re: #9 Sergey Romanov

Because when your thinking on democracy mirrors that of an authoritarian Russian leader known for anti-democratic measures…

I think the operative word there is ‘Russian’. There isn’t a country in the world that is analogous to Russia. Large population, impenetrable geography, impenetrable climate, massive military, vast natural resources, and a long history of brutal regimes at its head. All of this matters. That Putin might have learned to speak the language of democracy doesn’t mean anything more than the wolf has learned to speak sheep. I don’t think Putin qualifies as an accurate mirror.