>>598975
Oh, okay then.
>I didn't say Russia was capitalist, I said it was more capitalist than the west.
Well, theoretically, maybe. We still have ~47% taxes on wages, as well as extremely high crime rates, with police being more afraid of than actual criminals, unjust courts and shitty but overwhelming welfare. Maybe from economic perspective. Mexico might have plenty of economic freedom by the standards, but it still does not have much to offer.
>The entire media in over 30 countries, from city level mini station to multi nation media conglomerate, is owned by perhaps a dozen people at the top… and those dozen people are fully answerable to the five or so that control the governments of those 30 countries.
In here all the telecommunications(tv, newspapers, radio, telephone) are owned and maintained by the government so they do not have to hide anything, put aside the presence and intrigues within media. Few major operators use these lines but situation does not change. Russia is really just a more rough and crude version of these west fuckery.
>oogle, Microsoft and Apple own everyone else, or have backroom deals with them, and these people control every aspect of our lives.
Yeah, we've got just yandex and some smaller projects that are like 1984 tier propaganda and wasted budget as well as commercial failure.
>The sheer naivete to think the West is somehow free at a basic level
Well, police there seems to not casually torture random suspects just to fill up the quota.
>Russian government doesn't even have the money to police actual crimes
Our justice system has very little to offer you while always ready to take and punish. You might be better just keeping head down rather than going there. Police may walk by while you're being beaten or raped, or may participate, or arrest you all and lock in the same room for 12 hours. If in a self defense situation you might be better off with hiding yourself or the body than going to police, no matter the circumstances. Also, prisons are scarier than heroin addiction.
> how many people get arrested for making mean facebook posts
Plenty, actually, though not for some ideology, but a noticeable expression of disloyalty to the government. Oh, and the Facebook analogs basically serve as personality databases for the authorities and accessible literally at any time, as company that owns then is literally as independent as Gazprom, except maybe held a bit more responsible, as it deals with intelligence and stuff. I haven't looked up the news for last few years so i can't tell how often are people prosecuted now though. Any political discussion quickly turns into vegan-tier intimidation and personal attacks, be it because of culture or paid bots or whatever.
>All money is printed at the whim of a private company, which is really controlled by CIA.
Well, then it further proves that Russia is just a crude and direct version of the same shit. The disguise still has some things to offer, like gun ownership, self defense for which you've got a chance to not get in prison, actual help and protection and generally government doing the things it monopolized better.