zazen

Sounds like Switzerland - there's a new train to be built direct from London To Geneva - pretty sick. I'll never forget the 1st time I took the Eurostar and came out in Paris in 2hrs, just so cool. https://www.forbes.com/sites/everettpotter/2025/05/16/london-to-switzerland-via--a-direct-train-by-2030/ Europe needs the Ukraine war to end, get cheap energy back online with Nord stream to bring down energy costs, then re-focus on building and economic growth via tech so it's not left behind by the US/China and so it can maintain its welfare system which is coming under massive pressure from a aging population + low growth + more dependents from excess migration which needs clamping down. Yeah bro, they aren't squeaky clean but then again few places are. Its a newly developed city and they've evolved with more regulation and rights for workers now so things are in the right direction. A lot of them from Pakistan/India/Philippines would be struggling to feed their families in their weaker economies which is why they have the highest remittance rates from the gulf - in the billions being sent back home. Same for the US migrants sending to South American countries. That's the hardship of survival. Difference is that the US has had a hand in de-stabilizing and weakening latin economies which drive migrants north in the first place. UAE's moral failings and flaws are local and more visible, whilst the West's are global and invisible. Our tax money has gone to feed the meat grinder of middle eastern wars like Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and now the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. It's a different scale all together. Gotta pick our posions. Lot of money is concentrated in Dubai just like London, New York or Switzerland. But it's actually not too bad in comparison and there is a variety of lifestyles. For example - 1 bed London apartment in a centralish but not prime location is about £1.8k excluding bills. In Dubai for the same price you'd get amenities like concierge/reception, gym, parking - and with more space in a slightly more central location (10 min walk to the beach). A equivalent new build with all that in London would be £2.5k minimum. Then you add in that your income is tax free and you save all this money you would have otherwise paid in tax back home - you can just use a portion of that saving to be in Europe for the summer and avoid the Dubai heat at its worst. That's the ideal I think - enjoy old world charm of Europe, futuristic luxury of Dubai, spiritually grounded and raw nature in Thailand/Bali which is an easy flight form Dubai in the off season. Best of everything. Dubai isn't just flash though, it has really sick mountains and hikes, deserts camping/bbq's and activities.

Mainly Europeans have been trying to wipe Jews* off the map for centuries. Can’t wipe Israel when it didn’t exist. If referring to Jews in Middle East - yes , they faced discrimination (not mass elimination) but were largely a protected group rather than a persecuted one with pogroms like in Europe. Extremist stances today largely stem from occupation and dispossession, not racism and discrimination.

Leo prob gonna get Greta as a mod once she’s out. Western media made her persona non-Greta once she went for the jugular.

@Joshe True, perhaps those who aren't spiritually fulfilled and whole are all looking for adoration or to be seen - and seeking it through different means. Maybe there's a distinction between social dominance (energy) and mental dominance (entrepreneurship). Trump dominates people by instinct, Elon dominates problems by intellect. Elon has a vision, and will dominate his way to it as a builder, he's obsessive. Trump lacks one, except that he should be glorious, he is the vision - he sells himself whilst building nothing of real value. But Trump has a dominating energy that Elon doesn't, except that he has a dominating mindset. Trump walking into a room shifts the energy and pulls people in, Elon walks into a room and attracts people to his mind and ideas. Trump makes people feel (polarized for sure, good or bad), Elon makes people think. The combination of both is rare - true philosopher king types. Barack Obama came close, Putin also but much colder and suited to the Russian temperament. This isn't about us agreeing to their politics or philosophies (visions), only that they have substantive visions they've sold their people on, unlike Trumps more shallow one. Elon doesn't embody confidence - dominance like Trump. He's in his head with his mind racing about everything and the future, he's in the future and trying to build it. Compared to Trump who is present, just speaking his mind shamelessly with no tip of the tongue moments or awkwardness. Perhaps Elon didn't see that slap coming from Donny who's present while the he's star gazing: Both are dads but Trumps daddy coolio. See his two fingers on Elons elbow establishing dominance. To showcase dominant energy in even a short king, see Putin strut: Shawty smoother and more embodied than Elon jumping on stage.

Its's home as born and raised, relations and work here. Though moving Dubai soon - as are plenty from here. Nothing like London though - the city is electric, but quality of life has gone down and prospects aren't looking good. Dubai's not perfect but works for short-medium term: sun (productivity boost), taxes to stack cash, cosmopolitan (international), safe, proximity to Asia which I love. Got friends in HK/China I'll be travelling to more often from there - will send you propaganda postcards from China x European life still beats anywhere else on average. Your in Europe?

