Putin actually good for US

[gay_Aleks]

On the "Sudetenland vibe"...

I recently realised - that Ukraine is to Russia what Austria was to Germany - an "artificial" state that belongs to greater Germany/Russia.

 

[Bulldog Bats]

Tell that to the Austrians/ Ukrainians ...

 

[Tahuti]

Austrians speak German - and while considered politically incorrect - may be considered ethnically German with some justice. Ukrainians were called 'Little Russians' (referring to the fact Ukraine was 'Little Russia') but they have become a separate ethnicity. The comparison isn't really valid.

 

[Rashiminos]

Exceptional in that their authoritarian streak was not sufficiently underpinned by 20th/21st-century (or worse) methods of repression.

 

[Phrossack]

Exceptional in that their authoritarian streak was not sufficiently underpinned by 20th/21st-century (or worse) methods of repression.

Eh?

They weren't unusually authoritarian for their time. Actually, Mongol rulers generally left local political systems in place as long as they paid tribute and soldiers. Now, if you're talking about their killing streak and wholesale slaughter of millions, you're closer to the mark, since the destruction they (and people they directly inspired like Timur and Nader Shah) wrought was exceptional.

I just posted that pic to lightheartedly point out that Russia has been successfully invaded and conquered before.

But we digress.

 

[Rashiminos]

They weren't unusually authoritarian for their time. Actually, Mongol rulers generally left local political systems in place as long as they paid tribute and soldiers. Now, if you're talking about their killing streak and wholesale slaughter of millions, you're closer to the mark, since the destruction they (and people they directly inspired like Timur and Nader Shah) wrought was exceptional.

As long as they acceded to Mongol control (when Mongolia was still potent). Other less amenable systems were subjected to that process of extermination, and wiped from the face of the Earth where possible.

 

[Tahuti]

and people they directly inspired like Timur and Nader

Before I managed to read the 'shah' part, I actually for one moment thought you were referring to Ralph Nader!