Top 10 Reasons We Should Be Scared
of Russia
10.
They Shut Down Estonia’s Internet Infrastructure For Almost a Month
Estonia is an Eastern European country near the Russian border, and they are actually
quite unique when it comes to any country in the world, because they rely on the internet
for almost everything.
They use the internet for paying parking fines, voting, paying utility bills and taxes, and
almost anything else you could imagine.
Children in Estonia are taught to use the internet properly in school at a young age,
and it is considered one of the most tech savvy countries in the world.
That’s why, in 2007, Estonians understandably freaked out when their internet infrastructure
was hit by a cyber-attack that managed to keep the entire system down for three whole
weeks.
Estonians are understandably worried that it was a test for a possible Russian invasion
down the road.
Estonia was once part of the Soviet Union, is seeded with ethnic Russians so Putin could
attempt to pull something similar to Crimea, and with their infrastructure down, it would
be hard for them to resist the chaos Putin could create.
With the recent aggressive moves by Russia both in terms of cyber-crime and their continuing
ventures in Ukraine, Estonia fears they may be next and is preparing for war.
9.
The Russian Mock Invasion That Would Take Key Islands From Denmark, Finland, Norway,
and Sweden
Some may think that Russia would never dare go that far into Eastern Europe, or really
keep pushing at all much beyond Ukraine.
However, people back during WWII said that Hitler would stop after he took the Rhineland,
and they were very, very wrong.
The truth is that Putin has no reason to stop unless someone makes him, and he has already
taken Crimea and roughly half of Ukraine.
While some may be skeptical, back in March of 2015, Russia conducted a mock set of invasions
that were set on the rather insane and clearly made up idea that the West was trying to physically
overthrow Putin and pull off some kind of coup.
In response to this fake threat, the test invasion conducted would have them take away
key islands from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, making it almost impossible for the
NATO allies to come to the rescue.
While the Russians tried to give a flimsy pretext that it was in response to a Western
based attack, that doesn’t really hold water, because the real strategic value of those
islands is that it would cut off the Baltic States from NATO.
This means that Russia would be able to easily take Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia and force
them back into the Soviet Union, and it would be almost impossible for NATO to provide any
kind of proper support or help.
The fact that Russia put so much time and effort into practicing such an attack is troubling,
to say the least.
8.
With the EU Increasingly Weakening, Russia is in a Stronger Position to Invade Eastern
Europe
When the Brexit vote occurred, Putin tried to remain indifferent on the surface, but
many experts believe he was very excited.
The main thing that stops Putin from taking back the former Soviet States is a strong
European Union and a strong NATO, which kind of coincide in a lot of ways right now.
Unfortunately, both NATO and the European Union are in historically weak positions,
and it seems like that problem is only going to increase as time goes on.
With the United Kingdom out of the EU, it is possible more people could leave, and it
may be much harder for the Western Europeans to mount any kind of proper defensive support
if Putin rolls into Eastern Europe.
This also hurts the sanctions put on him by the United States and the European Union,
as the sanctions are only as strong as the united front the countries performing them
keep up against the Russians.
If the European Union continues to dissolve, Russia will have more negotiating power with
individual states, and will find it easy to bully small European countries with their
comparatively large economy.
In the end, both in terms of potential invasions and in terms of negotiating power, the Russians
win big whenever Europe becomes weaker.
To make matters worse for the Eastern Europeans, we have a US president who knows little about
NATO and campaigned, in part, on it being obsolete (though he’s finally coming around
on its importance), and cares about our agreements to protect small countries even less.
7.
Russia Today is Kremlin Controlled and Russian Fake News Propaganda is a Global Machine
President Putin tries to dance around the issue, so it isn’t quite as obvious to everyone,
but the truth is that Russia Today might as well be Putin’s personal blog.
It is funded, owned and operated by the Kremlin – in other words the Russian government.
The government claims that it is not totally government controlled, but Putin also admits
that it should kind of be expected that they will say things that are positive about the
government and its agenda.
While not saying it outright, it is clear the purpose of Russia Today is simply to spread
the Kremlin’s propaganda all over the world.