This is a great macro overview of BRICS place in the world, the shift in power taking place and where things are headed: Summarized notes from Chat GPT: - Traditional geopolitics fixates on nation-states and alliances. That’s the stage. We want the script. We analyze who has real power - states, corporations, asset managers, or networks. Real analysis demands we look beyond surface theatrics. - The Relative power index (RPI) was built to measure real, functional leverage. Not military parades or fake GDP, but authority, resilience, immunity, and dependence. Real power is the ability to shape outcomes without being shaped in return. - The US still has power, but it’s not for itself. It’s the enforcement arm of financialized capital. It’s not sovereign, it’s a host. Its true rulers are transnational owners of global capital. The US is being decommissioned by the very elites it once served. - BlackRock has more power over America than Congress does. BlackRock is a private sovereign. It controls capital, influences policy, and cannot be meaningfully retaliated against. - BRICS is rising, not just symbolically but functionally. Not just rhetorically but through structural dominance. BRICS will control inputs, withstand retaliation, and offer narrative legitimacy through partnership, not imperialism. - BRICS can't retaliate decisively against Blackrock, but controls what it needs - resources, labor, markets. BlackRock can’t function without BRICS, while BRICS can increasingly walk away. The system is shifting. Irrelevance is the defeat BlackRock will suffer. - By 2050, BRICS won’t be asking for validation - they will be the ones offering it. The Wests authority will be symbolic. The real world will be built elsewhere - among sovereign civilizations rooted in truth, partnership, and resilience. You don’t need to defeat empire. You just need to make it irrelevant.

It can be good to get a frame of reference to what it feels like to be socially loose - which then makes it easier to access that state. But the key is to not let it become a crutch to access that same state of looseness and confidence. Also can help bond with people as they feel your both becoming “vulnerable” together by having a drink. If it’s just the other person drinking and you’ve only just met them they may feel weird about it - unless you have the confidence and frame to make it a nothingburger. But alcohol sucks for health and if you have an addictive personality then it’s not worth even touching. There are work arounds if you don’t want to feel awkward at a bar without a drink - just get sparkling water/club soda with lime and it looks like a gin and tonic. You can also tell your date your already feeling good / buzzed from something else and don’t wanna ruin it with a drink - zynns, weed, or say you took a saffron supplement which is known to help with mood and vibes. Just has to be done confidently.

Political charisma is more emotional, in business it’s more logical where your respected for your mind rather than your aura. Musk is admired differently than Trump. Most people aren’t nerds or critical thinkers. Tech culture overestimates how much the average person values logic. You can have functional charisma to the point needed to lead teams or being likeable enough to work with, but that’s different to crowd commanding charisma that taps into more primal emotion of the masses. Musks kind of charisma doesn’t scale to the emotional needs of the crowd. Just think of Bill Gates - successful in business but hardly could be called charismatic in the same sense as Trump.

Musk engages the crowd more to belong rather than to command, which Trump excels at. Elon has no gravitas, composure or ''frame'' (PUA made that a cheesy word lol). He's reactive and sperges out when challenged and not validated - he seeks love whilst Trump seeks obedience. When Trumps asked tough questions by the crowd they just roll off his back, he mocks it, laughs it off or shuts it down and says next like its nothing. Elon would start fidgeting and cry about it on Twitter at night. He's not really a leader in that sense. He can lead teams (companies etc) but not crowds. Trump has a primal sense of the crowd, and command over it. He's probably honed that from his time in a place like New York where he learnt that projection of strength matters more than actual facts - which translates to his politics, where he has no care for policy nuance or whether his policies are good or not to begin with - just that he sells them well. In America especially - charisma trumps competence in politics, no pun intended. Elon is trying to be the politician when he's a technician - and should remain so. There can't be a Elonism, the way their is a Trumpism. The best he could do is get behind JD Vance who is more refined than Trump who is ageing out. Vance, Trump and Thiel in the background as usual could be a lethal force - with Vance as the face of that trio* They all have a history together. Elon can only ever provide political leverage in the form of platforms and owning the information space via X - the public square of populism. They can position for a technocratic populism rather than the mythic populism of Trump.

