My allies in Europe? You do know that I am Dutch? Right? Literally says so at every post I make.
And the US and most EU countries have a democracy that is far far far far far superior to that in the semi dictatorship that is Russia.
And having a semi dictator as a leader does not make you a democracy and Russian leader Putin is about as close to a dictator as a semi-democratic country is able to have.
Where in my post does it matter if you are Dutch or German or US or Canadian? The same is true regardless, and generally speaking. Where you are from is irrelevant, but I get it, you want to make a big point out of it, even it it is irrelevant. Very classical debate technique.
Nah, no European country aside from Switzerland has democracy. You know why? Because you don't know what democracy means, most people don't. And among our countries, the US is not even comparable to the state in Scandinavian countries or the Netherlands or Germany, the US is far less democratic, on line with Russia. Both have elections, both have parties etc. Doesn't make the system a democracy. Only in Switzerland does the people have actual power, which is a prerequisite to be a democracy and an absolute condition.
I consider Russia, US, UK, France to be way further down a real democracy index than most European countries, and although most European countries are not democracies, Scandinavian countries, Benelux, Germany and probably more also, are somewhat far from giving people power, but they have many of the conditions necessary for democracy in place. They are furthest up the list of non-democratic countries towards being a democracy.
Semi-dictator? Where do you get that from? The complete and utter liars in our media and our politics? You know the president of Russia has restrictions of power as well, and that the Duma etc have powers, and the president act at their mercy. You know that right? Because you should, because that's exactly how it works in other systems as well. And talking about semi-dictators, if you look at an index of presidential and prime minister powers across western countries and compare those to Russia, I'm 90% sure Russia would not be bottom 3 on that list. The French president have way too much power for example, it's a huge problem in the French system.
And it's always ridiculous to hear "semi-dictators" like Angela Merkel whine about Vladimir Putin and Russia, when she herself has sat so long, and she wines about him being elected a 3rd time in the Russian system. Perhaps she should be more worried about democracy at home instead of focusing so obsessively on Russia.
We have "semi-dictators" in all countries with presidents and prime ministers. Single individuals with way too much power. Yet we ofcourse need to focus on Russia, not on ourselves. Some self reflection would be so damning.
Anyways, you have been lied to. The Netherlands is not a democracy, nor is Germany or France or any of the countries you think or are told are so. Switzerland is a country where the people have actual power and alot of influence, parties and individuals does not play an important role in that system. Switzerland IS an actual democracy.
Difference between Russia and the Netherlands (or the US) for example, is that Russia is moving in a democratic direction, it has become MORE democratic the last 25 or 30 years or even 20. The opposite is true for the US and almost all European countries, they have become LESS democratic the last 20 years, many of them far less. This is alot more worrying than the state of the state in Russia, perhaps you should start looking closer to home so that we can actually solve some REAL issues for you and me, including stopping the US from waging war all over the world, which Europe can do by saying no to the US. The US have absolutely no options to wage war without European support, it would be fully illegitimate and globally denounced immediately. WE give them that legitimacy, or more correctly, the traitors who control our nations do. And now WE have to suffer for it. Immigrants and the whole discussion would not be a discussion we would ever be having, had it not been for the US creating this enormous amount of immigration in Europe the last 20 years. So who are the real enemies, and who are the real tyrants? If all people are thinking like you we have a very serious problem in Europe.
We need to solve these issues in OUR countries, but if all people do is whine about Russia and Trump, it will never get done.
