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by dr_hooo 1462 days ago
Let's not pretend that Russia got kicked out due to their less than ideal stance on gay rights, freedom of the press or straight up murders of dissidents in foreign countries. Mounting a full on invasion of a neighboring country is not the same.
1 comments

Indirectly they did. Let's consider this hypothetical case: Russia as fully established democracy with all individual freemdoms anyone can think of. Then Russia invades Ukraine, e.g. to fight corruption there, or for the rights of minorities. In that case, would Ukrain fight back the same they do in reality? Large part of their motivation is not to end up in the non-free Russian system. But what if the agressor does not intend to remove freedom? Without significant resistance, the west would not have had time to react to support. Media would not help people to form an oppinion that support is needed. It would be over quickly, soon forgotten like Crimea, and Russia not kicked out if swift.

Therefore, Russia got kicked out of swift due to lack of democracy, human rights etc. Of corse they needed to start a war, too, but neither war nor lack of freedoms alone would not have been sufficient.

> But what if the agressor does not intend to remove freedom?

If you invade another country this is not the tone you will be setting.

> Russia got kicked out of swift due to lack of democracy, human rights etc.

Russia got kicked out of Swift because the US believed it would make them capitulate. Now it's just another diplomatic disaster in a long, long line of disasters perpetrated by the US. Therefore, I must conclude Russia got kicked out of Swift because the US did not like them and had (to them) good pretext to do so.