Is Russia even that bad? Sure that's the media and establishment narrative but how true is it? Been getting down the rabbit hole lately about how Russia used to be the old Ukraine, except 100 times more lucrative. You know how the Bidens made bank on corruption in Ukraine? Russia was that on steroids. But then Putin came along and brought the oligarchs to heel. The honey pot dried up and the deep state has hated his guts ever since.
Sure he's imperfect and corrupt himself, but overall Russia is much better off now than before he came along. The most prevalent negative narratives about him are that he rigs elections and poisons opposition candidates but both of those narratives are retarded on their face. The dude is insanely popular in Russia and has zero need to rig anything. And the poisonings have all the signs of a false flag event. Something he has zero to benefit from is always touted by the establishment as proof he's an evil tyrant.
Honestly its hard to see him as a one dimensional villain after digging deep into a lot of this stuff. Even the whole Crimea thing. The people there overwhelmingly wanted to be part of Russia. Same with the people of Eastern Ukraine right now who are mostly ethnically Russian.
Putin always gets named with people like Xi Jinping or Kim Jong Un but its harder and harder for me to see that as anything but the deep state being eternally butthurt that he took their toys away from them. Russia as a country is paradise compared to China and North Korea. And from this post it seems like he is willing to do things that are net positives from a cultural standpoint even if they are bad optics.
Sorry for the wall of text I just want people to think more about their position on this instead of parroting views programmed into them by the establishment. I think on a board like here especially you would have people reflexively trying to shit on Putin for no reason other than people are still trying to distance themselves after the Russia hoax.
Having been to Russia, admittedly in only "safe" areas of it, which is actually a further indictment, it is a fine enough nation, with good people, but it is crime-ridden. Admittedly, anecdote =/= data, but...
I've walked New York's Time Square. I've milled at Niagara Falls on New Years. I've toured Banff Springs in the height of tourist season. Wandered Berlin on foot at night. Chicago during some event whose name I can't remember off-hand. Paris' "cultural" districts. Both coasts of Mexico. The urban areas of Cuba. The slums of Haiti. And Quebec, of course, that hive of scum and villainy (if you ask Ontario).
I've been accosted on these journies. USA I got milkshake'd (so I feel like I was really welcomed as a local). Mexico I was stalked... to sell a timeshare and that's it (to be fair in the assessment, a taxi driver there told me that the organized crime in that area cracked down on people harming tourists, don't hurt the golden goose on pain of cartel execution, so may not be reflective of their own local experience). Haiti was awash with beggars.
But I was attempted to be robbed three times in three days in Russia. Different cities. Once, well, it happens, bad luck exists. But that's a repeated trend. A concierge informed me that there is no point going to the cops over it, as they were often on the take and it would just make trouble for an outsider. Until they deal with that corruption and criminality, Putin is an... interesting figurehead for sure, examples to follow and not to follow, but his nation can't be said to be "good". Rampant crime, and blue lines PROTECTING the crime, are signs of a failing nation, be it Rotherham UK apologists, or ruskies.
I disagree completely. I grew up in a large Eastern European city (think over 4 million people). I never feared walking home from school, going out, taking public transport etc, as a girl. The only common crime was petty: some pickpockets, gypsy vagrants harassing people. Most people were very poor but we had no ghettos and no "bad neighborhoods" you had to completely avoid due to your skin color. I also have relatives in Moscow so i visit frequently and never have a problem. I now live close to NYC. I avoid going there at all costs because of how shit it is. I don't even go to smaller cities in the area because they're not much better. Maybe you're enamored by NYC of the past when Giuliani was still cracking some skulls but it's gone way downhill, just like most other metro areas in America.
Pickpocketing doesn't work if you don't have shit in your pockets. Amateur attempts too, could feel their fingers. Perhaps it was more times and the others were just more competent.