Thanks man, I have a mixed background European / Asian from UK. One side of my family are also Muslim, and am from London which is cosmopolitan so exposed to all walks of life. Also just have interest in making sense of it all. One thing I've notice is migrant communities in the UK/Europe often are closer to their heritage than the host nation they're born in - they maintain a lot more cultural and psychological connection to it. Compared to the US where they are much more Americanized and assimilated - they see themselves as American first. Even asking Americans where their 'actually' from comes across offensive to them sometimes. I think that's partly due to America's wave of immigration happening earlier so they're 3rd- 4th generation and assimilated by then, compared to Europe's wave after 1950's making them 1st-2nd gen today. For that reason when interacting with ethnic backgrounds in Europe you are exposed to a mindset a lot closer to their heritage nation, much more than in America. Beyond my own background which is between two worlds, I think that's helped. I agree with what Kbon mentions above ie complexity exists. I could include every nuance but I'd write too much and already feel I write too much but yeah, I simplified things and generalized to keep it brief. Community definitely isn't exclusive to the East - as all values in general aren't exclusive to any one group or region. It's just that the general center of gravity can be more oriented towards one or the other. There are other other factors that lead to shifts in orientation happening. Before the West was more centered around community, but then things started shifting due to the enlightenment, industrialization, capitalism, secularization, urbanization. Moving from agrarian rural society to big cities shifts the psyche, the introduction of the internet and social media are like gasoline on isolating us even more. Like Kbone mentions even in countries you have individuals who lean more conservative or liberal too. There are even parralel societies now within major cities - for example many migrants in Europe have tight knight communities despite living in a wider society who have become more estranged from each other. That might be out of a survivalist pressure to band together - but even having something like a Friday prayer at the Mosque that many muslims go to - maintains a sense of community. I saw Owen Cook actually mentioning this in a recent video where he said the Church almost used to function like a weekly get together to foster a sense of belonging and to ''increase your vibe''. There are certain elements from religion and tradition that had functional value, that is hard to find in the modern world.

@BlessedLion Terrible. That link worked for me earlier but now isn’t - maybe the tracker is being jammed. Apparently they are supposed to be approaching tonight. The fact there are some nationals from multiple Western countries makes it tricky for Israel as to what they do. It could have been a chance to revive their PR but looks like the opposite - imagine turning down aid thinking it’s aiding Hamas. They’re acting as if the flotilla is carrying a nuke to give to Hamas or something.

Ukraine's drone operation seems more of a stunt than a strategy. It a high risk gamble because it wasn't simply that military aircraft were taken out but strategic aircraft which make up Russia's nuclear triad - to establish nuclear deterrence with great rival powers such as the US. That puts Russia at existential risk - because if your deterrence breaks down it leaves you open for a pre-emptive strike. The US would rather not have another rival power with nuclear than have one to contend with - especially as they team up with China to tilt the balance of power. These bombers aren't meant to be used or operational, they simply exist as visible deterrence - with some flights taken here and there. Similar to how US naval ships and aircraft patrol the skies and seas - not to be used but to maintain deterrence. Ukraine may view this as a tactical win or morale boost, but its playing chicken with a nuclear power. Maybe their strategy is to invite a disproportionate response which would drag the West in - which is no strategy at all if it results in WW3. Russia hasn't even gone into full war mode as yet, they haven't used their most lethal missiles or established air dominance with round the clock air strikes.

Maybe I have understood each side and don't need to be eternally analytical of peripheral details. It may look like bias but its focus - honing in on the core issue of each conflict. For Russia-Ukraine its security logic, for Israel-Palestine its occupation and dispossession - as I've outlined above whilst being fair to include a positive version of Zionism exists, which most Palestinian supporters would be angry at me for. Israel claims to be acting out of security logic also - but that's as a symptom of occupation, which is the disease causing it. Its secondary, not primary or core to the conflict. What may look like double standards on the surface are the same standards applied to different contexts. It's about who created the insecurity and initiated the conditions. Once we've seen the root cause we're not obligated to stay in a loop of understanding both sides forever or all the details. I don't have to delve into Russian corruption, Ukrainian bio labs or Zelensky's wifes shopping spree in Paris. True, which is why I said cultural alignment can be a stepping stone to military alignment. That alignment is weaponized to be used as a bulwark as you said. Being different is not a problem, but being used as a tool against your neighbor is. Maybe North and South Korea are a good parallel to this. They’re like cousins - culturally linked, historically one people, now divided with their own distinctness. North Korea is nuclear armed and not aligned to the West, South Korea is democratic and Western aligned. Yet they’ve largely avoided full scale war for decades - because while South Korea is West aligned, it’s not being used as a springboard to directly challenge North Korea's survival in the same way Ukraine could be. Being different to your neighbor doesn't mean becoming a stepping stone for a larger game of geopolitics, where you become a pawn and a proxy to go against that other nation. That's what Ukraine is unfortunately.

