“I Stubbed my Toe – that darn Putin”!

 Over the last several years, particularly in the United States, Russia and their president, Vladimir Putin, have become the west's arch-enemy, affecting everything from the 2016 presidential election to screwing with America's power grid on the eastern seaboard. (An attempt to freeze the American people). If something goes wrong in the US, it's Russia's fault, and Putin must be behind it. It has become absurd. 

According to US, UK journalists, and talking heads, anything and everything that negatively happens in the US is Putin's fault. Like children blaming someone else for getting in trouble, Putin is the go-to modern whipping boy for the western world.

Interestingly, I was reminded of this strange phenomenon while watching a documentary on Netflix. After six years, people still believe that the leaked Podesta emails released by Wikileaks came from a Russian source. Although there is no proof, and Assange reported that the leak didn't come from a state actor, the western media continues to push this theory as if it's a fact. It's nothing more than speculation.

After losing the 2016 election to a game show host, Hillary Clinton and her band of merry half-wits knee-jerked, blaming Russia and Wikileaks for their drastic loss. Rather than do a proper autopsy, analyzing their campaign and the disconnect from the American people, it was Putin and Russia's fault. As we all know, this Russian nonsense spread like stage 4 cancer, pushed daily by the mainstream media. Politicians on the Sunday programs compared this alleged collusion with Russia with Pearl Harbour or 9/11. This insanity grew out of control, ending with the expensive Mueller investigation, which turned out nothing. There was no Trump collusion with Russia to win the 2016 election. Russia had nothing to do with Clinton's embarrassing loss. But, of course, this didn't stop these twits from blaming Russia for everything else.

This lunacy became more apparent after Clinton called presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard a Russian agent. Gabbard responded by calling Clinton the "queen of warmongers." Though after 4 years of non-stop Russia-gate, the damage was done. Even Bernie Sanders couldn't escape this Russian nonsense. The lunacy continues to this day.

We know this propaganda seeped into the national consciousness when anyone on social media proposing a different argument or another point of view on politics or geopolitics was named a Putin Puppet. Other names like 'Kremlin Tool' comes to mind.

Again, when anyone challenges the establishment narrative on politics, health, and war, they're called a Putin stooge, de-platformed, or censored. It's getting more mental.

The economic blowback has been immense since Biden gave away over $50 billion to Ukraine and severely sanctioned Russia. Russia is selling its natural resources to India, China, and others. This forced Biden to go 'cap in hand' to Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. As a result, gas prices are skyrocketing in the US, and inflation is rising. But of course, this has nothing to do with US policy, and, yes, Biden announced it's all Putin's fault.

To blame Russia, whose national economy is 11^th in the world (the state of California is 5^th in the world) for all of the US's political and economic problems is deflection, intellectually lazy, and blatantly dishonest. Likewise, to hand over a fortune to Europe's most corrupt country is political and economic maleficence.

When the bear was poked too many times, the bear responded irrationally. This is not to agree with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. However, rather than listening to mainstream propaganda (Russia bad, Ukraine good), investigating the history of the region and the US and NATO's activities in the area over the last 10 years, a different picture emerges.

This campaign of propaganda is not by accident. Like the Wikileaks/Russia conspiracy, people will start to believe when you say and repeat something often enough, though a lie.

Grow up. It's time to take responsibility.