While I would agree that Putin isn't some kind of Saturday morning cartoon villain, things aren't good. This video (from a non leftist perspective) points out several reasons. Long story short: alcoholism, abortion, and AIDS are all frightfully common. And this is before you discuss numbers that only goofy college Republicans really care about, like GDP and other economic statistics.
That's not to say that America is necessarily better in one way or another given that we're a total clown show currently being run by a corrupt, illegitimate and literally demented neoliberal, but it does mean that Russia has deep and severe moral issues.
He may be better than Yeltsin, who was totally corrupt, but I don't trust Putin either. Like Obongo, Killary, Biden etc., he became way way richer through politics - he's in the top 5 for overall wealth from what I recall and that was not by business, he went straight from the KGB into post-USSR Russian politics, unlike Trump who earned his money in business and lost money trying to save his country.
It remains to be seen what happens with Russia and China, they always did have a rivalry - China invaded Vietnam after we left as they felt Vietnam was getting too close to the USSR, and Mongolia was kept independent specifically to have a buffer between the USSR and China.
But, Russia and China have always had each other's backs when it has come down to any us vs them situation. Without fail if someone else has tried to contend with them, they've sided against them. I'm not yet convinced that won't be the case if push comes to shove, whether the west aggravates Russia or not.
Still, the misleadia are full of BS on Russia. China is the real enemy. Russia would be alright in my book were it not for China.
"How is Russia even bad?" Dumber words have never been spoken. And I see there's several of you Russian shills here. How much does Putin pay you to come on TD & stir things up?
Well let's see... Putin murders everyone who mounts a successful election campaign against him. He steals so much cash from his citizens, he's one of the richest men in the world. His goons are sent out to terrorize every single person who criticizes him, & every journalist inside Russia that runs a negative story about him ends up dead in the street. You seriously don't know this? Are you really that ignorant? That is seriously embarrassing dude. You spent far too many hours studying diversity in school & not real facts.
Even Russia, as bad as it is, knows how destructive that is for society. The way to stop the slide down the slippery slope is to never get on it.
Is Russia even that bad? Sure that's the media and establishment narrative but how true is it? Been getting down the rabbit hole lately about how Russia used to be the old Ukraine, except 100 times more lucrative. You know how the Bidens made bank on corruption in Ukraine? Russia was that on steroids. But then Putin came along and brought the oligarchs to heel. The honey pot dried up and the deep state has hated his guts ever since.
Sure he's imperfect and corrupt himself, but overall Russia is much better off now than before he came along. The most prevalent negative narratives about him are that he rigs elections and poisons opposition candidates but both of those narratives are retarded on their face. The dude is insanely popular in Russia and has zero need to rig anything. And the poisonings have all the signs of a false flag event. Something he has zero to benefit from is always touted by the establishment as proof he's an evil tyrant.
Honestly its hard to see him as a one dimensional villain after digging deep into a lot of this stuff. Even the whole Crimea thing. The people there overwhelmingly wanted to be part of Russia. Same with the people of Eastern Ukraine right now who are mostly ethnically Russian.
Putin always gets named with people like Xi Jinping or Kim Jong Un but its harder and harder for me to see that as anything but the deep state being eternally butthurt that he took their toys away from them. Russia as a country is paradise compared to China and North Korea. And from this post it seems like he is willing to do things that are net positives from a cultural standpoint even if they are bad optics.
Sorry for the wall of text I just want people to think more about their position on this instead of parroting views programmed into them by the establishment. I think on a board like here especially you would have people reflexively trying to shit on Putin for no reason other than people are still trying to distance themselves after the Russia hoax.
Having been to Russia, admittedly in only "safe" areas of it, which is actually a further indictment, it is a fine enough nation, with good people, but it is crime-ridden. Admittedly, anecdote =/= data, but...
I've walked New York's Time Square. I've milled at Niagara Falls on New Years. I've toured Banff Springs in the height of tourist season. Wandered Berlin on foot at night. Chicago during some event whose name I can't remember off-hand. Paris' "cultural" districts. Both coasts of Mexico. The urban areas of Cuba. The slums of Haiti. And Quebec, of course, that hive of scum and villainy (if you ask Ontario).