Can't tell if your sarcastic with that Voldemort good vs evil example lol - as you were understanding Russia's position on the previous pages. Ukraine can be whoever they want to be and decide to be in terms of solidifying their identity - as long as they don't cause injustice to those they see as outside of the identity. That's no real threat to Russia in a security sense, only in pride - and if Russia were to be going to war for that reason its just pathetic. It's more of a cultural wound than a security crisis - more emotional than survival logic. The primary reason prompting Russia is Western alignment in the sense of a Western military force being on its border and within reach of Moscow. Ukraine aligning culturally with the West or to be their own thing can however be a stepping stone to something worse which is that if Ukraine aligns with the West and gains a Western level military force right on Russia’s border - that’s not a small issue for Russia. We’re talking about a military bloc that openly speaks about containing Russia, that Russia has had historic hostilities with to put it mildly, and with whom the world almost ended in nuclear annihilation once during the Cold War. And people don't understand the gravity or re-igniting that level of tension. @Kid A Understanding is not defending.

@Daniel Balan You think making fun of someone instead of critically thinking makes you look cool? I responded to you and purple together when I said read comment above. It’s not about size. Strategic proximity can be threatening regardless of size. Small countries like UAE or Oman could choke 1/5 of the worlds oil supply at the Sraight of Hormuz - that would threaten stability for nations much larger than them. Being big doesn’t make a nation immune to feeling cornered or threatened if they are done so strategically. If anything, Russia’s size makes it paranoid because it has that much more land and long borders to protect. Ukraine by itself isn’t threatening to Russia. It’s that greater powers have invaded Russia through it, through mainland Europe (Napoleon, Hitler etc). It wasn’t some tiny border country alone but a much larger force using that country as a corridor. Today that force would be US/NATO. US think tank talking of overextending Russia: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB10014.html Hmm Nordstream .. enjoy your high energy prices courtesy of the US. Enjoy beloved Europe being a vassal to the US - being a pawn in a larger geopolitical game. You could actually use some AI to help round out your understanding. And going by your twitter bio it seems your the one with a dark soul 😂 “Night Sky Lover - Black Metal - Dark Ambient Music” Also, stop smoking it’s bad for you.

Emotional memory of past hostilities can't be a main driver of policy, especially in a nuclear world with higher stakes. We can see how Palestinians feel - many want a one-state solution with all their land back. But that feeling can't and won't translate into state policy - because states operate with constraints, risks, and survival calculations. That brings me to the next point which is that survival trumps legality. I would love it if we lived in a world that stuck to laws and principles - but the reality of survival trumps the abstraction of laws inked on paper, like every time. That’s the real issue with Ukraine and NATO. It’s not about whether it’s “legal” for Ukraine to want to join - it’s how Russia perceives that move as a threat, especially with a history of invasions through that very terrain. If Romania can feel threatened due to past invasion, why can't Russia feel vulnerable about its weak spot? That's why Poland, Romania etc aren't really an issue to join NATO and why Ukraine in particular is the red line for Russia. It's best to not have two nuclear armed nations side to side, and to keep a buffer zone between them. Look at how tense things just got with India-Pakistan. And this isn't just two nations, its Russia bordering a Ukraine which would be part of a Western bloc via NATO - its a clash of civilizationz (Russo-Western) who've unfortunately had a hostile past with the whole cold war era. That cold war hangover still persists today affecting accurate assessment of the current reality. Maybe lets hold off on that until we become Bhuddas able to co-exist that close to each other - maybe then they can go Russian banyan together butt naked. Imagine if Britain started militarizing the border with Ireland - stacking up missile systems, positioning rockets in striking distance of Irish cities, and there was talk of making Britain great again like the old empire days. Even if they hadn’t violated a single treaty, what do you expect Ireland to do? Lets say there were also British think tank papers documenting how they want to 'encircle, contain and overextend' Ireland to bring it to its knees - making their intention clear as day. The US literally has think thank papers like this. So if this happened in the context of UK-Ireland, what should Ireland do? To remain legally pure they should just do nothing until a law on paper has been violated? In the UK, it's technically illegal in some cases to use excessive force against a burglar in your home. But if someone breaks into your house and you genuinely feel threatened, are you going to stop and think about the legals of breaking whats written with ink on paper or try not to have your blood on the floor instead? Survival trumps legality. Yeah - serious conversations about war and peace require one. How does your face look when you rage type comments in anger? Jokes aside brother - see comment above. And you guys should check out Jeffrey Sachs / Mearsheimer for an alternate view - not to excuse Russia but just to understand their actions.

