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You're just throwing out a grab bag of complaints. America can be very democratic and aggressive. Bhutan can be autocratic and insular. Russia can be autocra

You're just throwing out a grab bag of complaints. America can be very democratic and aggressive. Bhutan can be autocratic and insular. Russia can be autocratic and (selectively) militaristic. Russia has joke democratic credentials. You're a pawn or a fool if you think otherwise. Admitting the us is a more functional democracy doesn't stop you from disagreeing with our foreign policy.

coldtea 10y ago
I'll admit that the US is a more functional democracy, but that's mostly because it doesn't matter who gets in the office. Talk about "fetishism of small differences". Both parties are more alike than different, except in small ways just enough for each to capture its kind of people. Of course "a more functional democracy" whose two major candidates in 2016 are Trump and Hillary, and who had Bush Jr. serving 2 terms is a joke in itself, but still. Most of the complaints about Russian elections are from organizations working "Radio Free Europe" style -- "soft power" sponsored attacks to delegitimize a country and help install friendly lackeys like that Yeltsin figure in its early days. This has been going for over 2 centuries all around the world, so it's not really news. Are there are actual issues with Russian internal politics / elections etc? Sure. But not something anybody outside of Russia should even care about. Whereas the caprices and "strategic interests" of other countries can exploit or completely fuck up every country in the whole world.
- Spooky23 10y ago
  So you think there was little or no difference between the Clinton administration and Bush 2 with respect to foreign policy? Most people agree on most things. Politicians are marketers who arbitrage differences to get elected.
- TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
  You got some down votes for this comment and you deleted that other comment because it got down voted too. But I, at least, strongly agree with you. Like PJ O'Rourke said: America has one political party, and like everything in America it has two of them. The fact that the US has two political parties is merely an exercise in excess, demonstration of waste. Whoever gets in will continue to authorise extra-judicial drone killings, CIA meddling in others affairs, both internally and eternally, and generally fuck-over the average American.
  - coldtea 10y ago
    >You got some down votes for this comment and you deleted that other comment because it got down voted too. I deleted it because I thought I was carried away and left too many comments in the thread, so left the main ones who get the same point across once (didn't want to trigger any itchy moderation). On the rest, yes, that's the case.
- makomk 10y ago
  Most of the complaints about Russian elections are due to them being rather severely rigged. Like, election officials getting caught on camera stuffing ballot boxes, regions with more votes than ballots, that kind of thing. At this point Russia seems to be the standard test used in papers about statistical methods for voter fraud detection. And that's not even getting into what happened to all the independent media and anyone who challenges the political status quo.

coldtea 10y ago

I'll admit that the US is a more functional democracy, but that's mostly because it doesn't matter who gets in the office. Talk about "fetishism of small differences". Both parties are more alike than different, except in small ways just enough for each to capture its kind of people. Of course "a more functional democracy" whose two major candidates in 2016 are Trump and Hillary, and who had Bush Jr. serving 2 terms is a joke in itself, but still. Most of the complaints about Russian elections are from organizations working "Radio Free Europe" style -- "soft power" sponsored attacks to delegitimize a country and help install friendly lackeys like that Yeltsin figure in its early days. This has been going for over 2 centuries all around the world, so it's not really news. Are there are actual issues with Russian internal politics / elections etc? Sure. But not something anybody outside of Russia should even care about. Whereas the caprices and "strategic interests" of other countries can exploit or completely fuck up every country in the whole world.

Spooky23 10y ago
So you think there was little or no difference between the Clinton administration and Bush 2 with respect to foreign policy? Most people agree on most things. Politicians are marketers who arbitrage differences to get elected.
TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
You got some down votes for this comment and you deleted that other comment because it got down voted too. But I, at least, strongly agree with you. Like PJ O'Rourke said: America has one political party, and like everything in America it has two of them. The fact that the US has two political parties is merely an exercise in excess, demonstration of waste. Whoever gets in will continue to authorise extra-judicial drone killings, CIA meddling in others affairs, both internally and eternally, and generally fuck-over the average American.
- coldtea 10y ago
  >You got some down votes for this comment and you deleted that other comment because it got down voted too. I deleted it because I thought I was carried away and left too many comments in the thread, so left the main ones who get the same point across once (didn't want to trigger any itchy moderation). On the rest, yes, that's the case.
makomk 10y ago
Most of the complaints about Russian elections are due to them being rather severely rigged. Like, election officials getting caught on camera stuffing ballot boxes, regions with more votes than ballots, that kind of thing. At this point Russia seems to be the standard test used in papers about statistical methods for voter fraud detection. And that's not even getting into what happened to all the independent media and anyone who challenges the political status quo.