There is one single fact that should be added to all this crazy stuff about "Putin's aggression" "Putin's regime", "Putin's propaganda" etc in the Western media to get the point.
The fact is: all Putin's' oligarchs keep their money in Western banks.
The picture can be attributed not only to Russians and Ukrainians, but to all nations:
bank_15075_89656.jpg
Sorry I don't understand. What's the exact relevance of the Russian oligarchs keeping their money in Western banks?
So according to me, the Russians can do whatever they like in their own country. Whether Putin is a dictator or not doesn't matter to me. It's obvious that most Russians prefer him over the altarnatives, either way. Democracy in many ways, is an illusion. As long as Russia is stable with good living conditions for its people, I don't care.
The Ukraine situation is very complex and although I don't think Russia is completely innocent, it didn't start any of the problems. The South Ossetia situation I simply don't consider Russia to be the aggressor. Either way - Russia is not guilty of a fraction of the suffering in the world that the US has created recently.
My main criticism against Russia (although it's really none of my business) would be:
1) Corruption
2) Income differences - I.e. poor pensioners and rural dwellers vs oligarchs. Should not be allowed imo. But this is true for half the world, not just Russia!
3) Environmental policies should be stronger. (again, Russia is no worse than half the rest of the world on this, including the US).
In this thread, as well as at this website as a whole, we talk about USA, Russia, France, Germany etc as if they were real players of the world policy. "USA did that". "Russia does that". "France says these things". Worse yet, we take it personally, as though they were our parents or friends. We call it "patriotism", but it is just nonsence and insanity.
Goverments are not our friends, and they do not care about us. The only thing they care about is money.
When we talk about international relationships and policy, there are no such independent beings as "Putin", "Russian government", "Russian politics" and so on. As well as there are no such things in western countries too.
Putin has no real power since he has no real control over "his" money.
The world is ruled by corporations, that control financial system, natural resources, industries and media.
Nationality (as well as patriotism, religion etc) is just one more thing that is used to control people. Europeans can hate Russians, Russians can hate Ukrainians, Serbs can hate Croats and so on, if it is economically profitable for our rulers. And those rulers are the same, no matter if you live in Russia, Ukraine or Sweden.
That is my point.
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