It is absolutely incredible to see that people still - still - believe the Putinist propaganda, and think in terms of the US being the sole source of all evil.
Must be comforting to live in such a simple universe! 
[ol]
[li]Russia maintains military bases in multiple foreign countries.[/li][li]The assertion that Russia “has not invaded a country recently” is obviously very questionable.[/li][li]Russia has zero history of “allowing peaceful secession”. (See the Second Chechen War.) The Soviet Union ultimately allowed peaceful secession–in the sense that the Soviet government simply collapsed in the face of a secession crisis involving, basically, every place in the Soviet Union–but even the process of the dissolution of the USSR wasn’t completely peaceful.[/li][/ol]
- I said major, you responded with a list of minor bases, besides the one in Crimea.
- Not seeing the obviousness, obviously, or else I wouldn’t have said that.
- Russia has allowed peaceful secession. In the context of my overall argument that Russia’s imperialist ambitions are laughably overstated by US audiences, I can live with your nitpicking. You supported my claim, while simultaneously implying you disagree with it.
Much simpler to gobble down whatever nonsense is mass produced and shoved into my face.
Well, Russia has certainly allowed secession from other people’s countries (Transnistria, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and now the Crimea and eastern Ukraine). They just haven’t allowed secession from Russia.
Russia never really changes. It us an innately authoritarian and expansionist country. They’ve reskinned a couple times, but underneath there was no change.