Russia is not a democracy. I was reading something the other day that claimed that only one election they ever held was actually a fair and free election, but even if it’s more than that, it’s not now. I would call it a dictatorship when there is a leader (dictator) who takes power and will not let go. Since he got…

So which defense do you think they’ll use to try to defend this one? “Do you know how dangerous it is for police?” is a classic, but it doesn’t seem to fit here. I’m guessing they’ll just sling dirt at the victim. That always seems to work. Cops brutalize or murder some innocent, but they find an arrest for a minor…

Give me another option. If there are an infinite number, give me one. I’ve asked again and again, and you haven’t said anything yet. Really, the only nicer option we have that anyone is considering is sanctions that aren’t meant to topple the government, just hurt the country.

Again, France says they can’t prove it, but they do not doubt it was Russia. And the US has stronger cyber warfare and security capabilities than France, so when two top officials testified under oath to Congress that Russia did it, I tend to believe them. You’re arguing they didn’t do it based on one statement by the…

Russia is absolutely a dictatorship, and far more so than the US. They were making real strides towards freedom at the end of the Soviet Union and the years after. However, since Putin has come in, their elections are no longer legitimate, and he has cracked down on the press. The man kills reporters and political…

There is evidence here, though. The intelligence community agrees about this. And the US Cyber Command commander (not sure why a title would put “commander” after “Command”) Admiral Michael Rogers testified to Congress that they saw Russia attacking French computer systems in an effort to mess with the election.

Yeah, the US often does absolutely shitty things. Russia does worse things. We are effectively the leader of the globe right now. That is better than if it is Russia or China, who are the two who would vie for power if we lost the position. We sometimes befriend dictators when it is in our interest. Both of those…

I said this to someone else, but there is a huge difference between us openly punishing them for a crime they’ve committed and the crime they’ve committed. They hacked one our political parties to release damaging information in order to alter the results of the election, and that’s in addition to the “1000 trolls”…

Well, this isn’t actually case of sanctions, per se, but the Soviet Union did fall largely due to not trading with other nations. That was self imposed. They had an internal economy that rarely interacted with the outside world. Forcing the Russians back into a system like that would destabilize the regime. Whether or…

So, Russia tries to topple our government and our response is nothing? That seems mad to me.

Bullshit. We’ve done bad shit, but we are on the right side in this. Russia is against democracy in general. We are sometimes against democracies when it’s in our interest. Neither of those is a particularly moral position, but ours is better. And having us at the top of the hill is better than having Russia or China…

I honestly don’t know what Macron has said publicly, but if you look at the analysis of our intelligence agencies as well as European intelligence agencies and private security analysts, pretty much everyone agrees that Putin was actively working against Macron.

Putin’s government is weak. Sanctions to isolate or outright topple countries. And his regime is pretty oppressive, violently so at times. An argument could be made that the bad outcome in the short term can lead to a better outcome in the long term.

I do think there is a difference between refusing to trade with someone, openly and justly, because of their bad actions and secretly subverting their democracy. The first one is justice in response to the second.

Our torture program was terrible, but it wasn’t an existential threat to another country, or for that matter, the entire world order. The US has kind of a prominent role in the world. If you topple us, that’s going to do a lot of damage.

That’s true, but so what? Yeah, we are a threat to other countries when we do that, and they should treat us as such. And Russia is a threat to us. In fact, that’s only more evidence that we should take this seriously. We’ve toppled whole governments. Do we want our government toppled by Russia?

They are too dangerous. They messed with our election, and likely actually changed the result. That is dangerous. At the very least, they undermined our entire democracy. And they are still doing it.

Again, I just doubt that would happen. It’s hard to start a war when your country is collapsing. The kind of collapse we’re talking about would lead to the government just not having money to do these types of things. The currency would collapse, and suddenly the billions of rubles they have would be worth next to…

It’s possible, but I doubt it. They accept that the Russians tried to stop Macron from being elected and are currently working against Angela Merkel. Plus, everyone in the United States accepts it accept for the guy Putin got elected and his hardcore supporters. Even the Republican party accepts it happened.

You’re right that they won’t, but that’s because both sides don’t mess with it. If they invade, they know that they are at war with all of the other NATO nations, including us. That is a nuclear war, even if no one drops one, because it will be nuclear powers at war with the constant threat that one is going to drop.