Russia Bad, USA Good?

A friend of mine, who thinks a little bit differently than I do, expressed a certain admiration for Vladimir Putin. I responded rather rudely.

But it set me thinking… Contrast Putin’s Russia with the US under Obama and George W.

Putin uses assassination, I am also sure the Russians use harsh interrogation methods, put people in prison unfairly or without trial and they probably spy on their own people. There are also doubts over the veracity of Russian electoral results. They also invade other countries for reasons the rest of the world is sceptical of.

Putin is evil, but what about the USA?

Under the last two administrations, the US has used assassination, locked people up without trial, spied on their own people, invaded other countries to protect their “national interests” and they use torture. In the US there are no limits to the budget that people can use to fuel their election campaigns.

Large corporations and billionaires are able to ensure the people they want are in power. This is a problem because the people that fund election campaigns wish to get a return on their investment. If American politicians don’t do right by their benefactors they won’t have any chance of winning the next election. For this reason I don’t really consider the United States a true democracy. An elite group have enormous amounts of power while ordinary people don’t have any. There is also one law for the rich and another for the poor, just look at what those criminals on Wall Street got away with.

Russia and the USA sound pretty similar to me. Good and bad are relative, apparently.