"The US is no different or infact worse" is a typical argument used to justify various Putinite wrongdoings and deflect discussion. Just go to /r/worldnews for a taste on reddit.
* Russia aggressively annexing its neighbors? Hey look over there at the US and Middle East
* Russia curbing various freedoms and opposition? Sure the US is a 2 party system where there is no hope for change.
* Putin gaining complete control of the media? Sure in the US the media is all run by same companies.
And so on, the best lies are those sprinkled with a small grain of truth as the saying goes...
>* Russia curbing various freedoms and opposition? Sure the US is a 2 party system where there is no hope for change.
Now this comment depresses me. Why not compare the us patriot act or civil forfeiture, or the wide spread illegal 4th amendment breaking mass surveillance program a whistle blower had to reveal (who incidentally lives in Russia now).
Then you use the phrase hope and change, is that satire, a man became president lying with that platform slogan.
How about including torture, indefinite imprisonment without trial, or kill lists to show how the US also has erroded civil liberties?
How much more comic book evil does the American empire need to become before people stop defending it with 'Russia and China are worse', maybe they are, but its a sad pissing match to ask if Mao or Hilter was the worst 20th dictator, both men caused tremendous amounts of Human misery.
Why do people want to defend a military that has killed hundreds if thousands of civilians? How morally bankrupt are the techies of hacker news.
Look, the problem here is you are comparing bad with really really bad. People aren't defending the US via Russia here, people are saying don't defend Russia via the US.
Can you really imagine USA invading Mexico to extend its area of influence?
Facebook is filled with anti-US and anti-western arguments. VKontakte is filled with love for Putin. Apples to apples here...
Try to at least study history. The US has a long history of staging coups and invading with special forces Latin American countries.
My point is they are both so bad that saying one is really really bad is like Dante discussing why the third circle of Hell isn't as bad as the fourth. Pointless academic nonsense, except the jingoistic RaRa America nonsense is killing hundreds of thousands of civilians.
* Russia aggressively annexing its neighbors? Hey look over there at the US and Middle East
* Russia curbing various freedoms and opposition? Sure the US is a 2 party system where there is no hope for change.
* Putin gaining complete control of the media? Sure in the US the media is all run by same companies.
And so on, the best lies are those sprinkled with a small grain of truth as the saying goes...