Haloski said:
oski003 said:
Haloski said:
Cal88 said:
This is really disgusting, the Kiev regime actually killed one of their own official negotiators, Denys Kiryeev, gunning him down in the street mafia-style in broad daylight, because they deemed him too soft on Russia.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/ukraine-reports-claim-negotiator-shot-for-treason-officials-say-he-died-in-intel-op/
That's absolutely awful.
Saint Putin, thank goodness, would never do such a thing. His nonawfulness knows no bounds as he showers humanity with his grace.
These people all suck. It's not good to cheerlead for any of them.
Putin certainly would punish those who undermine him. However, we are talking about NATO/Ukraine/US Warhawks unwillingness to make peace. Whether or not Putin would assassinate someone, such as a rogue general, is irrelevant.
It's ok for you to admit that Putin is a giant piece of **** while still opposing the NATO/Ukraine/US Warhawks.
Putin has absolutely used the positions he's found himself in to enrich himself at the expense of others to the tune of a sum that makes Zelensky and many in the MIC stateside look like chumps. He's absolutely silenced and harmed people that not only undermined him, but merely voiced opposition to him. It's not a singular instance of a guy rebelling and having his plane shot down, so let's not pretend that it's the only example or that all others are similar.
Thing is, I can say that so many of the people involved in our system are absolutely reprehensible sleazebags, just like Putin.
We all know it to be true, but you'd never say it of Putin and his cronies. It's ok. You're all hypocrites.
GO BEARS! BEAT AUBURN!
There is a tendency to designate the leader of the foreign enemy
du jour a the lovechild of Hitler and Imelda Marcos, by default.
There is also the tendency for the general public to buy into this media characterization without any criticism or nuance.
There is also a lot of cultural conditioning when it comes to the framing of the designated enemy cultures - "Huns", "Gooks" in the Vietnam war era, assorted mideast Muslims since the Iran revolution, on to the Gulf wars, and now the reviving of the old Cold War archenemy, the damn Russkies, with the red China yellow peril not far behind.
Foreign policy is sold to the general public framed as a Hollywood narrative, with Hollywood villains. Putin is Palpatine, Zelensky Skywalker. This has been part of the imagery and myth-building of the Ukraine narrative, as well as the steady stream of Hollywood celebrities endorsing it.
The war is framed as a hero's journey battle between good and evil, and intensely personalized with the designated enemy leader taking on the full attributes of a Bond villain. This is where I tap out.
I don't bear any hatred towards Russia or the Russian people, to the contrary, I have a lot of respect for their rich cultural heritage, their history and contributions to world civilization, including liberating Europe from the Nazis. They lost 14
million soldiers, fighting them, vs 140,000 for the US, 100 times greater sacrifice. If the USSR did not fight Germany, the Wehrmacht would have easily conquered Britain and beat back any US attempt to land anywhere on the Continent.
The actions Putin undertook were in line with his country's geopolitical interests. That much is clearly understood by serious political analysts like John Mearsheimer, George Kennan, Zbig Brzezinski or even current US intel boss William Burns, all of whom have predicted Russia's current course of action, based on their well-known red lines, which US/NATO policies went out of their way to cross. If anything Putin is a prudent, calculating leader whose main domestic opposition are more aggressive parties (nationalists and communists). He's a moderate and somewhat of a liberal, on the Russian political spectrum, regarded as an indecisive, almost weak leader from both their hard right and left.
Ironically enough, Putin is also a pro-European character, being from St Petersburg (Russia's most European metropole), and having been stationed in East Germany. He speaks fluent German. He wanted Russia to be part of Europe, even wanted to join NATO, an aspiration which was rebuffed during the Clinton and Bush years. We won the Cold War, and Russia has no place in the victor's table. If anything, the leading interest groups in the US were pissed at Putin for having closed off their access to the vast Russian mineral and industrial assets.
Putin is very well-liked at home, not because the Russians are dumb serfs who are culturally conditioned to worship a supreme leader-dictator, but because much like Xi, he has delivered for his country, which without his intervention would have easily fallen apart and disintegrated much like the USSR did. Russians today are fairly well-off, with virtually no debt, no unemployment, low inflation, low crime, a social net, good infrastructure and thriving agricultural and industrial sectors.
My point here is that the world is a bit more complex than the narrative you are sold.
