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Re: 'Nothing wrong with their way of doing things'
On paper, no. Like all 'systems' they strive for the ideal but they can fail. I just don't understand how violence is tolerated in a sphere of Russian influence. I don't. The killings, the destruction, the hatreds. Sooty I can't see it among 'brothers'. Something does not compute. I can only think it is Russia's distrust of the west that is pushing all this along.
Re: ''Europeans most blood-thirsty lot humanity has ever seen'...
I'll say yes at times but the statement is very extreme..
Re: 'Russia's actions are well within the lines of socialist ideals'...
Please see point above the previous one. You know had our terrible Civil War and we were brought to our knees. Same scenario for Russia. The events on Russia's border are not only affecting the current generation but future ones. The poisons simply course through them.
Re: 'chances of democracy developing in Russia.
No, like a snowball through hell'. Russia's view of its operation in the West makes them freak out uncontrollably toward it. It makes them upset the digestive system. So like a good patient they do the right thing and make it a point only to eat the right vegetables. If democracy is broccoli it would make them vomit. But tomatoes and red peppers ah it's color-coded, eh??? Each to its own it seems!
I just don't understand how violence is tolerated in a sphere of Russian influence.
How is violence tolerated? It isn't tolerated in any significant form. You have things like teenagers fighting, drunks fighting and those big gang fights on the streets but that's actually kind of normal wouldn't you say?
If you're referring to incidents like the Chechen conflict then that was something I would call a necessity. Do you want a pack of Muslim nutjobs running a country on your border? You can WALK from Grozny to Moscow, with a dirty bomb on your back. We all know that the best cruise missile ever invented by man is a man with the means and will to do evil to innocents.
In the case of the Ukraine I don't see LNR and DNR fighters shelling the streets of Kiev or Lvov, do you? Who's tolerating violence here? Hell, who uses it freely as a means to an end?
I don't know about you but to me there is no difference between a 500lb freedom and democracy bomb and a 500lb authoritarian dictator bomb.
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Re: ''Europeans most blood-thirsty lot humanity has ever seen'...
I'll say yes at times but the statement is very extreme..
I don't think so. One good reason NATO exists is to keep the Europeans from one anothers throats. Unfortunately the kings of Europe are getting jittery and we all know what is said about the sport of kings. There's a lot of generals with a lot of scrambled eggs on their hats and shoulders that need to justify their paychecks. I sincerely believe they're looking east. Europe has a lot of people unemployed, a lot of bodies with nothing to do and the economy isn't that great.
One of the best stimulus packages an economy can get is a war.
^
Re: the Ukraine situation
You know I think Putin just has enough power to 'call off all the dogs'.....from his end. It could help to defuse the situation.
Re: 'Europe ...getting jittery'....
Well the Crimea annexation did it. It was a big change of pace in the post war world especially since the incursion went like storm clouds....sometimes in a westerly direction. Got the Baltics and Poland rattled too.
I don't think Putin or the West wants war. I think they'll simply stumble and bumble into it. Let's hope a US plane doesn't get shot down travelling over Europe. We should be curious ias to its consequences after the kind of attention that the Poles and the Dutch got.
And regarding 'red wine'...would like to try Russian saperavi and krasnostop....'black-fruited' ....hope there isn't an embargo on it!....will have to hunt for it if available...;-)...
Povar, my attitude to Maydan 2004 is the same. The only one difference is that in 2004 it was more calm. I don't remember, but as I know nobody died 10 years ago. After this event started rampant glorification of people like Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych. This fact for me is a betrayal of our ancestors.
What I call betrayal now? So called ATO, we are not terrorists and here are no imagined russian terrorisits so this operation is against common people. Is it normal for unified countries?
I was in Kiev few months ago, yes, seems quite normal attitude to refugees, but Nazis, walking across the center of the city is too much for me. We do not welcome such radicals and so they will not just walk the streets. Nevertheless, I must admit that if a person begins to express his opinion that Ukraine must be united, he risks getting kicked. It's not because we are so bad, after the first shelling I reacted to these people the same way. Now I react a little calmer, but in fact in Donetsk now not much people which want this.
I didn't travel to USA or UE, anyway I think travelling is not enough to see all the nuances. I was going to move to Lithuania this autumn, but changed my mind.
Oh, really?
