Very good points, Scott. MacDonalds in Russia is now a Russian company, delivering more or less the same (but not the Big Mac), and that money is now staying fully in Russia.

As long as we do not get ourselves (read, the Europeans) off that Russian oil and gas, then we keep supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is in the works to change it all, but it is moving far too slowly.

Had this been communist Russia, we would not have cared. But this is capitalist Russia (and capitalist China) where the elite has full control (and the occasional internal troubles among the elite), and the larger society as a whole perhaps best described as happy sheep.

Folks are not given information about the war, cannot protest, are not allowed to be free, except for thinking perhaps that they are free.

The USA has a similar problem, but then in the two-party field. Our politicians are not doing what the people want (see abortion, gun regulation) and yet we do not see an uprising of people undermining the two-party system and demanding, for instance, a three-to-five party system (a twenty-party system would be a dumb choice, we'd collapse as a nation within a couple of years).

Three to five parties would make all parties honest. Blue would be blue, red would be red, and yellow would be yellow. Today, our blue is not blue and our red is not red (it's more orange if you allow me a quick joke). The two parties are not standing firm on their own ideals. Rather they are involved in a power game, lifting them away from their political ideals.

So, we have the same problems as Russia and China, but we also have the choice to pick from among two parties. The essential part where we are the same as Russia and China is exactly where our politicians are not listening to the people and either do little to nothing or they hang with their buddies and give the benefits to the blue elite or the red elite.

Because we are not the land of the free, politically, the other forces in the world have to deal with our strength in one direction. That tilt makes them having to tilt, too, and we would be better off as a world if we had become what the Founding Fathers gave us.

A good article, Scott. You are quite right about the complicated games we are playing. I hope the world stops buying anything Russian, and collapse will then happen (as in: they won’t be able to afford their war games).

'A Republic, if you can keep it'

https://fred-rick.medium.com/a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it-9e2990d3ceab