Just to be clear about my position: Putin is an authoritarian dictator, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was as much about "defending innocent Russians in Ukraine" as Hitler's invasion of Poland was about defending Germans. There's no originality here. The so-called "special operation in Ukraine" is straight out of Himmler’s propaganda playbook: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Himmler
The real reasons for the invasion are basically to prevent Ukraine from joining the EU (which inevitably raises the NATO-at-Russia’s-border question) and to avoid setting the "wrong" example for other Eastern European countries under Russian influence. As a bonus, Russia also gets to annex regions rich in rare earth minerals, which are now highly valuable (US primary interest in the region).
In my view, any trade or future relations with Russia should be conditional on Putin being removed from power and not simply replaced by one of his cronies. Otherwise, it would be the same as the US replacing Trump with one of the tech billionaires that put him in power.
So, long story short: disliking the US’s rising authoritarian regime doesn’t mean I have any love for Russia’s current dictator. Just as Americans deserve better than Trump, Russians deserve better than Putin.
As much as I hate being Captain Obvious, the majority of the Americans either did vote for a convicted felon, a court adjudicated rapist and the dumbest person to ever run for POTUS or stayed home because they couldn't vote for a black woman.
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