[stephen_g]

I mean, the US is also sort of responsible for what happened in Russia too, with the oligarch class being born out of the 'shock therapy' that US-based institutions and economists pushed for...

Russia might be a much more democratic place today if not for the massive economic problems that caused...

[_DeadFred_]

US experts also came up with the voucher system that allowed Oligarchs to buy everything up.

[ctrlp]

That is true and also deliberate US policy to ensure there would never be a strong Russia again. Russia has always loomed large over Europe since probably the Huns. There have been times when the Russian state was Europhilic (e.g., Peter the Great or when the language of the Russian court was French). And times when the Slavic and Eastern impulses have reigned. The claims that Putin is trying to rebuild the Soviet Empire is probably mostly propaganda. But something can be literally false, but spiritually true. Given its geographic perch across Eurasia, Russia's spiritual destiny may demand Empire or Death. It's an open question whether the Russian Federation can accept a subordinate role on the world stage. They will likely continue to aspire to being a sovereign pole in proposed multipolar world order.

[_DeadFred_]

"The claims that Putin is trying to rebuild the Soviet Empire is probably mostly propaganda" is correct by Putin's own he words. He just wants control of everywhere in the ex-Soviet where Russian speakers live.

[ctrlp]

Russian speakers live everywhere. Russian majority states are a smaller set than the old USSR.