Indeed. This is now "The War Of Putin's Ego". One man's delusional attempt to rebuild a Russian empire that no one wants. Perhaps the Russian/Soviet empire didn't fully collapse in 1991 as we assumed and this is the final iteration before it does.
"Lenin because he believed in a people's right to self-determination".
That's an oversimplification at best. Just look at the situation in the former USSR republics in Central Asia. They turned into dictatorships which are fast regressing in all respects: civil rights, education, industrial developments etc. Moldova and Ukraine became the poorest countries in Europe. Ukraine used to have fairly advanced industry. They basically lost all of it: ship building, space rockets, aviation, semiconductor industry etc. They are all gone. They are quickly turning into an agricultural country.
So let's see. Before WW2 East Germany was the most industrially advanced region of Germany. 40 years later, they were producing cars made from compressed cardboard (Trabants). Romania was a major food exporter - important enough that Germany effectively took it over. After the war, agriculture plumetted, Russia took half the food and they had severe food rationing. Czechoslovakia was a thriving country before WW2.
I'm just saying this is probably how the CCP looks at it, especially given that it's one of their own foundational principles. Lenin also wrote the book on it years before the October Revolution when he never expected to gain power, so it can hold water despite how the USSR might've devolved.
This kind of vitriol is what has preceded every genocide in history.
Take a look at mass killings of millions of unarmed Indonesian communists in the 60s and how that basically threw gasoline on Mao Zedong's cultural revolution and the Vietnam War. Or learn about what the CIA/Belgians did to PM Patrice Lumumba, setting off the Congo Crisis that basically underwrote the semiconductor industry that we all enjoy to this day. The one most directly relavent to this conflict is the Shock Doctrine we subjected Russia to in the 90s after they opened up, and for doing so their average life expectancy decreased by 6 years in 6 years.
These are valid examples but then you can find dozens of US allied countries, say, in Latin America that were (still are) doing much worse than East Germany.
GDP per capital of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are twice of Russia.These are valid examples but then you can find dozens of US allied countries, say, in Latin America that were (still are) doing much worse than East Germany.
Also, notice how Russia is now a major food exporter too (for example, they export 2x the amount of wheat compared to Ukraine) whereas USSR was importing wheat. They also started exporting pork, chicken and some other stuff.
Also, while Ukraine lost its industry, Russia did not (or at least not to the same extent).
A lot of this has to do with the socialist experiment. Russia just happened to be at the center of it. The socialist camp got isolated from the rest of the world. Under such circumstances any social system probably would not fare well. But look at the communist China today - the biggest economy in the world (by PPP)
Or take an example or Baltic States. They joined EU long ago. How are they doing? Not so well. They all lost 10 to 30% of their population after becoming independent in 1991. Their economies are not doing great either (even with huge EU subsidies). They do not have any industries to speak of (granted they are small) and mostly make money on agriculture and railroad and sea port services servicing Russian needs.
I am just saying that this is complicated. A lot of information we get in our (western) press is too one sided. The criticism is often valid but exaggerated and serious analysis is just not available (at least not in the mainstream press).
