Around 27% of respondents blamed the Islamic State (ISIS), while another 6% pointed to the U.S., U.K., and NATO, according to a survey by OpenMinds, an Anglo-Ukrainian online pollster.
Around 27% of respondents blamed the Islamic State (ISIS), while another 6% pointed to the U.S., U.K., and NATO, according to a survey by OpenMinds, an Anglo-Ukrainian online pollster.
It’s easy to hate, but it’s also just deeply sad to see what Russia has become. It’s a huge country full of natural resources. It could be a peaceful, wealthy, educated superpower. Like a huge version of Finland.
Instead, the psychopaths have taken over and created a modern barbarian empire.
I always marvel at this. If Putin has just focused the past 20 years on improving domestic affairs including industry and quality of life, the Russians probably could have lured Ukraine and maybe others to their orbit. Russia has the resources and space along with a sufficient population to become a global heavyweight with appropriate investment. Instead they let everything rust, double downed on corruption and then tried to force others into their orbit.
It’s always been like that. The meme of “and then things got worse” applies to most of Russian history. They had the Vikings, Mongolians, czars, Napoleon, Bolsheviks (and there were multiple factions at the time that collectively pretty much wanted to kill all of Russia), Stalin, Hitler (at the same time as Stalin!), more Stalin, the cold war, China, Afghanistan, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the rise of the oligarchs, and now Putin.
I was hopeful after the USSR collapsed. I suspect now that the brutal authoritarian state they lived in for so long had effectively disabled the population’s ability to mobilize and fight for their rights after so many decades of killing dissidents.
Who knows, the Russians have bravely overthrown a dictator only a century ago.