I would strongly recommend this video by a Russian youtuber. She's an ordinary Russian. Her goal? Survive - and live to the next day.
Anyhow, I'm American. Never was MAGA, never will be. I'm actually on here myself to let people know a perspective from an ordinary person who was born and lives here. I am not a celebrity nor do I aspire to be one. My being American is not a choice - nor is Lisa being born in Russia. My goal? Make it to the next day. Just like you, I have hopes, dreams, hobbies.
In 9/11 after Islamic terrorists struck our towers, Islam was unfairly painted in a REAL negative light. This led to two trillion+ dollar wars. 10/7 led to the dehumanization of Palestinians. 99% of Muslims and Palestinians just want to make it to the next day.
Huge cracks are showing in MAGAland. People are being disillusioned. Most people (there is a significant minority) here DO NOT want authoritarianism - which is very different from "normal" conservativism. Even capitalism is losing ground here - look at Mamdani's victory. I can tell you politicians on BOTH sides - I mean look at Cuomo seeking Trump's endorsements. Or Democrats decrying horrors of "Socialism".
I honestly blame a couple things for MAGA:
* Oligarchs. Elon, big tech, big oil, faux news. They own like everything. Most of "mainstream" American media are owned by media execs.
* Foreign Actors - yep, look at those MAGA accounts from India, China, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan.
* Division - this is big because the oligarchs need us hating each other to deflect blame from them. Hating an ordinary American trying to survive is kind of what the REAL bad folks want you to do. There's a difference between someone fooled into voting for Trump and an open bigot whose proud of hating people. Keep in mind many MINORITIES supported Trump.
Remember, MAGA is a "populist movement". Many in the movement are sick of foreign wars - which let's be real - Iraq and Afghanistan cost us trillions. And as MTG said (I'm no fan but she is right) - Trump lied. HE IS THE ELITE he claimed to be against.
Fleeing is an absolute last resort. We have family here - and moving isn't 1,2,3. Zelenskyy could have fled Ukraine and had many opportunities. But he chose to fight back - because fleeing means surrender.
Hi Sam, I enjoy your writing and am subscribed to your Substack. I've noticed that many Americans and Canadians often refer to Africa as a country and am just wondering why. You listed many countries at the beginning of your article, including "Africa". I'm honestly curious as to why I see this so often, and am hoping you could shed some light on it for me.
In this case, it's just a typo -- thank you for pointing that out, I'll correct it!
As for why it often pops up, I think it's a force of habit and ignorance, to be honest. The various countries across Africa are rarely separately discussed in North America, which is extremely dismissive.
The entire continent is often lumped together, hence why I had a brain fart while writing this piece.
Thanks so much for your answer, Sam. I figured as much. As you are the antithesis of ignorant, I thought I'd ask. I knew you'd give a direct and clear answer. I was born and raised in South Africa, and since then have lived in New Zealand, Australia, the US, Costa Rica, and Canada, and it is only in the US and Canada that I have heard Africa being referred to as a whole without distinction.
As for the dreaded brain fart, I fall victim to them, too.
I agree with your perspective on Russia and am glad someone finally said something. I teach ESL and currently have both Belarusian and Russian students, and while I never put them in compromising positions to talk about anything that could land them in jail, some have been quite honest with me on how they feel and the impact it's been having.
I appreciate it! I really ought to know better, so I'm always glad to be corrected when I say something dumb. It's a habit that I really ought to break.
Wow, you've got considerably more travel under your belt than I do! I've seldom been outside of Canada except to visit friends and loved ones in the States. Once to the Bahamas, but that was a short trip with my in-laws and I had little chance to get to know people on the way.
It's really interesting to know that lumping the African nations together is a U.S. and Canada phenomenon. Clearly we've got work to do to break out of that!
Maybe that could be a topic for one of your articles, eh?
As for your students, I understand. One of the groups I belong to online includes Russian and Ukrainian people and we've had a few blowout arguments, specifically near the start of the invasion. Tensions were high, and the Ukrainians were understandably not enthused with hearing out Russian perspectives at the time.