Nothing fixed, but you did reveal the shadow side which is a helpful nuance. The Easts order turns to oppression (shadow), the Wests freedom turns to fragmentation. West: Individual → Freedom → Visibility → Expression → Spectacle. The political ideal is liberal democracy. West shadow: Atomized→ Impulsive→ Exhibitionism→ Shallow/Emptiness. The political extreme is anarchic libertarian. East: Community → Harmony → Discipline → Self-mastery → Sacred. The political ideal is a discern-ocracy (those of discernment lead) or wisely guided order. East shadow: Collectivism → Conformity → Centralized Authority → Norm rigidity. The political extreme is authoritarian traditionalism. Taliban is one extreme, Las Vegas is the other lol.

Nemra was assuming fear is the basis for every action taken - I just flipped it and rolled it into a question back to him to engage the mind (see his comment below). The Western mind often pathologizes Eastern discipline as fear - whilst that can be true, a lot of people are disciplined out of reverence, not fear. They take mastery over the self as a higher form of freedom than indulgence. They liberate themselves through the whole, whilst the West finds liberation through the self. There's a way to conserve something through liberation, just as there's a way to liberate something through conservation. Silence (being conserved) liberates the sound of music, the same way music (being free) preserves the silence. Songs are made of sound (expression) and silence (restraint). Just see Japanese culture, in particular the Samurai, do we think these people are being disciplined only from a place of fear? You assume modesty is something to overcome - how do you know that? What does need to be overcome is extreme conservatism, in order to come to a place of balance - which is now lost in the West who have gone too liberal, and are now facing a populist backlash for. The reason I talk from the Eastern perspective is more so because I know this forum is mostly Western/Liberal and would benefit from it - I understand the value in the Western orientation and the downsides of the Eastern one too. Dignity is performed in the West, whilst its protected in the East. The sacred aspects of life that hold meaning are seen as meaningful enough to be guarded in the East, whilst in the West they are seen as meaningful enough to be shared. The problem is both have extremes that end up ending meaning and dignity all together. In the East they protect something to the point they choke it off from the oxygen of life, in the West they expose it to the point all meaning is rusted by the elements or diluted entirely. Meaning is fragile. So it requires both exposure and protection - too much of either, and it collapses. If we wanted to simplify it even more we could say the West finds dignity in saying Yes to things (expression), the East finds dignity in saying No to things (protection). Obliviously there's also a spectrum. Why is it that we find complete nakedness (visibility - expression) not as beautiful or alluring as an elegant lady? Even just one step removed from nakedness, take the example of a stripper. Its called strip and tease - because whats teased is the guys ability to have full access - to touch and to see. And this gets guys to whip out wads of cash. Strippers play the Western game of visibility, but use modesty as a tool within that game. Humans instinctively equate access with value - what is hidden is protected, and what is protected is presumed valuable. This is why many find Arabesque belly dancers using veils or burlesque shows to be more alluring than simply being nude. That's why classically dressed women who are elegant exude femininity, by elevating the body instead of fully revealing it. Full concealment like in the niqab isn't alluring at all, because nothing is even shown to be valued - no soul or spirit is shown. It’s like looking at a rock, without a glimmer of gold. But the point with this is that it isn't Islamic - people conflate modesty (a value which protects that of value - women and sexuality) with erasure (an extreme). The same way liberalism can lead to hypersexualization.

