Starmaker: Internal Russian matters should absolutely concern developed countries. The territory that Putin's gang holds is huge and rich in natural resources. While obviously stupid and wasteful luxuries like solid gold toilet bowls are emblematic of puny third-world dictators, the truly rich who already have all this go for other stuff, like messing with the rest of the world for shits and giggles. Civilized Western states and unprepared for this and can't deal with it. Many social structures hinge on individual people and no individual person can resist "we'll give you more money than you can earn working 24 hours a day for two thousand years."
To illustrate: Zuckerberg "donated" $75M to a SF hospital. In return, the hospital renamed itself after Zuck and his wife. That's not a donation, it's a purchase. Zuck paid for a luxury service which is "name a public facility after myself".
Putin has more money lying around than Zuck and doesn't want even to appear benevolent.
Even if you're a nationalist isolationist ass who thinks, "lololol people
elsewhere are dying, who cares", you should still harden your own damn country against Russian money, because
Russian money will zuck up your country and your life. If you
do care about other people, hardening your country is still the #1 priority because that's where your efforts will do the most good. Remember, Putin's govt freed sanctioned oligarchs from local taxes, because, and I quote, "the West unjustly punished them by forcing them to live in Russia". Yes, really.
There's a newspaper booth near my office with a poster that says, "go to [web addess] to vote to pick the talisman for the Russian Association of Acrobatic Rock-n-Roll". Acrobatic rock-n-roll is what Putin's younger daughter does, and two schools in Moscow have been demolished to build a dancing center for the twat, at taxpayers' expense, of course. It's like if the US govt confiscating Central Park for Trump to play golf in. So if you're into acrobatic rock-n-roll, cockblock her. Don't let her compete, don't let her judge your events, don't sit her in the VIP zone or anything. If you're into dog shows, don't let Shuvalov's corgis compete. If you're into horse races, ban Kadyrov's boyfriends.
"Bawww keep politics out of [whatever]!" STFU, hypothetical wanker. Pundits everywhere roll out their trollies and try to justify wars by sophomoric idiocy like "is it worth to sacrifice thousands of people to potentially save millions, well here's my opinion". Of course if you avoid politicizing everything
except war, you're left with no solutions aside from "throw more of my fellow citizens into the meat grinder". Your officials are soft, but Putin's cronies are soft too, and while your weakness is secret money, theirs is
public status. There's never been a vulnerable spot that is easier to hit. Do it, and you'll
win.
You really need to learn about US history of foreign intervention, because Russia doesn't come close to the devastation that the US has caused in this world. Seriously.
richlind33: So what happened to giving infractions for posts that violate the rules, and banning if necessary???
Too much "Work"?
Better still, don't start any more threads, because that way you won't have to pester anyone to close them.
tinyE: I've been banned twice.
From where I sit she's keeping her word.
I thought you'd been behaving yourself of late. Shows what I know. lol