Thankfully things have cooled. Our Russian friends are progressives who don't agree at all with the war, and now everyone is on the same page. It's very hard.
Regarding “anti-LGBT hate” in Russia, there is very much an unspoken “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. I would argue that given Ukraine’s current very pro-LGBT stance, Russia simply wishes to ensure there is less common ground and cut down any thoughts that may say Russia has been corrupted by Western ideals, given that Ukraine arguably has been.
Do I agree? No. Is it, from a utilitarian perspective, efficient? Yes. Unlike someone like Trump, Putin is not stupid. Everything he does is for a reason.
Actually, I’m posting an article tomorrow regarding my own thoughts on the Russo-Ukrainian War (and Putin). I’ve seen that the general thought here on Substack is heavily pro-Ukraine, but I hope to offer a more nuanced take, backed up by tangible, credible evidence rather than claims made by both sides.
To be clear, I don’t fully endorse Russia’s actions, nor am I anti-Ukraine in any sense. But to understand any disagreement, it is crucial to look at both sides.
Funnily enough, given statements made by Ukrainian politicians and the people on the street, their relatively pro-LGBTQ+ stance is a response to Russia's anti-LGBTQ+ policies.
Russia's policies of hate came first; Ukraine's push for greater inclusion came after the war started.
As for the rest, what do you mean by 'corrupted' by Western ideals?
I would also caution that an unprovoked war for territory that breaks international law is a little more than a disagreement. It's very important not to minimize what we're talking about here.
I find that interesting. Perhaps it’s functioned like a feedback loop: LGBT hate in Russia leading to support in Ukraine, which in turn led to crackdowns and more hate in Russian policy.
By “corrupted,” I mean that, given the support of Ukraine by NATO and the West and their close interactions, much of what they do is then seen by Russia as a reflection of Western ideals.
My last sentence was a general one. I understand that this is a war over territory, yet this can still be simplified as a disagreement between two sides. I’m more so mentioning my framework in viewing any conflict, be it a small, surface-level disagreement or full-scale war.
Another way to look at it is that all states, regardless of ideology, create propaganda in times of war to bolster morale, be it spoken phrases or visual posters. Looking at both sides’ reporting, both state and independent, allows for a fuller picture of the situation.
I suppose I’ll also mention that while I prefer to be unlabeled, I do fall under the LGBT community under many definitions. I support equality regardless of ethnicity, gender, or religion.
You're right that Putin isn't stupid - but that doesn't mean the reasons that he does things are good reasons.
He's not a strategist, he's a gambler.
It's also worth remembering that Putin sees his own interests and Russia's interests as being one and the same, and that Russia's fate is tied to his. He believes that as long as HE is doing well then all will be well in the Russian world, and that Russia's success begins with him maintaining power.
That leads to incredibly screwed up priorities and resource allocation even before we get into the structural incompetence of Russian institutions and the endemic corruption and dishonesty in those same institutions.
And at the end of the day, Putin's Russia is the aggressor in this war - just because the aggressor thinks they have a good reason to do what they're doing, doesn't mean we have to accept their reasoning as valid.
Nobody thinks they're the villain, but what Russia is doing in Ukraine is truly evil. They commit war crimes multiple times a day, and this war will end the moment Russia decides to keep its military inside their own borders.
There's no moral equivalency between the Russian cause and the Ukrainian cause in this war. One side is fighting for their homes, their families, and for a future where their country is able to thrive as part of a rules-based world where human decency matters.
The other side is Russia, who is engaging in genocide and the only reason this war isn't bloodier is that the Putinist way of doing things has led to so much embezzlement and institutional failure that their government and military struggles to do anything particularly well.
Russia is one of the least healthy, fastest aging, least productive, least innovative, and lowest-trust societies on the planet, with the living standards to match.
Ukraine doesn't want to be forcibly absorbed into that mess again.
