Yes see that's what I'm talking about is the double standard or the assumption that we make that everything the US and NATO does is justified, and everything that Russia does is not. And the assumptions are all based on oversimplifications and cherry-picked details of history, when really, it's much more complicated than that. You failed to mention Sweden, why? Sweden isn't in NATO and they are doing just fine. You also didn't include many countries in South/Central America which the US is allied with. America's neighbour Mexico isn't exactly perfect? Ukraines' problems were almost entirely a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union. The lack of inclusion of these details are what boggles my mind. I'm trying to push tribal views aside, Harper is not my God Emporer. I just think it's wierd that Russia gets all the bad press when they are top 3 militarily, top 10 economically, they are a developed country, they share much the same moral views with the west, they go to space and play hockey for Christ sake. They were the the real MVP's of WW2. But if there's something negative we can find about them, you can guarantee it will get a whole lotta news coverage. I think it's just all silly Tribalism. Furthermore, it's hard for me to hate on a country for having problems when we (NATO) actively try to create such problems to delegitimize governments. Many countries don't just collapse on their own weight, they collapse because other countries actively push them to as well. Like we push countries to fail, and then we blame them for it. If Russia invaded Libya, Iraq, Afganistan, Syria, and Saudi Arabia over oil control, we'd be having a shit fit. I guess I just don't see any clear moral high ground on either side, despite being a proud Canadian.