They all suffer from acute Russian Anxiety. This text should be studied by all 2nd level Irish students. Or at least listened to on Audible
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Paywalled
Its well worth a read/listen. The Russiaphobes haven’t a leg to stand on
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Vlad refusing to take the Sputnik vaccine.
He is a nabsolute card 
Great to see President Putin not to turn his vaccine shot into a piece of propaganda.
Real leadership.
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Vaccines are for the weak and those who need to follow directions.
Vlad don’t follow
To paraphrase Walter White- Vlad is the direction
What makes the Russians so subservient?
The fact the imprison, poison or disappear any opposition?
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The Russians love to have a Tsar. A strongman.
Russia has no history of a successful democracy. The brief flirtation in the 90’s was a disaster for them. A lot of them would feel that Vlad while not ideal, is far from the worst case scenario. They generally have a lot of freedoms etc. (while obviously not in some areas). Better the devil you know
If he can’t wrestle a bear he’s at nothing
He can box the ears off a rabbit.
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Would he best Champ Martin?
Your average Russian is far better off under Vlad than they ever were before
The economy has grown rapidly since he took over. Standard of living is at its highest point in Russian history, by far. Whenever they had Yeltsin the country was being run by the mafia - local police, everything.
The whole country is corrupt. Everyone is in on it, Putin is just the tip of the iceberg that they’re all part of. They’re not democrats, they’re extreme nationalists and want a strong leader.
They’re also wildly homophobic. Those people protesting against Putin are seen as faggy Westerners. Real men get their hands dirty, literally and morally. A huge number of the educated, liberal-minded young people in St Petersburg and elsewhere emigrate because they hate it so much.
They also still quite like Stalin. Stalin was a man who got the job done and Russia was strong back then.
Also, anyone in the past 30 years who had any interest in self-advancement, even in the civil service or whatever, supported Putin so that’s now the whole of society.
On my last visit to Moscow several years ago, a drunken cabdriver from a distant province drove me through the city, nearly weeping because, he said, he was unable to feed his family. “I want to emigrate to the States,” he said. “I can’t live like this.”
“You should try Canada,” I suggested to him. “Their immigration policies are very generous.”
He mock-spit on the floor, as he nearly careened into the sidewalk. “Canada? Never! I could only live in a superpower!”
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No coincidence the worlds greatest nation has the worlds greatest anthem 
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