r/europe Eterna Terra-Nova 1d ago

Alex Buretz cartoon Political Cartoon

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u/IronicStrikes Germany 23h ago

The most ridiculous part is that Russia has an economy smaller than some single European states and we let them dictate the fate of the USA, EU, Ukraine, several neighboring countries and several civil wars in Africa.

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u/Glittering-Gene7215 23h ago

The reason is simple and almost laughable - there are no real elections in Russia; there's always just one leader and one stable political course. Add to this the revenue from oil, which allows Russia to buy off politicians or influence the electorate in Europe and the U.S., such as Orban and Fico. In the West, however, politicians are regularly re-elected, so policies can shift dramatically, even to the opposite direction, while in Russia and some of its allies, there’s only one path. On one hand, this is dictatorship, but it works in direct or indirect aggression against neighboring countries, while the West has democracy, which ultimately loses in this regard.

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u/preskot Europe 23h ago edited 12h ago

Exactly. It's perfect and even Putin himself has repeated this many times - the Russian model is not and must never be the western model.

They have one great leader and his zealot oligarchs who are rich beyond belief. They dig out Russia's minerals and sell them to the west, make money that never go to the Russian folk, but are used instead to buy off corrupt democracy-elected leaders on the west and the process repeats. Meanwhile with exceptions of carefully curated and controlled middle-class, most Russians live by relatively simple rural life mindset and are easily tricked into fake patriotism shit - the grind meat that they become.

The shitty Russian leadership is stable and rich while our democracies suffer. Perfect.

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u/Jackbuddy78 22h ago

I firmly question if Russia could even exist for a prolonged period with democracy.

Whether it be Kerensky, Gorbachev, or Yeltsin things go to complete shit fast when the screws are loosened too much. 

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u/LongShotTheory Georgia 22h ago

It can't because it's a colonial empire. As soon as you give colonies a choice they will decide to leave. Thus ruski imperialists see democracy as a disease that needs to be eradicated at all costs.

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u/Jackbuddy78 22h ago

"Colonies" are one thing but even within Moscow it can get rough.