I saw on the news that a Russian journalist and lawyer named Alexei Navalny had been killed in prison while serving a sentence. He was a fierce opponent of Vladamir Putin, allegedly. I also saw on the news President Biden making an angry statement concerning Mr Navalny. I thought to myself, "Since when does an American President care so much about what goes on with Russian journalists?" Is this going to escalate into a war with Russia? A real war, not a proxy war?
Certain special interests that have an alarmingly high degree of influence within our govt certainly want a big war with Russia. We The People mostly don't, but that counts for less and less these days. The real problem is that we have enough people who, while opposed to having a big war with Russia, also think we have a right to interfere with Russia and badger them into adopting more 'western' ideals of liberalism, democracy, etc. As we've seen in other places, like the ME, pushing this sort of stuff where it isn't wanted does tend to lead to war, as it has in Ukraine, and we've been doing it long and often enough to other nations as well that Russia has no lack of supporters in its resistance to what we might call 'the western world order.' There is certainly a danger of a far bigger war if we continue to treat with Russia as we have with Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria, etc.
The murder of Navalny is not going to escalate into a war with Russia. Putin has been murdering his opponents and critics for decades. This is nothing new.
I do believe that this war with Russia can be delayed another ten years...... I do believe that it will happen but..... I believe that Biden will soon be impeached and / or indicted.... Trump will be back..... and Putin will back down just like Iran backed down once President Ronald Reagan took over from Jimmy Carter!
If Putin gets what he wants in Ukraine, the answer is probably yes. When Putin attacks a NATO nation, that will be a crisis.
The US is responsible for Julian Assange being holed up in the Ecuadorian then held in prison. If he dies in prison or just loses most of his life in prison, how are we any better than Putin in that regard?
Most of the people I've met who hate Russia, and a good number I've heard of, do so for the evil done by Stalin back in WW2. I know people hate to feel they are wrong or have to update opinions, people whose parents voted blue or red like to just continue doing the same, and can by cherry picking (cognitive fluency) continue believing themselves right about every decision. But 1. The USSR no longer exists. Russia contains only 50% of the population of the former USSR, and not the worst 50% either. 2. Russia has been through a lot of changes, particularly 1991-1999 when it had the US chosen government of Yeltsin. 3. The US has also changed a lot since the end of WW2.
