The war crimes committed by Putin and Russia are not an aberration. They are raping, murdering, torturing and pillaging in Ukraine just like they did under Yeltsin, Stalin and the Tsars. This is standard operating procedure for the Russian military.
Who is to blame? Where do we draw the line?
Putin doesn't give every order. That's the officer corps. He doesn't pull the trigger. That's the enlisted soldiers. Russian war crimes have been documented going back centuries.
The only constant is the Russian people. Russian society keeps gifting war criminals to the world. For centuries, from the Tsars to the Soviets to modern day Russia.
There's a reason that Russia is the biggest country on earth. It grew to that size as the Russian Empire. They didn't grow by nicely convincing neighbouring peoples to join. They invaded and took over.
Russia is Europe's last empire. The British Empire is gone. Same for the Spanish and French empires.
When we look back at the British "civilizing the savages" of Africa, Asia and the Americas. We now see it for what is was: racist, greedy, evil and brutal. Canada is a product of the brutal endeavour and Canadians are still coming to terms with British North America's legacy of colonialism.
But Russia's empire still exists, and Putin's war in Ukraine is an effort to rebuild the empire back to the fullest extent. Today's army of the Russian empire of today still rapes, murders, tortures and pillages just like they did decades and centuries ago. The Russian people haven't come to terms with their brutal, imperialistic past. Instead, they still celebrate it as evidenced by their support of the war in Ukraine.
Russia of today is equivalent to the worst of colonial Britain, France or Spain. It is a murderous kleptocratic dictatorship today as it always has been. The Russian people are sheep who cheer for their murderous leaders and their barbaric war crimes. The "good" Russians bite their tongue, look the other way and emigrate from Russia.
There are a very few brave Russians protesting their country's brutality. Tens of thousands out of a population of 140 million. I think so few that they serve as the exceptions that prove the rule.
Russia is undeniably a bad actor on the world stage. The Russian people are fully complicit.
I think Russia and the Russian people should be completely cut off from the Western world's economy and technology. I think every country should have to choose between trading with the EU and the USA or Russia. If in a few decades, Russia becomes a nation under the rule of law, we should consider a rapprochement.
But until then, leave Russia to the Russians. Not one NATO toe inside Russia's borders but also not one Western dime into their economy and not one microchip into their war machine. No Russians competing in the Olympics or playing in the NHL or studying at Harvard or coding at Google. Send them all back.
Once they fix their own society, they can once again have the privilege of participating in ours.
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