re: #228 Dread Pirate Ron

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That’s the issue that they (and a lot of people) don’t seem to really understand: Putin does not consider them sovereign states. Whether because he genuinely believes it or just acts like he does in order to keep the nationalists happy, his stated position is those nations belong to Russia and they takes their orders from the Kremlin. Remember that when he was still a KGB thug, the general policy for dealing with the leaders of those nations that refused Moscow’s will was not a bombastic speech on state media and vague threats of “consequences,” it often was being dragged in the night into a dark room to “apologize” for your offenses before suffering a sudden bout of “9mm flu.”