I don't see Putin as reckless. His actions are often embroiled in geopolitical issues, like NATO expansion, historical trauma, and broken security guarantees. (See my article tomorrow for more about this.) His reasoning is propaganda-laden, but not irrational.
While I don't deny that Russia is aggressive, I don't support the "Ukraine is morally superior" claim either. This "good vs evil" framing without nuance is an oversimplification. Western interventions (like in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Libya, etc.) also caused civilian harm; complexity matters, even if this means acknowledging uncomfortable truths about both sides.
I talk about this much more in my article tomorrow, but Russia's claims are not wholly unfounded. Russia amplifies claims of far-right elements in Ukraine (e.g., Azov Brigade, Da Vinci Wolves, the Right Sector during Euromaidan, etc.), while Ukraine and the West downplay or ignore them entirely. I don't deny Ukraine's struggle, but I don't see it as morally pure either.
Obviously, far-right elements do not mean the entire state supports neo-Nazism, and it would be unscholarly to claim that is the case. Yet the facts of the matter cannot be ignored, nor the fact that Ukraine has ignored the presence of these ideologies rather than condemning them.
As for the far-right elements in Ukraine, this is not nearly the issue that *checks notes* Russian-aligned sources insist it is.
I'm not a subject matter expert in the process that integrated groups like Azov into the Ukrainian military, I'm not convinced that you are either and I would caution that you may be unintentionally propagating Russian disinformation, or at best putting out analysis based on information that was out of date before Russia began their full-scale invasion in February 2022.
And Russia is the source of a boatload of the funding & messaging for far-right radicals throughout most of the western world, and places Russia controls turn into genuine shit holes where things like running water is a luxury hospitals don't need. They don't get to point fingers.
Frankly, it worries me when someone sees this conflict as morally neutral - Russia likely killed 50,000-100,000 Ukrainian civilians in Mariupol alone by the end of April 2022.
I've seen the pictures and videos from Bucha, where Russian soldiers systematically raped, tortured, and murdered hundreds of men, women, and children for the crime of existing as Ukrainians.
The fact that Western interventions in other places hurt people does not excuse Russian atrocities in Ukraine or anywhere else (ahem Syria).
And they certainly do not detract from the righteousness of Ukraine's fight for survival - their families are behind them and the people trying to murder their families are in front of them. Ukraine will fight with their fists if they have to, and shame on us that we haven't done more to help them.
Here's the thing: those geopolitical issues that you've mentioned are all Russian propaganda talking points - there's a sprinkling of truthiness that sounds plausible, but it's nonsense that the Russians & their mouthpieces say for OUR "benefit"
To disguise from the fact that Russia thinks a defensive posture involves militarily and politically subjugating all of Eastern Europe and most of Central Asia.
Russia doesn't get a vote on what other countries democratically decide to ASK to join NATO. Most of those countries asked to join specifically as a guarantee against Russian aggression - not because they wanted to someday attack Russia first.
The "historical trauma" yes, touching. Russia doesn't have a monopoly on misery, though they are quite possibly the world's leading exporter of it. What about the traumas the Russians have inflicted on the people living in Eastern Europe?
And if historical claims nobody recognizes as valid any more are now valid again as long as the claimant really wants the thing back, then by Putin's own reasoning, China has a claim to Manchuria.
There was a joke told years ago, during the Cold War. An American goes up to a Soviet, and compliments their propaganda. The Soviet says, “Thank you, but yours is better!” The American is then confused, asking, “What? We don’t have propaganda.”
This is reflected here, not to mention the irony in claiming a certain state does not have the right to a vote on geopolitics by someone who supports democracy.
As for historical trauma, you’re forgetting that the Soviets were hit the hardest, and the fact that without them, you’d be speaking German and heiling Hitler.
The immediate dismissal of Russian claims as unfounded without any sort of open discussion is the very failure of the West. Yes, Russia has amplified claims beyond proportion, but those same claims contain hidden truths that should not be ignored.
