[Steve_Seattle]

There is no doubt Putin is a thug who doesn't hesitate to "deal with" political enemies and who enriches himself via his power, but under his regime the average person is probably freer and safer than in the Soviet days, although Russian society still has - to Western sensibilities - a kind of militarized quality.

But the overt persecution of the Orthodox Church has stopped, and Putin seems to be embracing the idea of Russia being a Christian civilization in opposition to the decadent civilization of the West.

We can question his sincerity, of course, but as time goes by and our society becomes more overtly hostile to Chrisan values it is not as easy to contrast our freedoms with Russian totalitarianism as it once was.

[cdcdawg]

“under his regime the average person is probably freer and safer than in the Soviet days”

The average person is not who our oligarchs care about. “Democracy” means promotion of trannies and man on man sex. That’s what they mean by “our values.” Putin, in 2013, stopped letting homo couples come to Russia to “adopt” children. Our elites have been pushing for war ever since.

[piasa]

He has been persecuting other Christian churches, just not the one he considers useful.