The following is a message to people in third world countries, to countries trying to stay neutral, to all people and all countries on Earth.
Look, we respect your intelligence. You know the word "rhetoric." You know what it means. It means the use of words to sway people regardless of what the truth might be. So, we ask that you look beyond words. Look beyond not only Russia’s words, also look beyond our words. Take a hard look at the real world and make your own decisions.
The "west," as Russia calls all the democratic nations on Earth (see list below), is "dying," so Russian propaganda says. We don't feel like we are dying. We are a strong engine for positive change. Our people are the happiest people on Earth, even now, with COVID and everything else. We help the third world without causing them to become indebted to us. That’s a pretty telling difference.
The countries that are leaning toward perhaps siding with Russia believe in strong man rule over their own people. They put them in jail for criticizing their governments. We call this "autocracy." The world has been trying to decide between autocracy and democracy for a couple of centuries now. Before that it was all autocracies. Even the west was comprised of autocracies. When European countries were autocracies, they colonized most of the world, but in the last 100 years they have come to their senses, shrunk back to their home territories and have become among the most humanitarian people in the world. This is dramatically shown in map animation here.
Which kind of future world do you really want to live in? Tell yourself and your loved ones the truth about this, even if you can't speak out more publicly right now because of the risk. Know the world you and your loved ones really want. You'll need to know it in order to make the tough decisions that lie ahead.
Don't be taken in by words. Look at deeds. Look at which countries push their own people around and shut them up. Look at which countries help the third world but do so in a way which indebts the third world to them. Look at the countries that help the third world without indebting them. Words are easy to throw around. Deeds are the real thing to go by.
"Nazi" is a word. The Russian advertising propagandists appear to have decided it's a great word to link to the "west," meaning the world's democracies. The places where people are the freest and the happiest.
We are the furthest thing from Nazis. In fact the Nazis invented what the Russians are doing now. The Nazis called the technique "The Big Lie" -- tell a lie so big people think, "That sounds so wild it must be true, because no one would try to tell a lie that big."
Nazis were all about strong central rule, the same as Russia. That's the definition of autocracy. Definitely the Big Lie technique. We know you are too smart to fall for it.
This is a time of taking sides. We don't really like the idea of having to take sides. We prefer that there are no factions, that we are all sovereign nations, and within those nations, each of us is a sovereign person who must be respected. No one should try to take over anyone else. But gangs of autocrats have tried since history began to take over everyone else. It's the world's oldest story. We thought we had ended it, but it is still writhing around making trouble for all of us. Causing rising prices and death and fear and families separated and it could get much more terrible if we don't stop it now.
It appears that the only way we can stop it is by taking sides. Like choosing who is on your team at the beginning of a ball game in the schoolyard. If we all say, we want freedom and equality and justice for all, and 60% of the world's people say that in unison, the undecided people will make up their minds and we will be 90%, and then the 10%, realizing how outnumbered they are, will stand down.
We have the internet now (the democracies invented it and gave it to everyone), so let's use it to get our team together, and show the bullies how outnumbered they are, so the folks on the fence come over to our side. It's what their people want already, but their leaders see some value in being on both sides. But that is rapidly disappearing as a true option. The middle grounders -- which is what I usually am myself -- are giving strength to the autocrats just by not making a commitment one way or the other.
That runs the risk of encouraging the autocrats -- who believe their own lies to some extent -- to talk themselves into becoming even more aggressive. The fence sitters would wake up one morning and hate themselves if World War III happens because their indecision led the autocrats on.
Sadly, on a world level, it's time to join one of the two teams, now, without further delay.
Democratic Nations: Norway, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Australia, Taiwan, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Germany, Uruguay, United Kingdom, Chile, Costa Rica, Austria, Mauritius, Japan, Spain, South Korea, France, United States, Portugal, Estonia, Israel, Italy, Malta, Czech Republic, Botswana, Cyprus, Slovenia, Belgium, Greece, Latvia, Malaysia, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Lithuania, Jamaica, Timor-Leste, South Africa, Colombia, Slovakia, Argentina, Brazil, Poland, Suriname, Bulgaria, India, Tunisia, Hungary, Philippines, Peru, Namibia, Croatia, Ghana, Mongolia, Romania, Dominican Republic, Lesotho, Indonesia, Serbia, Paraguay, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Papua New Guinea, Albania, Mexico, Thailand, Singapore and Guyana
Autocratic Nations: Mali, Mauritania, Palestine, Kuwait, Algeria, Burkina, Faso, Angola, Jordan, Iraq, Nicaragua, Gabon, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Russia, Niger, Qatar, Zimbabwe, Kazakhstan, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Cambodia, Comoros, eSwatini, Guinea, Myanmar, Oman, Vietnam, Egypt, Afghanistan, Cuba, Togo, Cameroon, Venezuela, Djibouti, United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan, Guinea-Bissau, Belarus, Sudan, Bahrain, China, Iran, Eritrea, Burundi, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Yemen, Tajikistan, Equatorial Guinea, Laos, Turkmenistan, Chad, Syria, Central African Republic, DR Congo and North Korea
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