And a lot of those Soviets who died in WWII were Ukrainians - and when the red army recaptured Soviet territory, they often went on violent rape and murder sprees against their own citizens that they had just "liberated"
As to Russia not having a vote about who joins NATO - this is about the fact that the Russian State has no right to tell a Lithuanian citizen that Lithuania is not allowed to join NATO, even if Lithuania wants to, and all the NATO members (who do get a vote because they're in the organization) agree that they can join.
Russia is outside the club, largely for reasons of their own creation.
Russia gets a vote on how they respond to other countries joining NATO - the other side always gets a vote - but they could also be nicer to their neighbours and then those neighbours might not feel so strongly about joining NATO. Russia doesn't get to tell a quarter billion people who don't live in Russia who their own to countries are allowed to associate with and how their own countries do business inside their own borders.
And, frankly, if not for enormous amounts of lend-lease aid from the rest of the Allied powers which they never paid back, the USSR and the red army fighting on the Eastern front would have been in a race to whether they froze to death or starved to death first.
Not to mention that the USSR started the war on the Nazi's side, invading Poland with the Nazis while the Molentov-Ribbentrop pact. It's entirely possible that without the Red Army helping the Nazis topple the Polish state, the Nazis could have been embroiled in Poland for much longer than they were, and they wouldn't have been able to commit as much armour & artillery to the French theatre.
I highly recommend listening to lectures by Dr. Sarah (Sally) Payne regarding maritime powers and continental powers, and how the different ways they approach things are shaped by the geography in question.
Also, for insight into Putinism, Vlad Vexler is a great resource - we in the West often make the mistake of thinking that Putin thinks like we do he just has different values and interests. Fortunately, Putin and his entourage of hand-picked toadies, makes the same mistake in reverse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gU9oFPRVvg
I would strongly recommend this video by a Russian youtuber. She's an ordinary Russian. Her goal? Survive - and live to the next day.
Anyhow, I'm American. Never was MAGA, never will be. I'm actually on here myself to let people know a perspective from an ordinary person who was born and lives here. I am not a celebrity nor do I aspire to be one. My being American is not a choice - nor is Lisa being born in Russia. My goal? Make it to the next day. Just like you, I have hopes, dreams, hobbies.
In 9/11 after Islamic terrorists struck our towers, Islam was unfairly painted in a REAL negative light. This led to two trillion+ dollar wars. 10/7 led to the dehumanization of Palestinians. 99% of Muslims and Palestinians just want to make it to the next day.
Huge cracks are showing in MAGAland. People are being disillusioned. Most people (there is a significant minority) here DO NOT want authoritarianism - which is very different from "normal" conservativism. Even capitalism is losing ground here - look at Mamdani's victory. I can tell you politicians on BOTH sides - I mean look at Cuomo seeking Trump's endorsements. Or Democrats decrying horrors of "Socialism".
I honestly blame a couple things for MAGA:
* Oligarchs. Elon, big tech, big oil, faux news. They own like everything. Most of "mainstream" American media are owned by media execs.
* Foreign Actors - yep, look at those MAGA accounts from India, China, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan.
* Division - this is big because the oligarchs need us hating each other to deflect blame from them. Hating an ordinary American trying to survive is kind of what the REAL bad folks want you to do. There's a difference between someone fooled into voting for Trump and an open bigot whose proud of hating people. Keep in mind many MINORITIES supported Trump.
Remember, MAGA is a "populist movement". Many in the movement are sick of foreign wars - which let's be real - Iraq and Afghanistan cost us trillions. And as MTG said (I'm no fan but she is right) - Trump lied. HE IS THE ELITE he claimed to be against.
Fleeing is an absolute last resort. We have family here - and moving isn't 1,2,3. Zelenskyy could have fled Ukraine and had many opportunities. But he chose to fight back - because fleeing means surrender.