It is perhaps one of the most unreliable sources on the planet, but many people who see Russia
Today in other countries do not realize just how unreliable it is.
To make matters worse, a lot of fake news regarding the US election was traced right
back to Russians, and there is reason to believe many of them were even paid trolls.
Despite America’s best efforts to handle its own elections, it is scary to think how
easily the Russians have managed to manipulate emotions and decisions simply by posting fake
stories.
If that wasn’t enough, there is reason to believe that a lot of similar propaganda is
being spread in Europe as well, in order to weaken support for the EU and bolster the
image of Vladimir Putin around the world.
6.
We May Call Putin a Tyrant, but He’s Extremely Popular in Russia
Putin may be a man who is very interested in conquest, and he has some very grand plans.
For this reason, many people like to put him in the realm of comic book villain, and look
at him as a truly evil individual.
While he does support a lot of draconian laws, especially against gay people, the truth is
that Russia has always had very fascistic laws and very little freedom.
The Russian people are fairly used to hardship, rationing, and not having a particularly strong
say in government.
When it comes to being a fascist, if anything Putin is lenient compared to some of the
leaders of the past.
What this means is that while he is dangerous to us, when we act is if he is horrible to
the Russian people and posit the possibility of them one day rising up against them, it
shows a fundamental lack of understanding of our Russian rivals.
We assume that they have the same priorities we do, but they simply don’t.
Americans are more concerned with individual freedoms and don’t particularly care about
refighting old battles.
However, when Putin took back Crimea, it came with a great surge of popularity back home,
because he was bringing back a certain amount of Russian pride as well.
The Russian people felt stronger, and better to know that Putin was bringing back the old
Soviet Union.
Many of them now see him not as another politician, but as a transformational figure that has
helped bring Russia back to what it once was.
Russians still complain about politics and the country in general, but Putin still keeps
his approvals in the low 80s, and even watchdogs from other countries believe the polls are
at least mostly accurate.
We aren’t saying Putin is a nice guy, but it is important to understand the people you
are up against.
We may not like Putin, but the fact that he is popular at home is not just Russian propaganda.
5.
Putin Has Consolidated Power and May Very Well be President for Life
One of the things that makes it harder for a country like Europe or the United States
to deal with threats from dictators is that the dictator has the advantage of remaining
in power forever, consolidating his holdings, making him capable of carrying out truly long
term plans.
On the other hand, countries like the USA have regular elections that change our governmental
leaders, which means we constantly have to refresh our policies to deal with the latest
threats.
Every president will have a different idea on how to deal with our foreign enemies or
rivals, and that means an entirely new road map.
In the meantime, someone like Putin can remain in office for nearly two decades, ensuring
he can slowly work on his goals.
Putin was first term limited, then made a new position for himself that was above the
president to get that problem out of the way.
Then, he managed to become president again after taking care of the pesky term limit
issue.
And, while he hasn’t said he will run yet, many expect him to run again next year, and
with his popularity, it would be hard for him to lose unless something catastrophic
happened to Russia to completely tank his poll numbers.
And with calls from some within the Russian government for Vladimir Putin to remain president
for life, it seems clear that has been the plan for quite some time now.
4.
There’s a Possibility They Have Blackmail Material on the US President
While we know that Donald Trump has business dealings in Russia, which have been the subject
of much suspicion and rumor, and that many in his campaign were said to have contacted
Russia during the campaign, which has led some to believe that there is far more to
the story.
According to a dossier of information, much of which is hard to verify, Trump visited
Russia as part of a beauty pageant, and while staying in a hotel room, he got up to some
antics that were quite risqué and embarrassing.
He allegedly had prostitutes pee on a hotel bed that had once been used by Barack and
Michelle Obama.
And according to the dossier, the Russians had been monitoring this room, and now have
incredible dirt on Trump.
Due to his many business dealings with them, and this blackmail they had, they decided
to push him toward politics, and did their best to help him succeed, because they believed
that they could use their blackmail to get sanctions lifted or other pro-Russia policies
put in place.
