Poll finds most Ukrainians believe Ukraine's government, NATO and the U.S. bear some responsibility for Ukraine war - Dimitri Lascaris: Activist Journalist Lawyer
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Dimitri Lascaris is a lawyer, journalist and activist from Montreal, Quebec. In 2020, Dimitri ran for the leadership of the Green Party of Canada.

The poll also found that a majority of Ukrainians believe the United States (58%) and NATO (55%) bear either a great deal or some responsibility for the conflict.

  • Vampire [any]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Not posting this here to be one of those people who blames the West and Europe for absolutely everything. I do believe that Russia has agency / that Putin made a choice. But I do believe that it's a bit more complex than the unprovoked random attack the Western press makes it out to be.

    Here's the direct PDF of the poll: https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/WSJ_NORC_Ukraine_Poll_June_2022.pdf

    The 70% breaks down as 47% believe Ukraine's government has "a great deal" of responsibility and 24% believe "some". (I know those add up to 71, but rounding errors, e.g. 23.7 + 46.6)

    The poll was conducted by the nonpartisan and objective research organization (NORC) at the University of Chicago ; I admit to not knowing much about them, so if someone wants to expose an agenda go ahead.

    • nine_leven [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      NORC's alright. As far as the general bias of the University of Chicago is concerned, you'd expect anything operating under their purview to show significant disfavor to Russia and generally support the "Liberal World Order" (NATO/US) line. The full survey results are sort of a mixed bag. Individual professors there are certainly more and less able to be shoehorned into one particular angle though, John Mearsheimer for instance is very critical of the NATO/US position on Russia.

      The actual survey was conducted by "Info Sapiens" (a Kyiv, UA based research company) with such gems as: https://sapiens.com.ua/en/publication-single-page?id=224

      For some reason they don't know how to use quotation marks:

      “With each passing day of the war, Ukrainians are increasingly delegating responsibility for hostilities not only to the Russian government, but to all citizens of Russia. This is natural for Ukraine, where people feel that they are the subject of decisions in the country, - said Inna Volosevych, Deputy Director of Info Sapiens. - Therefore, instead of expressing their anger (the poll took place after the facts of atrocities in the Kyiv region were made public), Ukrainians are trying to reach out to Russians. This is largely in vain – 36% of Russians indicate they can't even influence their own lives, not to mention Putin's decisions, which they either blindly believe or can't oppose.

      In particular, Russian experts indicate that the Russians can be reached only by the economic consequences of the war and personal losses, and not by logic or evidence of atrocities. Even if objective information breaks through, it is perceived through the prism of propaganda and therefore it does not work. But I think it's still worth trying, and I'm glad that Ukrainians keep their humanity despite the genocide against them.”