaken).

In that sense the interest isn't even all that "political" as such. It's more psychological and cognitive.

It's odd for a startup/tech oriented board.

It's not specifically startup/tech-oriented. Check the guidelines again.

I have an interest in tech also, but am also rather burned out on it.

The more powerful it gets, the more boring it gets, somehow.




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