I'm obviously not saying they are the same. I'd still take the american system 100% of the time, no hesitation. My point is that said system becomes much more s

I'm obviously not saying they are the same. I'd still take the american system 100% of the time, no hesitation. My point is that said system becomes much more similar to say, the Kremlin when it comes to foreign wars since they both basically have full support at home so democracy isn't especially relevant. Sure, that support then dies down usually but Americans and Russians seem to have a history of supporting wars with no hesitation. That makes the usual massive advantages of an American system based on separation of powers much less important. So my point is that at the end of the day, for the people on the receiving end of those wars, they don't really see the difference and aren't protected by an American style system. If anything, it gives the veneer of "good intentions", whereas the Russian Kremlin doesn't. So it makes stuff like Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, wars based on lies etc go unpunished. No one sanctions the US for example.