Mayday, Mayday! Russia IS a problem child

I see what I did there with that headline.

I've long, on this forum, called out the US and other NATO countries for pushing a proxy war in Ukraine. I've fought back against the Uki-tankies of NAFO Fellas on Twitter. That said, I do not, contra a Norman Finkelstein, call Russia's invasion "justified." Per Walter Kaufmann, this is one of those times that word doesn't work for me.

Plus, beyond war crimes (which Ukraine also commits) I see that Putin's Russia is back almost to the USSR days on suppressing religious freedom. Actually, Tsarist days would be more accurate. The Russian Orthodox Church's relationship with the Russian state under Putin is similar to the caesaropapism of Tsardom. Judaism is certainly in a better state. I'm not sure what the Tsarist angle on Islam is, as the first semi-significant Islamic lands only came under Russian rule in the last century of the empire, and the real significant lands of Central Asia only in its last 40-50 years. It seems relatively benevolent, though, for one simple reason, which leads us to the next paragraph ...

But? Ties to a church perceived as "American"? Here, it's USSR days. No Baptists allowed. Not in occupied portions of Ukraine, per the story, nor, more and more, in "mother Russia" itself.

That said, we, as in the USG, created this problem by and large. The Slickster gave drunken Boris Yeltsin drunken sailor money so he wouldn't lose to the Commies in 1996. This was after Jeff Sachs and others pushed Yeltsin into shock therapy that wrecked the Russian economy and led many people to consider putting them back in power? His fault? No. Blame Russia! And,  yes, this is the same Jeff Sachs who is now at Columbia, supporting the proxy war idea and supporting Jill Stein. Penance?

At the same time, we didn't force Putin to become president for life. Some of this is the old Brer Rabbit and Tar Baby syndrome.