By no means am I an expert on Russia related matters but scouring the comment sections on various news outlets and blogs alike seems to point to the fact that a lot of people out there believe that they are. Though a vast majority of them though could not be further off the mark. What makes me think I can make such assertion you might wonder. Well, having been born in a former USSR, growing up learning russian in school, being exposed to russian culture on a daily basis and consuming information that has been heavily censured gives me some insights that most americans can’t possibly possess and/or use to protect themselves against the dangers from a nation which invests heavily in military that yields its mighty hammer against its former territories in a quest to regain full control over them from now until eternity. Well, that was long winded but when it comes to russia everything is.

Think of Russia as the ultimate shit stirrer. They’ve written the book on propaganda, misinformation, destabilizing world leaders, to name a few. Under no circumstances, do not underestimate the efficacy of its strategies. For every plan A they’ve got a B and C and a few more other letters down the alphabet, they are prepared to take anyone down and very little if any at all will stand in their way to re-establish the former glory of the USSR whatever it takes. Russia has the same ambitions as many other countries, world dominance, unlike other countries though, it has no low it won’t stoop to, they’ll pay whatever price when they’re not the ones who are actually doing the paying.

Human rights activists, journalists, political opponents and anyone with something critical to say about the leaders of russian political class have a tendency to disappear. They even have a saying, loosely translated it says “no body, no problem”. The whole concept where you can’t prove your case when you don’t have a body to examine, they got it down to a t. To many regular citizens this is absolutely normal. Make sure you’re white, straight, preferably male, with a steady 9 to 5 job, quiet enough to go through life and you should be fine. In some ways I both feel an incredible amount of sadness for the russian citizens that are forced to live inside this bubble where many aspects of life have been preset far in advance with very little wiggle room. But at the same time just like their leaders, they should be held somewhat responsible for upholding and encouraging the ambitions of the leaders they lend their support for.

What baffles and upsets many of us is the failure of american politicians to understand, condemn or even take any significant measures to counter constant destabilizing efforts that so far, at least in my humble opinion have been extremely successful with the unwitting help provided by a plethora of social media platforms. Various groups ranging from the lgbtq community to the black community have been relentlessly targeted with surgical precision to pit certain groups against each other upping the paranoia, the fear, extreme dislike of each other. Another popular russian say is, while two are fighting the third one will always win. Anyone wants to take a wild stab at who’s fighting amongst themselves and who’s winning?

Understand the dangers and respond accordingly. Elect leaders that will hold them at bay, search for the ones who are willing to stand up to its mercenaries, demand bold actions that so far, again in my humble opinion have been seen during the Biden administration and the Obama administration. During the former guy administration restrictions were lifted and allowed them expand and aggressively move forward with their plans to take over the world through whatever means necessary. While I suggest you do not underestimate the russian strength and vigor I would also suggest to not underestimate the power the United States Congress and its president can yield against rogue nations. Under no conceivable circumstances a united front that we are currently witnessing could have been possible under the previous administration where nations such as France, Germany, Canada have pleaded the case against a russian invasion of the Ukraine and should it happen swift and severe response will be implemented with crippling economic restrictions among few but very effective measures. More than world dominance, the russian political class and russian oligarchs which quite often happen to be one and the same, love their money and influence which would be rendered useless under a new world order where Ukraine no longer exists in its sovereign and independent form.