when people say things like "Russia is the world's supervillain" I'd like to remind them that the United States is currently in a war with Yemen that has killed over ten thousand civilians and that this all has happened under the "good president".
Right. Tankies who think Russia is benevolent are misguided and dangerous, but Russia is a substantially less dangerous imperialist threat than the goold ol' USA. Refusing to acknowledge American aggression is tacitly pro-imperialist, and the behavior of our current administration has made the human toll of our primacy sickeningly clear.
Who has Putin threatened to nuke? How many countries is he bombing right now? Movement toward an end to our own international abuses needs to be part of any progressive platform, and refusing to deescalate because it gives Russia an opportunity is a fundamentally reactionary and imperialist stance.
Of course you immediately pivot to whataboutism.
And yes, when the other side is ISIS/Al-Qaeda backed, we are going to back the opposing force.
Please, please, please read about these conflicts before posting. The US and Al-Qaeda are
tacitly allied in most of the Middle East, because Al-Qaeda works closely with out Saudi Allies and because we support their brutal sectarianism as long as it weakens Iran's influence. Similarly in Syria, we have
directly provided aid to Al-Qaeda affiliates because our government is more willing to tolerate a brutal theocracy than a secular government that's friendly with Iran and Russia.
