"But consider the impact on Russia. From the Russian point of view, everything from their plunging ruble to bitter sanctions to the falling price of oil are the fault of the US, either directly or indirectly. Whether that is fair or not is irrelevant; that's the view of the Russians right now."
Russia is a kleptocracy with 100 percent corruption run by "former" KGB agents who have deliberately created a mafia state to maintain power over a population of mostly drunks and welfare dependents who aren't capable of creating an economy that isn't dependent on oil prices.
See this link from a Russian who escaped that hell hole:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3189416/posts
An excerpt from the above thread:
"The population at large is, statistically speaking, not very bright. Many are deranged from overuse of alcohol or drugs. A big number are simply aging elderly rooted in USSR-centric mindset who never adjusted to the modern world. Most of them do not “work” in the sense we understand full-time employment here: they occupy placeholder positions sponsored by the government. Being dependent their whole life on government help, they are psychologically unable even to think government can do something wrong."
This is what happens after 5 generations of communism and unnatural selection where the best and the brightest are systematically murdered by a criminal regime.
Now returning to your Zero Hedge link:
"Based on the preponderance of evidence, its' clear to me that the West/US deserve the lion's share of the blame for the conflict that now rages with Ukraine and between Russia and the western world."
This guy is a retard who expects us not to notice that people were being beaten in the streets, kidnapped and tortured long before eeevil McCain showed up to supposedly bribe Ukrainians to revolt against their country. ZeroHedge even pushes the tired crap about "Neo-Nazis" running things and a military "coup," as if we're too stupid to notice that Yanukovych lost the entire support of even his own political party and the rest of the Ukrainian Rada after the mass shootings. The people who were in power was the Ukrainian rada elected in 2012, and the people in charge now are democratically elected.
Zero Hedge is a pile of crap publication that pushes Russian propaganda because they are so stupidly anti-American they don't take two minutes to think about what they read from Alex Jones or Russian television.
And as for Russia, giving excuses for the Moskals is no better than apologizing for the Islamists for shooting people in Paris. These are thugs and criminals who want to destroy America and establish their own crazy empires. The only solution is to fight them.
Russian soldiers during the invasion of Georgia in 2008:
