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0 pointsjs83y ago0 comments

I think Russia actually does care - Putin recently said that closing the natural gas supply was in retaliation to EU's economic sanctions.

Are you suggesting the West should deliberately keep countries poorer, in the fear of them becoming (more) authoritarian? I think that would be wrong (and also counterproductive) thing to do.

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KptMarchewa3y ago· 3 in thread

>keep countries poorer

Keep hard authoritarian and totalitarian countries poorer. That's done with multiple countries right now, like North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela.

Keep weak authoritarian (on a road to democracy) and democratic nations richer. EU and NATO expansion have been historic successes, with democracy extending farther than ever in the 90s and 00s. Moreover, US policy on India has been largest geopolitical tragedy of XX century. The largest democracy in the world is relatively hostile to "the west", despite being threatened by China.

Opposite policies - keep enemies close - drastically failed in case of Russia and China, with both countries being especially bloodthirsty right now.

trasz3y ago

>Keep hard authoritarian and totalitarian countries poorer. That's done with multiple countries right now, like North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela.

It's also not done in multiple other countries which don't happen to be US military allies, like Saudi Arabia. You're seeing a pattern that isn't there. Totalitarianism is just an excuse.

Also, I'm sorry, but claiming China - which hadn't invaded anyone for decades - is as bloodthirsty as Russia (or US for that matter) is just silly.

js8OP3y ago

How could you tell that Russia was "hard authoritarian" when Putin came to power? I don't think there is a meaningful distinction.

I also think it's immoral to intentionally keep any country poor, whether authoritarian or not. I don't know where you live, but I would certainly not want Czechoslovakia to be intentionally kept poor during communist dictatorship just so that some Western politician could stroke his ego about how is he fighting against communism. I think that's very authoritarian and patronizing idea, to do so. It's just a double whammy for citizens of such countries.

KptMarchewa3y ago

>How could you tell that Russia was "hard authoritarian" when Putin came to power?

He bombed his own people to come to power. If not then, then in 2008, when he invaded Georgia. Even if not then, then surely 2014 would be the final whistle, right? No. Nord stream 2 was started to be build 4 years later.

>I don't know where you live, but I would certainly not want Czechoslovakia to be intentionally kept poor during communist dictatorship just so that some Western politician could stroke his ego about how is he fighting against communism.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Pomnik_R...

This is Ronald Reagan monument in Warsaw. I, and many Polish people are thankful for his hardline stance he took against our occupiers, meaningfully contributing to crashing their economy, which ultimately made us free.

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