PoliticusUSA is unbiased, ad-free, and solely supported by our readers. Please think about supporting us by changing into a subscriber.
Sen. Bernie Sanders has been combating towards the looming billionaire oligarchy with a nationwide tour. Sen. Sanders has additionally taken a robust stand in assist of Ukraine. On that entrance, Sanders issued a press release on Monday that pushes again towards Trump’s pro-Putin propaganda.
Sen. Sanders mentioned:
Donald Trump’s assaults on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are a present to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump is dividing the Western alliance, and undermining Ukraine’s protection towards Russia’s invasion. His actions could lengthen the struggle by convincing Putin he can manipulate Trump right into a take care of concessions he couldn’t win on the battlefield.
Trump is cozying as much as Vladimir Putin – so, who’s Putin?
Putin is a former Soviet spy who spent 16 years within the KGB, the place he realized methods to manipulate folks by enjoying on their egos, greed and fears. After the top of the Chilly Warfare, Putin was named head of the FSB, Russia’s post-KGB intelligence company. In 1999, Putin was named Prime Minister, changing into president when former President Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned. Putin has dominated Russia ever since.
On the coronary heart of Putin’s rule are two forces: corruption and violence.
As Russia’s new chief, Putin, who’s now believed to be one of many wealthiest folks on earth, consolidated energy at dwelling by reining in Russia’s highly effective oligarchs. He provided them a easy deal: In the event that they granted him absolute energy and shared the spoils, he would allow them to steal as a lot as they wished from the Russian folks. The end result: whereas the overwhelming majority of the Russian inhabitants struggles economically, Putin and his fellow oligarchs stashed trillions of {dollars} in offshore tax havens. Within the course of, Putin crushed Russia’s transient motion towards democracy. He eradicated rivals, cracked down on freedom of speech, and strangled the free media. Political dissidents, investigative journalists, and opposition leaders began turning up lifeless.
At the moment, 26 years after he took energy, Putin is absolutely the ruler of Russia. Russian elections are blatantly fraudulent, with Putin’s lackeys barely hiding their ballot-stuffing. Within the final sham election, Putin gained 88 % of the “vote” towards fastidiously screened opposition candidates.
That’s Putin’s Russia. There isn’t any freedom of speech. Protests are violently suppressed. Tens of 1000’s of persons are in imprisoned for talking out towards his rule. The bravest and most outstanding dissidents – folks like Alexei Navalny, Boris Nemtsov and Sergei Magnitsky – are murdered outright. And the billionaire oligarchs turn out to be even richer.
That’s the chief Trump defends and admires.
Sanders continued:
