Comments by "Tim Smith" (@timonsolus) on "Moscow Theatre on Fire, Ukraine Bombed, Russia Mocks “zombified Europe”, Putin Slams West's "Nazism"" video.

NATO has the right to defend itself from Russian terror
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Unfortunately, the US failed to sufficiently help post-Soviet Russia become democratic, prosperous and free after the end of the Cold War. The US should have created, and paid for, a 'Marshall Plan' to help Russia and other post-Soviet states after 1991, in the same way that the US helped (West) Germany, Austria, Italy and Japan after 1945. Instead, the US was only interested in helping former Warsaw Pact countries that declared independence from Russia - and not Russia itself. This is why Russia quickly became a mafia state run by criminals (many of whom were former KGB officers like Putin).
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@trumpforever6706 : Stalin collaborated with Hitler between 1939 and 1941 (before Hitler stabbed him in the back). So that makes Stalin a Nazi too, but Stalin is now a rehabilitated hero of Russia (despite not being Russian). Dmitri Utkin, the founder and military leader of Wagner Group, was a neo-Nazi. Many Wagner Group mercenaries were also neo-Nazis. But they were still treated by Putin as heroes of Russia (until Prigozhin's revolt). No-one is wearing masks anymore because nearly everyone has been vaccinated against Covid now. Including most Russians.
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NATO has the right to defend itself from the provocative Russian expansion
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The founder of Wagner Group, Dmitri Utkin, was a neo-Nazi. ‘Wagner’ was originally his self-chosen military call sign - he chose it because Wagner was Hitler’s favourite composer. Search for Dmiti Utkin image, you’ll see him with Nazi tattoos. Several captured Wagner Group mercenaries have been photographed with neo-Nazi and white supremacist tattoos. Yet Putin was happy to have their support in Ukraine, until Prigozhin’s revolt.
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@hyhhy : Modern Germany has no interest in making anyone a vassal state. Germany has also formally renounced all claims to territories that were taken from it after WW2 (including Kaliningrad). Germany will never annex or unify with Austria again either.
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@hyhhy : Lol, the irony! Putin is only waiting for his friend Lukashenko to die before he annexes Belarus to Russia. The Russian army and FSB are already operating in Belarus like it’s part of Russia
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Exactly. Putin is like the murderer in a whodunnit movie accusing everyone else of the murder
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@Northman-from-the-North : Putin has a hatred of the West. He hates democracy and freedom because he doesn’t want Russians to have them.
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There are far more neo-Nazis, fascists, and white supremacists in Russia than in Ukraine. Putin tolerates them and even encourages them as long as they are also Russian nationalists and support his regime.
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Yeah, but the South and East is India and China. Not Russia. Russia is the North.
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@azimkhankhanazim6294 : Yes, Russia has successfully evaded most of the sanctions, through the simple measure of importing Western goods through intermediaries. Imports of Western goods to Russia’s neighbours and friendly states has skyrocketed as they happily sell the goods on to the Russian market (at a markup). Only the largest items of Western technology (ships, aircraft, trucks and cars) are no longer reaching Russia, which has turned to China to supply them instead - which China is very happy to do. However, it’s wrong to say that the war itself has had no effect on Russia. Russia has had to massively increase its defence spending to maintain its military war effort in Ukraine. This funding has been diverted from other areas of Russian state spending, most notably state provided healthcare and state education.
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