This is Alexei Milchakov, 20 years Russian nazi from St. Petersburg, become famous cruel murders of dogs, a partition of their corpses and... sorry... their eating. Also it is famous for calls to kill vagabonds and children. Now is at war in the ranks of Russian bandits in Donbass, commander (!) of band called "Rusich".
Erasure. Do you think my theory of "foolish western leaders" can be applied to Russian leadership?
Yes and no.
It's more interesting and controversial when it comes to Russian leaders, but first - my impression about the "Western" leaders. I think that Western leaders ( of course I look at the US leadership first of all) work in the interests of certain amount of people, whose well-being is always protected. It is, of course, the "upper" echelon of the society, defined by certain financial bracket ( even if that bracket fluctuates somewhat,) the rest are basically disposable and can be sacrificed for "higher purpose." So to say that Western leaders "are not held accountable" is not quite correct I think.
In case of Russia it's more complex and less of a "clear cut" picture.
Russians ( citizens no matter of what historic times) seem to be far more disposable in this respect, no matter what class they belong to. ( I think it's a well-known fact by now that the value of life in Russia is much lower than in the West, and anyone can be "disposed of" on a whim of a ruthless master.)
However it looks like even the Russian leaders are not quite "god-like," because what they seem to be held responsible for, is the well-being of the state. I.e. if, in spite of all the loss of life the state retains its might, all the victims are forgiven to the rulers much easier. It's when the state starts losing its position and starts crumbling on international arena, that's when the ruler might expect the internal upheaval most likely. I suspect that this major difference with Western countries lies in fact that the very existence of Western nations has not been challenged the way the existence of Russian state has been contested and challenged since the times of its creation.
So Russian leaders can "play god" only up to a certain degree ( as much as Western leaders, but as I've mentioned for different reasons.)
Sorry for bringing this video up again, but in relation to this particular subject, you know what Yeltsin for example is saying here at 1:59?
This is what he says;
"I know that I will not go to heaven. I have sins."
And since he acknowledges this publicly, he obviously doesn't refer to his personal life; he is talking about his role of a statesman.
I was surprised to hear that ( never heard this confession before, ) but it proved me right there that what I was always suspecting about him was true. He wasn't' that "rotten to the core person," as some were convinced. He was a hick out of sticks, who really meant well, but because of his limitations, he has been shrewdly used. I'm sure he has been seduced by money and "promises" as well, but he never expected the devastating results for the country that his cooperation has brought. Once he realized that, he turned to alcohol in total desperation. The best solution that he could find under the circumstances before drinking himself to death, was appointing the KGB officer to "restore the order" in the country, which he basically acknowledges at 3:36.
A very sad and epic song this "Last autumn," devoted to all those events.
They're also having trouble reigning in the militias I hear and the separatist government in the east is too. Both sides want to get their dogs under control.
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He wasn't' that "rotten to the core person," as some were convinced. He was a hick out of sticks, who really meant well, but because of his limitations, he has been shrewdly used.
I'm with you. It's like he was a total amateur in the wide world of politics. I cannot hold him and his people in anything but utter contempt though. He allowed the likes of Boris Berezovsky all but free reign.
I have largely lost respect for Putin and his people for a lot of the same reasons. What in the hell do they think is going on here? If Putin and his people think the western powers desire peace they're simply out of touch. This is not going to get better, this aggression is meant to continue until the Russian federation no longer exists. Period.
I have seen this exercise in divide and conquer used time and time again since before the revolutionary war, all over the world. Places where in didn't work such as Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos, Columbia, China, Brazil, Nicaragua were where the respective peoples and or governments couldn't be bought and fought back.
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So to say that Western leaders "are not held accountable" is not quite correct I think.
More later. The grandson is stalking the cat with a wooden spoon, nothing good will come of it.
History does weigh much on Germany, Russia and Ukraine doesn't it? I do understand the loathing of
Nazis. I don't think Ukraine and Russia will ever be finished with them in the sense of looking at the designation 'Nazi' and not generating disgust within themselves when they think about them.
But arguably with reflection on that brutal time Ukrainian Nazi 'collaboration' for some was a means to destroy the Russians who were perceived as trying to destroy them. For others it meant killing both Russians and German Nazis. They were both hated. There we go...Ukraine caught right between the pincers! The war certainly fed hatreds and we see the results when the word 'Nazi' is used in the Russian/Ukranian War of Etymology.
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