OK. Visit Appalachia, Mississippi and Alabama, or Baltimore, or Oakland, or Detr

OK. Visit Appalachia, Mississippi and Alabama, or Baltimore, or Oakland, or Detroit, or vast portions of Los Angeles or the north end of Hartford, or any of hundreds of SH*THOLE cities in the USA. Russia is eleven time zones, with 140M people and an economy the size of Texas, where the maximum profits are extracted by the FSB and the oligarchs (gangsters) appointed to manage them, with a population that has been through perpetual serfdom, the world wars, the soviet catastrophe and collapse, the nineties tragedy, the present crisis, and they have won most wars in their history by throwing vast numbers of peasants and overwhelming by sheer numbers.
Am I pissed at their absurdity? Sure. Would I rather live with Ukrainians as I have? Absolutely. Is it nearly impossible to buy a company in Russia because of the corruption and double sets of books, yet as easy as the USA to start and build one in Ukraine? Sure. But I consider Russian friends in the US and Russia some of my best friends and most moral people with most realistic expectations of mankind, and some of the most solid marriages and families I know of. Is that everyone in Russia? Absolutely not. Is it the majority? I dunno. I do know that if I am kind and respectful that life there for me and my friends in the financial sector has been exceptional.

I’m not burning the russian people for the fact that they are traumatized and propagandized by a mafia state that continues the long tradition of russia’s governance as a mafia state.

There is no reason we cannot ‘fix’ both russia, ukraine, belarus, Moldova, and the entirety of the west. But it’s going to be very difficult with that nitwit putin in the big chair hoping against hope that the west will run out of patience before russia runs out of living bodies, arms, and money. When we also have that equally ridiculous Xi in the big chair in china, trying to preserve their mafia state as well, despite that china’s population is cratering like the end of the dinosaurs.

I had minor involvement but the US/UA strategy has been from the beginning to exhaust russia, drive them out, and cause ‘reform’. (We are not allowed to use the term regime-change. Even though that’s what we are trying to accomplish.)

Reply addressees: @CarmelH14822276 @dr_duchesne @SethAbramson