I would love to hear the thoughts of this leftist community, not least any comrade in Russia. In the US it's so hard to get any serious Russia news/analysis because of the propaganda here- you have red guys that love Russia & Putin to own the libs, and you have blue guys that hate Russia & Putin because it's their favorite boogeyman. I ask because I personally don't like Putin for his war on gayness (wake me up when we get to war of gayness) but I understand that countries in the US's crosshairs are those that make their history under the least self-selected circumstances. I was looking at some stats when this question came to mind:
UA
RU
So material conditions have definitely improved under Putin, which is a miracle considering the fall of the USSR and the disgrace of Yeltsin, which makes me think there are probably people out there who like Putin for rational reasons, besides owning the libs. I would love to hear your thoughts either way.
I support Putin / Russia only insofar as “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. As others here have pointed out, his politics are shit, he is socially conservative, he is a bastard. But Russia is also one of the world’s most steadfast bulwarks against NATO, and Putin just so happens to be its long time leader. So, (extremely) critical support.
Same with Iran and the Ayatollah. Judged in isolation, they are shit. But taking their context into account, they are fighting the Great Satan when few others are capable or willing.
The second that BurgerLander and Pissreal imperialism is wiped off the map, the very first order of duty for the respective working classes of those countries is to overthrow their leaders and establish truly revolutionary socialist governments.