Comments by "Grenade Tennis" (@hughjass1044) on "Nomad Capitalist" channel.

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  21. You know Russians, I know Russians, lots of people know Russians and many of the ones I know tell a somewhat different story about Navalny than what the western media likes to tell and that is that in reality, he was not what he was portrayed as. The western media is prone to manufacturing a certain image of people like Navalny based on the kind of person they'd like him to be and then pushing that on their audiences. In the first place, he was as much of a nationalist as Putin is. In fact, most Russians are. That's why Putin is as popular as he is. Very few people in the west understand this fact about Russia or they willfully blind themselves to it. Navalny believed, as Putin does, in the expansion of Russia's borders and the re-establishment of the Russian empire. He supported the annexation of Crimea (again, the vast majority of Russians do) and the oppositions that he may have held to the Ukraine war had more to do with the way it was being prosecuted than anything else. In short, he was not the saint that many in the west think he was. Secondly, and more importantly, he was admired in many circles in Russia for his opposition to corruption but not taken seriously as a leader. Many of the people I know have said that if he had ever stood for election against Putin in a free and fair contest, Putin would still win in a rout and that's because for whatever faults he may possess, Putin is seen as a strongman that can control the oligarchs and command respect abroad while Navalny was seen as a principled but terribly naïve figure who'd be unlikely to gain power and would probably be eaten alive by the thugs and gangsters who really rule Russia if he did.
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  40. A slight clarification on India vis-à-vis Russia..... They are not and never have been, fiercely pro-Russia. They are not fiercely pro-anybody. What they are is fiercely neutral, nationalistic, proud and independent. They are not interested in being in anybody's "camp" and the harder somebody tries to push them into one, the more they resist and turn towards the other. They are the modern embodiment of Lord Palmerston's famous quote - "We have no permanent allies and we have no permanent enemies. What we have are permanent interests." As Modi has said - "I have 1/7th of the world's population. I'll make my own camp." They have always kept their doors open to most anyone but they refuse to be anyone's "cheap date." They're not about to just fall in line with either the US, Russia, Europe, China nor anyone else just because someone thinks they should but they do take great pleasure in being obstinate and refusing to sing off of someone else's song sheet. One thing they've never forgotten, or forgiven, was the US siding with Pakistan in the early days. The US may have felt they had their reasons for doing so, but from the Indian perspective, that is something that won't be soon nor easily overcome and it is that as much as anything that pushed them closer to the Soviets. There are however, some serious cracks forming in the India/Russia relationship as India doesn't particularly enjoy being associated with a pariah state. They have also begun the slow but steady transition of their military away from Russian sourced gear towards that from western sources. The big winner in all that? The USA? Uh-uhh. France! See what I mean about India not wanting to dance to Uncle Sam's tune?
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