SadArtemis

On one hand, yes. On the other hand, the overwhelming majority of people especially in the west do not start off progressive (at most some shallow facade of it), and their surroundings are inherently deeply regressive and reactionary.

She can and has to learn such basic decency and boundaries/moral or ethical convictions of her own accord, and that's a work in progress that takes time to figure out. Her environment and upbringing certainly isn't going to give it to her, rather the opposite...

I'm not giving her or anyone else a pass for being "fine with reactonaryism" (if this is the cause, which- well yeah, probably on some level). But understanding that it's a process of learning to be better, especially when living in the rotten core of all modern reactonaryism and evil, is just reality.

I dunno about you, but I'm resting pretty comfy with the knowledge China has these; as I see it the only downside is that chances are, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Yemen, and even the Palestinians and whoever else in the global south might desire them, does not also have them.

By all means, if the west truly cannot accept coexistence even with the promise of MAD hanging over their heads, and if they truly push things to WW3, then their slate (of "civilization," if unparalleled brutality and greed can be called that) should be wiped clean if you ask me. Such is deterrence, but frankly as someone living in the west it may as well also be considered a mercy, over leaving the survivors at the mercy (or complete lack thereof) of an unchecked western capitalist hegemony.

IDK, if you ask me, anyone who has the means ($ and/or skillset) could easily live affordably and with a higher standard of living in Russia (including in regards to safety) compared to much of the US. When you measure by actual purchasing power parity (PPP) Russia is 4th largest in the world, in terms of actual wealth (infrastructure, production, resources) rather than capital and in particular rather than hyperfinancialized speculation like is rampant across the west, the fact is that Russia is actually pretty decent as far as things go, and hilariously they've started further re-industrializing and investing in their country (and not just for the "war economy") thanks to the sanctions and blatant theft of their assets. I suppose if someone wants specifically "McDonalds" brand McDonalds and all the other western treats™, it might be unavailable, cost a little more, and/or require jumping through a few hoops (though domestic Russian industry, Chinese, and other BRICS brands are happily taking their place).

Honestly, it's pretty interesting, and the western dismissal of Russia and assumptions that things are dismal like as if it's back in the days of shock therapy is pretty similar to the dismissal of China and some other global south countries IMO (particularly in regards to the actual wealth/quality of life clearly experienced).

To be fair, it is pretty funny that the self-styled "Kekius Maximus" is basically POTUS and running the US govt to the ground. Delicious delicious schadenfreude, even if I go down with the ship at least the fall of the empire will not be dignified. Hopefully the (memory of the) burger imperium is clowned on for thousands of years to come.

Kekius_Maximus

Oh god, it gets worse than I already knew

Honestly can't claim I'd not at least consider it. "Haha look at this rich fuck's McMansion burning down, ayy"

Are we going to pretend that imperialism only exists in this specific and convenient definition that you make and did not exist before industrialization and the financialization of economies, or that the Russian entry into this war was for "imperialist" reasons or that Russia is exploiting its new territories (which have always had indigenous Russians as the main population base) in the model (of "expanding markets and abusing cheap resources/labor") you describe, rather than painstakingly taking effort to integrate and develop the regions that Ukraine and the collective west has been shelling for a decade?

There is a clear difference between the imperialist warmongering of the western nations, and this war of defense by Russia, capitalist as it may be- a war to defend their country from being further encircled, threatened, and carved up, and to protect the legitimate human rights of the indigenous Russo-Ukranians. The entire majority of the world can see it, but somehow you- by the looks of your recent comment history, a Spaniard (white west European, whose imperialist heyday it should be noted fell outside of the definitions of imperialism as you describe it) conveniently do not. I'd recommend taking a look at your own biases, because you're clearly Euro-brained and it's not a good look.

Even if his reasons are probably/definitely far from perfect, unintentionally based.