Of course, there is no proof that this blackmail exists, or that the event occurred as alleged,
but the thought that they have blackmail on our president is very troubling.
And even if they do not have that kind of blackmail, the fact he once admitted to having
a large amount of business dealings with Russia, and would not disclose his taxes, still makes
things suspicious for other reasons.
3.
The Gay Concentration Camps Currently Operating in Chechnya (Part Of Russia)
Right now in Chechnya, a region which is now part of the Russian Federation, gay people
are being rounded up like dangerous animals and either tortured for days on end or killed.
These men are being held in what are essentially being described as concentration camps for
gay people.
Bounties are being paid for gangs of mercenaries to round up gay men wherever they can find
them.
This includes their homes, secret gay hangout spots, and they will even perform sting operations
to find gay people.
There are reports that they are receiving beatings and electric shocks, and are sometimes
even being released simply so they can be re-caught for sport, and so that the hunter
can double dip on the bounty for the captured gay person.
Some are blackmailed and threatened with much worse torture or death if they don’t pay
large sums of money – because being gay is illegal in Chechnya, these men are all
too eager to agree to avoid even worse punishment.
Unfortunately, the only group that really has the power to stop this is the Russian
government, and they are denying that there is any purge going on.
Considering their knowledge of what happens in their territories, it boggles the mind
that they do not know.
And when you look at their own reputation when it comes to gay people, the sad truth
is that the Kremlin likely understands what is happening and approves of it – gay people
are not welcome in Russia.
2.
Russia Currently Has the Largest Active Nuclear Stockpile in the World
When most people think of the most powerful nuclear country, they tend to immediately
think of the United States.
But the truth is that Russia actually has a slightly larger stockpile of nuclear weapons
than the US does – this includes both stockpiled warheads and those that are fully operational
and ready to go.
The United States has close to 7,000 nuclear warheads, but Russia has over 7,000, beating
the US by a small margin.
They also have about forty more active nuclear warheads than America does, with both countries
having close to 2,000 that they are ready to launch.
Some may think China is close, but they actually don’t have any operational warheads at the
moment.
The next closest countries are actually France, with a few hundred, and the United Kingdom,
with a little over 100 in terms of operational nuclear weapons.
For this reason alone, Russia has to be respected.
With one of the largest economies, areas of sheer territory, and that many nuclear weapons,
they are a very strong force to be reckoned with.
A ground invasion of Russia has already been proven to be all but impossible, and a serious
air battle would lead to them threatening nukes against the US.
In the meantime, it is hard to prevent Russia from taking back countries in Eastern Europe
without starting some kind of full blown war, or threatening the use of nuclear weapons
– an empty threat because we know Russia could respond in kind.
Due to being such a strong nuclear power, apart from fighting proxy wars over the ground
Russia is trying to occupy, there isn’t a lot we can do to slow them down.
1.
Military Service is Compulsory for Young Men, so Nearly All Russian Males Have Military
Experience
The Russians are also dangerous because nearly every male of any decent health has at least
a few years of military service under his belt.
The Russians have made it compulsory for young men between the ages of 18 and 27 to serve
in the military so that every capable citizen will be ready if necessary, and also to keep
the military strong, full, and well-disciplined at all times.
Now, draft dodging is fairly common for this reason, as not everyone wants to join the
military, but it can actually be quite hard to do.
Without a legitimate medical reason, you often need to pay thousands of dollars for fake
documents to forge your way out of it.
And you may still be caught and forced into service anyways, especially if you try tricks
like staying at a different address than the one you put down officially.
And despite the draft dodgers, this means Russia still has a very, very large portion
of its healthy young men learning the ways of the military lifestyle, and how to fight
and die for their country if needed.
With a percentage of men with military training much higher than that of other countries,
they have a very large pool of capable people to pull from if they end up in any extended
wars or conflicts spread throughout the world.
Some countries near Russia, such as Sweden, have recently added compulsory military service
in order to prepare for the potential threat they see coming down the road.
The world has to be very watchful of Russia, and those who live in Eastern Europe have
the most to fear.