Posted on 12/31/2016 12:27:51 PM PST by WilliamIII
Obama, McCain, Lindsee, Wash Post and NY Times all suggest we need to fear and hate - and maybe fight - Putin's Russia
I still haven't seen a good, calmly argued explanation why
If Russia conquered us, would they lower our taxes to Russia's 10 percent flat rate? Would they ensure that orphans get a mom and a dad when they're adopted? Would they end discriminatory laws against traditional judeo-Christian beliefs and practices? Would they stop bureaucrats from persecuting Christian bakers?
The Left might hate Russia for its low taxes and Christian culture, but why must I?
In Russia, the Male Life Expectancy is 64.7 years.
That is just above the Male Life Expectancy in Yemen and the same as the Male Life Expectancy in Gabon.
With that, Russia cannot even be considered First World.
And sanctions and a few others things. But yes, that leads me to my next point. Russia produces oil and gas. And basically nothing else. The country outside Moscow and St. Petersburg is a disaster. Putin has mismanaged the economy to the point where it is even less diversified than it was in the past. It's bizarre and completely unnecessary in a country filled with natural resources, educated people and infrastructure. But hey, bad government can screw up anything.
Your comment about public health, drug and STD relevancy are true in Europe, Canada, and the US as well.
Not remotely on Russia's scale.
The rule of law for small and medium business has long been since dead in the US
Now you're just being silly. In Russia people are routinely shot dead by armed gangs for opposing local politicians with no system to bring the perpetrators to justice. It's gangster government in the most literal sense.
You can't be a small government conservative and embrace a government that murders its citizens.
Russia is the Congo with nukes.
They shamelessly peddle oil.
Interesting. Still sounds superior to the 50 percent-plus combined income tax rate for upper middle income Californians. I think it was Steve Forbes - don’t hold me to that recollection - who I first saw praising Russian income taxes
So Russia is at war with North Korea, China, Mongolia, Kazhakstan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Latvia, Estonia, Norway and Finland. And at the same time kicked our butts in Syria. It seems like hostilities are only occurring with two neighbors. Ukraine and Georgia.
They're a piddly little country desperate to be relevant. But they're good at making themselves relevant. And to some extent they are for a variety of accidents we can't control - geography, nuclear weapons, and to some extent their oil and gas supplies. We can either oppose them or ignore them. I don't see any reason why we would embrace them.
He may not be a direct threat but this is an unbelievably naive question (and, no offense, your response is reminiscent of the British left’s reaction to Hitler in the 30’s). Russia, and Putin in particular is NOT our friend. I’m not suggesting that Obama is right. He most certainly is not, and he’s acting like a petulant child as he so often does. (Thank God this nightmare is almost over.) I am definitely aligned with President Trump on this one.
That said, while we certainly could have a better relationship with them, we do not share Russia’s values. Actually, the fact is that Russia under Putin does NOT support the Judeo-Christian faith. There are numerous laws there that actively suppress it. They tolerate it, but evangelism is almost illegal unless you are Russian Orthodox which is effectively the state religion. Their economy is awful, alcoholism is rampant, the media is not free (i.e. Drudge, Breitbart, and Free Republic would not be tolerated) and there are few protections for basic civil rights (speech, religion, guns, etc.). True, immorality is not tolerated, but many other things that we value above else on the Right would also be suppressed.
Maybe the original poster is too young to remember, but I recall the bad old days of the Soviets quite well. We do NOT want to be like them.
Who on this thread is asking to embrace them?
Oops my mistake. Also forgot Russia’s neighbors Estonia, Lithuania and Poland.
“Its economy is still a little bigger than Mexico’s so there’s that.”
Russia’s economy is a little bigger than Mexico’s while Mexico has a population of 120,000,000 and Russia has a population of 144,000,000.
Russia sounds all so wonderful!
I agree. Any culture that eats borscht is to be hated.
>Communism ?
Only exists in US universities and Cuba. Shouldn’t we be making war on them?
you didn’t address their tax rates. explain how their taxes today are like the Soviets.
They did NOT avoid it. They overcame it (sort of) after decades of hell. BIG DIFFERENCE!!! Please don’t romanticize Russia folks. That sound you hear is Reagan spinning in his grave!
Amen!
>Fascist dictatorship with global colonialist ambitions. Want to reimpose hegemony over the formerly enslaved satellite states in Europe.
Says who? A bunch of war mongering Neo-Cons?
There is a huge levels of difference between embracing Russia’s entire government and acting like Russia is the devil and acting with hyperbole about Russia (a 2% GDP drop isn’t freefall and Russia has done much better under Putin than in the 90s - it’s also like our agents have purposefully tried to hurt Russia by keeping natural gas prices and oil way down - Venezuela is in a free fall). Like most governments, there are things I like about Russia and things I dislike but at this point we should be closer allies to Russia and less so to governments like Saudi Arabia and China. We have much more in common interest and common enemies. Let Europe deal with Russia militarily if they want.
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