[NorseViking]

You have near religious views on both Middle Eastern history and Russia. These are as wrong as any other myths but no logical arguments would fix it.

[Zhang Fei]

[You have near religious views on both Middle Eastern history and Russia. These are as wrong as any other myths but no logical arguments would fix it.]

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I’ve explained my views with a mix of verifiable facts and historical events. No beliefs in the supernatural are necessary. You challenged me on US oil import numbers. I demonstrated that they were even larger than I had expected. The real issue is that you’ve looked at the world from the prism of Russian interests and have at your disposal only the data supporting those interests, whereas I know enough to argue from basically any side’s perspective, including yours, because I used to be a left winger and am familiar with all the old Russophile/pro-Soviet arguments. I used to read publications like Mother Jones, In These Times and The Nation a lot. David Corn, Victor Navasky and Alexander Cockburn used to be some of my favorite columnists. Then I read a little more widely and realized that these people were basically anti-American Russophiles.

[Zhang Fei]

I completely understand why you dislike the Saudi royals. They did fund the Chechen separatists who tried to break free from Russian rule. You should similarly understand why I have an antipathy towards the Chinese and Russian governments. They were responsible for the deaths of 100K American deaths through their material support for North Korea and North Vietnam during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. And we sent huge amounts of aid to Russia during WWII to help them fight a war that had begun through a Russian alliance with Germany that gave Germany a free hand to invade the West.