I've been accosted on these journies. USA I got milkshake'd (so I feel like I was really welcomed as a local). Mexico I was stalked... to sell a timeshare and that's it (to be fair in the assessment, a taxi driver there told me that the organized crime in that area cracked down on people harming tourists, don't hurt the golden goose on pain of cartel execution, so may not be reflective of their own local experience). Haiti was awash with beggars.
But I was attempted to be robbed three times in three days in Russia. Different cities. Once, well, it happens, bad luck exists. But that's a repeated trend. A concierge informed me that there is no point going to the cops over it, as they were often on the take and it would just make trouble for an outsider. Until they deal with that corruption and criminality, Putin is an... interesting figurehead for sure, examples to follow and not to follow, but his nation can't be said to be "good". Rampant crime, and blue lines PROTECTING the crime, are signs of a failing nation, be it Rotherham UK apologists, or ruskies.
I disagree completely. I grew up in a large Eastern European city (think over 4 million people). I never feared walking home from school, going out, taking public transport etc, as a girl. The only common crime was petty: some pickpockets, gypsy vagrants harassing people. Most people were very poor but we had no ghettos and no "bad neighborhoods" you had to completely avoid due to your skin color. I also have relatives in Moscow so i visit frequently and never have a problem. I now live close to NYC. I avoid going there at all costs because of how shit it is. I don't even go to smaller cities in the area because they're not much better. Maybe you're enamored by NYC of the past when Giuliani was still cracking some skulls but it's gone way downhill, just like most other metro areas in America.
Why weren't those attempts successful?
Pickpocketing doesn't work if you don't have shit in your pockets. Amateur attempts too, could feel their fingers. Perhaps it was more times and the others were just more competent.
What was the race of the robbers?
While I would agree that Putin isn't some kind of Saturday morning cartoon villain, things aren't good. This video (from a non leftist perspective) points out several reasons. Long story short: alcoholism, abortion, and AIDS are all frightfully common. And this is before you discuss numbers that only goofy college Republicans really care about, like GDP and other economic statistics.
https://youtu.be/uW4I2fPPXFM
That's not to say that America is necessarily better in one way or another given that we're a total clown show currently being run by a corrupt, illegitimate and literally demented neoliberal, but it does mean that Russia has deep and severe moral issues.
He may be better than Yeltsin, who was totally corrupt, but I don't trust Putin either. Like Obongo, Killary, Biden etc., he became way way richer through politics - he's in the top 5 for overall wealth from what I recall and that was not by business, he went straight from the KGB into post-USSR Russian politics, unlike Trump who earned his money in business and lost money trying to save his country.
It remains to be seen what happens with Russia and China, they always did have a rivalry - China invaded Vietnam after we left as they felt Vietnam was getting too close to the USSR, and Mongolia was kept independent specifically to have a buffer between the USSR and China.
But, Russia and China have always had each other's backs when it has come down to any us vs them situation. Without fail if someone else has tried to contend with them, they've sided against them. I'm not yet convinced that won't be the case if push comes to shove, whether the west aggravates Russia or not.
Still, the misleadia are full of BS on Russia. China is the real enemy. Russia would be alright in my book were it not for China.
India, Philippines, Indonesia: Ahem
"How is Russia even bad?" Dumber words have never been spoken. And I see there's several of you Russian shills here. How much does Putin pay you to come on TD & stir things up?
Well let's see... Putin murders everyone who mounts a successful election campaign against him. He steals so much cash from his citizens, he's one of the richest men in the world. His goons are sent out to terrorize every single person who criticizes him, & every journalist inside Russia that runs a negative story about him ends up dead in the street. You seriously don't know this? Are you really that ignorant? That is seriously embarrassing dude. You spent far too many hours studying diversity in school & not real facts.
How is Russia even bad? You people are no better then the fucking leftist marxist retards, go back to watching Fox News you fucking boomer retards.