Hi Sam, I enjoy your writing and am subscribed to your Substack. I've noticed that many Americans and Canadians often refer to Africa as a country and am just wondering why. You listed many countries at the beginning of your article, including "Africa". I'm honestly curious as to why I see this so often, and am hoping you could shed some light on it for me.
In this case, it's just a typo -- thank you for pointing that out, I'll correct it!
As for why it often pops up, I think it's a force of habit and ignorance, to be honest. The various countries across Africa are rarely separately discussed in North America, which is extremely dismissive.
The entire continent is often lumped together, hence why I had a brain fart while writing this piece.
Thanks so much for your answer, Sam. I figured as much. As you are the antithesis of ignorant, I thought I'd ask. I knew you'd give a direct and clear answer. I was born and raised in South Africa, and since then have lived in New Zealand, Australia, the US, Costa Rica, and Canada, and it is only in the US and Canada that I have heard Africa being referred to as a whole without distinction.
As for the dreaded brain fart, I fall victim to them, too.
I agree with your perspective on Russia and am glad someone finally said something. I teach ESL and currently have both Belarusian and Russian students, and while I never put them in compromising positions to talk about anything that could land them in jail, some have been quite honest with me on how they feel and the impact it's been having.
I appreciate it! I really ought to know better, so I'm always glad to be corrected when I say something dumb. It's a habit that I really ought to break.
Wow, you've got considerably more travel under your belt than I do! I've seldom been outside of Canada except to visit friends and loved ones in the States. Once to the Bahamas, but that was a short trip with my in-laws and I had little chance to get to know people on the way.
It's really interesting to know that lumping the African nations together is a U.S. and Canada phenomenon. Clearly we've got work to do to break out of that!
Maybe that could be a topic for one of your articles, eh?
As for your students, I understand. One of the groups I belong to online includes Russian and Ukrainian people and we've had a few blowout arguments, specifically near the start of the invasion. Tensions were high, and the Ukrainians were understandably not enthused with hearing out Russian perspectives at the time.
Thankfully things have cooled. Our Russian friends are progressives who don't agree at all with the war, and now everyone is on the same page. It's very hard.
Very nicely written.
Regarding “anti-LGBT hate” in Russia, there is very much an unspoken “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. I would argue that given Ukraine’s current very pro-LGBT stance, Russia simply wishes to ensure there is less common ground and cut down any thoughts that may say Russia has been corrupted by Western ideals, given that Ukraine arguably has been.
Do I agree? No. Is it, from a utilitarian perspective, efficient? Yes. Unlike someone like Trump, Putin is not stupid. Everything he does is for a reason.
Actually, I’m posting an article tomorrow regarding my own thoughts on the Russo-Ukrainian War (and Putin). I’ve seen that the general thought here on Substack is heavily pro-Ukraine, but I hope to offer a more nuanced take, backed up by tangible, credible evidence rather than claims made by both sides.
To be clear, I don’t fully endorse Russia’s actions, nor am I anti-Ukraine in any sense. But to understand any disagreement, it is crucial to look at both sides.
Funnily enough, given statements made by Ukrainian politicians and the people on the street, their relatively pro-LGBTQ+ stance is a response to Russia's anti-LGBTQ+ policies.
Russia's policies of hate came first; Ukraine's push for greater inclusion came after the war started.
As for the rest, what do you mean by 'corrupted' by Western ideals?
I would also caution that an unprovoked war for territory that breaks international law is a little more than a disagreement. It's very important not to minimize what we're talking about here.
Thanks for engaging!
I find that interesting. Perhaps it’s functioned like a feedback loop: LGBT hate in Russia leading to support in Ukraine, which in turn led to crackdowns and more hate in Russian policy.
By “corrupted,” I mean that, given the support of Ukraine by NATO and the West and their close interactions, much of what they do is then seen by Russia as a reflection of Western ideals.
My last sentence was a general one. I understand that this is a war over territory, yet this can still be simplified as a disagreement between two sides. I’m more so mentioning my framework in viewing any conflict, be it a small, surface-level disagreement or full-scale war.
