“Putin favors Muslims. He has given full rein to his buddy Kadyrov to basically preside over a theocracy in Chechnya.”
What’s your solution? Extermination, or a replay of Afghanistan, where Westerners try to drag them out of the Stone Age?
“Putin was present at the grand opening of the latest mosque in Moscow. (Look it up)”
Putin was also present at the grand opening of the Jewish Museum in Moscow. (Look it up). He’s stuck with millions of Muslims and Jews...what is supposed to do - tear it down?
“Muslim migrants from former Soviet states/Central Asia make up for the labor shortfall caused by ethnic Russians’ low birthrate. Muslims from Dagestan and Tatarstan within Russian have higher birthrates than the Slavs.”
Agree, but is that Putin’s fault? Should he instead go to Mexico to find laborers when he has them within his borders.
Believe it or not, not all us Trump supporters want to Muslims exterminated - but we would like to see them cool it with the terrorism.
As far as Iran is concerned - that’s what we get for trying to overthrow Assad. Your gripe is with Hillary/Obama on that...but at least Putin supports his allies (Vietnam, anyone).
I don’t know if Russians are getting fed up with Syria...looks to me that Russia has put an end to the bloodshed there caused by Hillary/Obama and the Neocons. As far as Trump goes, he can’t even order a salad with Russian Dressing without getting the waiter in trouble with Mueller. And that is NOT Putin’s fault.
1) Interestingly, I have seen photographs of Kabul from the 70s (on a Russian website no less) - Modern looking women walking about rather developed surroundings. Don’t know all the history, but the Soviet War there must ripened the environment there for Talibanism. Afghanistan wasn’t always stuck in the Stone Age.
2) Anti-Semitism still rife in Russia. Not everyone, but enough to set the tone. People tie Jewish conspiracies from everything to the founding of evil America (by Masons...Jewish ones) to their own 1917 Revolution.
A peak inside the mind of a history-minded Russian today goes something like:
“Bolsheviks were Jews so therefore everything that followed is their fault....YET it’s bad the Soviet Union fell...AND Stalin was an effective manager who defeated Hitler....OH, but the Jews are evil, they control the dollar....BUT Russia squashed the Nazis. The Soviet Union saved humanity. Long live Lenin!”
Hence the resulting schizophrenia and social psychosis the author of the book “Dead End” speaks of.
Putin relies on leading Jewish bankers, plus a few Jewish oligarchs to uphold his set-up. And in general, it’s not in Putin’s interest for ethno-religious squabbles to destabilize the populace.
3) Russia’s economy hinges on the labor of Muslim migrants, who are out birthing ethnic Russians. This creates social insecurity. So to combat this, Putin’s state-run media diverts attention from their OWN realities, their OWN history with facing terrorism within its borders, towards hyper-coverage of Europe and its struggles - the Rotting West.
Coverage of gay pride parades divert focus from Russia’s HIV epidemic, high divorce rate, domestic violence crisis, catch my drift?!
4) Birthrate dipped following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Despite Putin’s efforts and brief moments of improvement, Russians on the whole still lack long term hope and vision for their futures. If the system weren’t so against average people, I believe the birthrate would be higher yes. So Putin gets some blame.
He’s tackled Russia’s aboriton culture (also a Soviet holdover) but has stopped short of banning it outright due to fear of illegal abortions (also a cultural norm) and massive pushback from the public.
5) Unlike Muslims who are more devoted to their religion and often have languages and cultures separate from Russia — ethnic Russian identity is so wrapped up around the State. In a paternal dependence on those on top, who view them with such disdain. This is part of the problem. It makes any hope for progress or for the people to claim their freedom really difficult.
6) Your perception of Trump as weak compard to Putin only proves the success to which Russian-driven narratives have taken hold of the vacuum in the West for meaningful journalism. The narratives prey upon legitimate, existing weaknesses of ours NOT in service to the Truth, but in service to Putin’s geopolitical life mission: which is to 1) avenge the fall of the Soviet Union (and Russian Empire) and 2) destabilize the United States and the advance of Western values (including the Judeo-Christian ones) around the world.
When I say “advance of Western values” - I don’t mean the military advancement. I mean even the self-determination of nations to pursue democracy and the development of free societies. Hence why Russian leaders + press throw a fit over the fact that Poland and Ukraine had torn down their Lenin and other Soviet era statues.
7) Trump’s inauguration was the biggest slap in the face to Putin, who has spent the entire past two decades convincing his people that American democracy is a sham, not due to Obama, not due to Bush — but at its CORE, from its FOUNDING, is predicated upon false premises.
So the peaceful transfer of power to a most unlikely winner of a populist surge was NOT in fitting with that narrative. Russian elite would have preferred predictable Hillary reign.
They prefer a weak America. Please remember that.
And don’t get me wrong, underneath all the LIES and STRUGGLES, a beautiful, strong and vibrant culture does and will emerge...But not under Putin.