Over 50 Muslim countries exist, most of which don’t resemble the Taliban in the slightest. In fact majority of muslims and muslim countries reject Taliban's practices which are either radical interpretations of Islam or not Islamic at all but cultural - but that then get conflated with Islam. Ijtihad is a principle in Islamic jurisprudence that allows Islam to be evolved and applied to different times. Even during the prophets life rulings changed in response to changing social situations. Islam isn't a monolith in how its manifested. @Nemra @Twentyfirst Regarding your guys discussion on modesty - we could flip it on its head and say: why do liberals fear modesty? (instead of Nemra asking why do muslims fear sexuality?). It's not really about fear to begin with really - liberals don't fear modesty, muslim's don't fear sexuality. The two just approach it from a different place. They have a different civilizational approaches toward sex, dignity, and self-respect. The use the same words, but live in different worlds in how they approach them. - In the West, the individual is at the center. The sacredness of the individual demands freedom of itself, which is expressed through visibility - visibility is equated with freedom, which is why expression becomes a virtue. The more exposed, the more liberated - visibility validates the sacredness of the self. The self finds liberation in and of it self, by itself - me, me, me. Boundaries are seen as chains because the concept of dignity is in the self having none. The West seeks to affirm the self outwardly. - In the East, the community is at the center. The sacredness of the whole demands harmony with it, which is expressed through restraint of the self - restraint is equated with harmony, which is why discipline becomes a virtue. The more restrained, the more harmonious - peace with the whole validates it's sacredness. The self finds liberation through the whole, because it's in accordance with something larger and higher than the self. Boundaries are seen as mastery of one self, for a greater self found in the whole - the concept of dignity is in self restraint. The East seeks to refine the self inwardly. We can see how those orientations have manifested in everything from politics to sex. In the West it's birthed a spectacle society - everything is more shallow because life is lived at the periphery acting, expressing the self, never sitting in the self being grounded. Its more performative, hence the activist culture, hustle culture, identity politics - about whats seen, visible. Identity isn't something to be cultivated internally but something to be displayed. Just look at how Trump and Elon had a spat made public. Imagine a grown ass man, tweeting some dirty laundry of another grown ass man - this is seen as undignified and juvenile from a eastern perspective. In the East, issues are handled discreetly behind doors and face to face. Even at a macro political level state to state - the West demands you pick sides and cut ties with their ''adversaries'' publicly. They ask Muslim countries if they condemn China's actions towards Uyghurs - to which many Muslims nations reply, we are partners with China and handle this sensitive issue with our parnet in private. Even with Israel - Palestine: people were always asked to publicly condemn Hamas's actions on October 7th - which is an insult to even ask such a question, to even think that person would agree with such actions. But its all for show you see. Even diet and spirituality - one must be identified with a sub-group and express this always, hence the meme about vegans not waiting long before telling everyone they are one lol. West: Individual → Freedom → Visibility → Expression → Spectacle East: Community → Harmony → Discipline → Self-mastery → Sacred Easterners generally don't splinter into endless identity subgroups because at a deep civilizational level, they don’t experience the self as an isolated, floating island. They're anchored within a web of meaning towards something larger than the self: family, tradition, faith etc. That larger context gives the self structure, continuity, and belonging. They don't need to find it elsewhere in such and such group or identity, because they are already anchored into one.

you’re pulling from 300 years of history to justify eternal fear and hostility toward modern day Russia. Back then was the era of empires where conquest and constantly shifting borders was the norm, and the norms of modern day borders and international law didn’t exist. Romania happens to be caught between a few of empires (Ottoman, Hapsburg, Russian) due to its location and flat land terrain making it easier to penetrate. But we're not in that century any more and now have international law, nuclear deterrence, global institutions, and much more rigid borders. Russia today isn't the Soviet Union trying to conquer Europe. If past invasions justify eternal distrust of Russia, then shouldn’t the rest of the world be just as eternally distrustful of the West who colonized the planet? Ireland was invaded 8 times by Britain - should Ireland always paint Britain as a boogeyman and treat it as if its like the British empire from the old days? Or does it relate to it as it exists in the modern day which isn't an empire or trying to be one? If you're going to use those 300 years of history to define Russia now, then by the same logic, we should live in eternal fear of the West. We don’t do that because we judge a situation based on context and present day reality which is that Russia today isn’t an expanding empire with a demographic surplus - it’s a stagnant/declining power reacting to what it sees as a threat on its doorstep - just like how the Cuban missile crisis was reacted to by the US. It;s not about defending Russia. You can’t apply 300 years of fear selectively. Either we all live in the past, or we try to deal with the world as it actually is. You're too emotional for geopolitics.

Was supposed to be one comment but added the below tweet separately by mistake* People will still say other people are unfairly harsh when criticising the US and why don’t they criticise other bad things in the world lol something called priority and being efficient with your time by honing in on the worlds largest imperial offender and sower of chaos.

Imagine complaining about radicals at your gates, then funding the very same radicals. lol