Another way to look at it is that all states, regardless of ideology, create propaganda in times of war to bolster morale, be it spoken phrases or visual posters. Looking at both sides’ reporting, both state and independent, allows for a fuller picture of the situation.
I suppose I’ll also mention that while I prefer to be unlabeled, I do fall under the LGBT community under many definitions. I support equality regardless of ethnicity, gender, or religion.
I appreciate you taking the time to expound! I see what you're saying now.
And I myself also fall under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, albeit under the A. No need to take a label if it doesn't suit you, for sure!
You're right that Putin isn't stupid - but that doesn't mean the reasons that he does things are good reasons.
He's not a strategist, he's a gambler.
It's also worth remembering that Putin sees his own interests and Russia's interests as being one and the same, and that Russia's fate is tied to his. He believes that as long as HE is doing well then all will be well in the Russian world, and that Russia's success begins with him maintaining power.
That leads to incredibly screwed up priorities and resource allocation even before we get into the structural incompetence of Russian institutions and the endemic corruption and dishonesty in those same institutions.
And at the end of the day, Putin's Russia is the aggressor in this war - just because the aggressor thinks they have a good reason to do what they're doing, doesn't mean we have to accept their reasoning as valid.
Nobody thinks they're the villain, but what Russia is doing in Ukraine is truly evil. They commit war crimes multiple times a day, and this war will end the moment Russia decides to keep its military inside their own borders.
There's no moral equivalency between the Russian cause and the Ukrainian cause in this war. One side is fighting for their homes, their families, and for a future where their country is able to thrive as part of a rules-based world where human decency matters.
The other side is Russia, who is engaging in genocide and the only reason this war isn't bloodier is that the Putinist way of doing things has led to so much embezzlement and institutional failure that their government and military struggles to do anything particularly well.
Russia is one of the least healthy, fastest aging, least productive, least innovative, and lowest-trust societies on the planet, with the living standards to match.
Ukraine doesn't want to be forcibly absorbed into that mess again.
Where I said "nobody thinks they're the villain" I meant "nobody thinks they themselves are the villain"
Russia is the villain in this conflict. Hands down.
Hey! Thanks for engaging.
I don't see Putin as reckless. His actions are often embroiled in geopolitical issues, like NATO expansion, historical trauma, and broken security guarantees. (See my article tomorrow for more about this.) His reasoning is propaganda-laden, but not irrational.
While I don't deny that Russia is aggressive, I don't support the "Ukraine is morally superior" claim either. This "good vs evil" framing without nuance is an oversimplification. Western interventions (like in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Libya, etc.) also caused civilian harm; complexity matters, even if this means acknowledging uncomfortable truths about both sides.
I talk about this much more in my article tomorrow, but Russia's claims are not wholly unfounded. Russia amplifies claims of far-right elements in Ukraine (e.g., Azov Brigade, Da Vinci Wolves, the Right Sector during Euromaidan, etc.), while Ukraine and the West downplay or ignore them entirely. I don't deny Ukraine's struggle, but I don't see it as morally pure either.
Obviously, far-right elements do not mean the entire state supports neo-Nazism, and it would be unscholarly to claim that is the case. Yet the facts of the matter cannot be ignored, nor the fact that Ukraine has ignored the presence of these ideologies rather than condemning them.
As for the far-right elements in Ukraine, this is not nearly the issue that *checks notes* Russian-aligned sources insist it is.
I'm not a subject matter expert in the process that integrated groups like Azov into the Ukrainian military, I'm not convinced that you are either and I would caution that you may be unintentionally propagating Russian disinformation, or at best putting out analysis based on information that was out of date before Russia began their full-scale invasion in February 2022.
And Russia is the source of a boatload of the funding & messaging for far-right radicals throughout most of the western world, and places Russia controls turn into genuine shit holes where things like running water is a luxury hospitals don't need. They don't get to point fingers.
