The trusty "Trump doesn't want to scold/insult/embarrass Russia" excuse doesn't wash either because Trump doesn't hesitate to scold/insult/embarrass everyone else.
What is it? Why does Trump always consider Russia and the US as morally/ethically equitable?
For everyone's information:
Putin, who has ruled Russia since 2000, has created a regime under which his opponents are murdered; political prisoners are sent to Siberia for decades behind bars; minority rights are suppressed; opposition is quashed; foreign territory is forcefully annexed; and Syria’s bloodthirsty president, Bashar Assad, enjoys direct military support for his massacres.
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of examples of Putin’s abusive rule in Russia.
Murdering enemies
The list of people suspected murdered on orders from the Russian leader or people close to him is long. It includes several of Putin’s early critics (paywall), among them liberal politician Boris Nemtsov, investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, and exiled former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. A UK government report showed that Litvinenko’s death—he was poisoned using polonium in London—while was “probably” approved by Putin.
Both Politkovskaya and Litvinenko had tried to investigate a series of bombings in 1999, when Putin was prime minister, that killed some 300 people in four Russian cities. The authorities blamed the bombings on Chechen rebels and used them as a pretext to unleash a war on Chechnya, but there are strong suspicions 1 that they were a “false-flag” attack by Russia’s own own security services.
When confronted with Putin’s record of killings on a TV show last year, Trump answered, “Well, I think that our country does plenty of killing, too, Joe.” He added, “I’ve always felt fine about Putin. He’s a strong leader. He’s a powerful leader.”
Imprisoning dissenters
According to a list from Russian human-rights group Memorial, there are now 102 people held in Russian prisons for their political beliefs. In this, Putin’s Russia is continuing Tsarist and Soviet traditions: Political dissenters are still being sent to Siberia or to work camps as in Stalinist days. Famous past prisoners have included oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, feminist punk collective ***** Riot, and Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko. Still confined is Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, who was sentenced to 20 years in a strict penal colony in Siberia on trumped-up terrorism charges. 2
Occupying foreign territory
Sentsov is one of at least 10 Ukrainian nationals serving long sentences in Russia who were arrested after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and started sponsoring rebels in eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin-backed protracted conflict, Europe’s “forgotten war,” is is in its third year, and has claimed nearly 10,000 lives.
On Dec. 14, German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president François Hollande said that they favored continuing sanctions on Russia, after the peace talks on Ukraine failed to produce tangible results. However, a day earlier, Trump’s chief-of-staff pick, Reince Priebus, said he would not rule out lifting US sanctions on Russia.
Quashing opposition
Uses the corrupt to convict opponents of embezzlement or tax fraud, to straightforward police intimidation, as well as murder. Prominent opponents have been forced into silence or exile.
Putin’s biggest challenger right now is Alexei Navalny, a lawyer and anti-corruption activist who announced on Dec. 13 that he would run for president in 2018. He has faced several criminal charges and received a suspended sentence for embezzlement, overturned after international outcry. He is due for a re-trial, however, and if found guilty, won’t be able to run for office. His brother Oleg is in prison after being sentenced in the same trial.
Masha Gessen pointed out in The New Yorker that Trump’s threat to imprison Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign was reminiscent of how political opponents are most often silenced in Russia: not through outlawing them, but “abusing or misusing criminal laws.”
Abetting some of the world’s worst bloodshed
Seeking to gain influence, in the Middle East, Putin has supported the murderous regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, in what has become the deadliest war of the 21st century so far. Russia’s military help has been priceless to Assad.
In the recent siege and recapture of Aleppo by Assad and his allies, reports from the ground indicated Syrian forces were slaughtering civilian families. US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said that Russia bears responsibility for the carnage along with the Assad regime and Iran: “Is there literally nothing that can shame you?,” she asked.
Meanwhile, according to an interview released by the Syrian government, Assad is hopeful about the next US administration. He called Donald Trump a “natural ally.”
Is this also fake news?