Frankly, it worries me when someone sees this conflict as morally neutral - Russia likely killed 50,000-100,000 Ukrainian civilians in Mariupol alone by the end of April 2022.
I've seen the pictures and videos from Bucha, where Russian soldiers systematically raped, tortured, and murdered hundreds of men, women, and children for the crime of existing as Ukrainians.
The fact that Western interventions in other places hurt people does not excuse Russian atrocities in Ukraine or anywhere else (ahem Syria).
And they certainly do not detract from the righteousness of Ukraine's fight for survival - their families are behind them and the people trying to murder their families are in front of them. Ukraine will fight with their fists if they have to, and shame on us that we haven't done more to help them.
Here's the thing: those geopolitical issues that you've mentioned are all Russian propaganda talking points - there's a sprinkling of truthiness that sounds plausible, but it's nonsense that the Russians & their mouthpieces say for OUR "benefit"
To disguise from the fact that Russia thinks a defensive posture involves militarily and politically subjugating all of Eastern Europe and most of Central Asia.
Russia doesn't get a vote on what other countries democratically decide to ASK to join NATO. Most of those countries asked to join specifically as a guarantee against Russian aggression - not because they wanted to someday attack Russia first.
The "historical trauma" yes, touching. Russia doesn't have a monopoly on misery, though they are quite possibly the world's leading exporter of it. What about the traumas the Russians have inflicted on the people living in Eastern Europe?
And if historical claims nobody recognizes as valid any more are now valid again as long as the claimant really wants the thing back, then by Putin's own reasoning, China has a claim to Manchuria.
There was a joke told years ago, during the Cold War. An American goes up to a Soviet, and compliments their propaganda. The Soviet says, “Thank you, but yours is better!” The American is then confused, asking, “What? We don’t have propaganda.”
This is reflected here, not to mention the irony in claiming a certain state does not have the right to a vote on geopolitics by someone who supports democracy.
As for historical trauma, you’re forgetting that the Soviets were hit the hardest, and the fact that without them, you’d be speaking German and heiling Hitler.
The immediate dismissal of Russian claims as unfounded without any sort of open discussion is the very failure of the West. Yes, Russia has amplified claims beyond proportion, but those same claims contain hidden truths that should not be ignored.
And a lot of those Soviets who died in WWII were Ukrainians - and when the red army recaptured Soviet territory, they often went on violent rape and murder sprees against their own citizens that they had just "liberated"
As to Russia not having a vote about who joins NATO - this is about the fact that the Russian State has no right to tell a Lithuanian citizen that Lithuania is not allowed to join NATO, even if Lithuania wants to, and all the NATO members (who do get a vote because they're in the organization) agree that they can join.
Russia is outside the club, largely for reasons of their own creation.
Russia gets a vote on how they respond to other countries joining NATO - the other side always gets a vote - but they could also be nicer to their neighbours and then those neighbours might not feel so strongly about joining NATO. Russia doesn't get to tell a quarter billion people who don't live in Russia who their own to countries are allowed to associate with and how their own countries do business inside their own borders.
And, frankly, if not for enormous amounts of lend-lease aid from the rest of the Allied powers which they never paid back, the USSR and the red army fighting on the Eastern front would have been in a race to whether they froze to death or starved to death first.
Not to mention that the USSR started the war on the Nazi's side, invading Poland with the Nazis while the Molentov-Ribbentrop pact. It's entirely possible that without the Red Army helping the Nazis topple the Polish state, the Nazis could have been embroiled in Poland for much longer than they were, and they wouldn't have been able to commit as much armour & artillery to the French theatre.
I highly recommend listening to lectures by Dr. Sarah (Sally) Payne regarding maritime powers and continental powers, and how the different ways they approach things are shaped by the geography in question.
Also, for insight into Putinism, Vlad Vexler is a great resource - we in the West often make the mistake of thinking that Putin thinks like we do he just has different values and interests. Fortunately, Putin and his entourage of hand-picked toadies, makes the same mistake in reverse.