The US has imposed sanctions on Russia, damaging their economy, and not exactly helping our own, which is in serious trouble. The reason given is Russia’s alleged “invasion” of the Crimea, a region with precisely zero importance to the US, but traditionally a part of Russia, not the Ukraine, and vital for Russia’s access to the Black Sea and beyond. Neocons clamor for even more sanctions, likening Putin to Hitler, who was allowed into the Sudetenland after assuring Chamberlain that he had no further ambitions, and who then occupied all of Czechoslovakia and much, much more. But, aside from the fact that Russia can now retaliate (and has) by stopping natural gas supplies to Western Europe, there is the ever-present danger that deteriorating relations between Putin and the West could ultimately lead to the nuclear holocaust that no sane person wants. Russia’s conventional forces are much degraded and offer no real threat to Western Europe; they would have a hard time defeating even the Ukraine. But her nuclear forces are deadly. Furthermore, our hostility has arguably driven Russia into a closer alliance with China, an alliance that it not as natural as it might seem, for China is increasingly aggressive and shares a long border with Russia.

Note that Putin has let the situation in the Ukraine and the pro-Russian separatist provinces simmer for many months without invading or even bombing the Ukraine. Note that he also defeated and overran Georgia in August, 2008, due to a quarrel over the provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. At no time did the Russians bomb Georgian cities or murder civilians or prisoners, and, unlike Hitler in Europe, Putin’s forces withdrew from most of Georgia, and have stayed out since – hardly the mark of a would-be world conqueror. And, even if Putin did threaten Western Europe, why should the US defend wealthy and powerful nations like Germany? We no longer need NATO – and NATO no longer needs us.

Nor is it fair to compare Putin, the man, with Hitler or other conquerors. True, he is a ruthless strongman, and Russia suffers from corruption and crony capitalism (as do we), as well as a declining population and economic problems inherited from the Soviet era. There is suspicion that Putin may have had several of his critics murdered – perhaps he took lessons from Bill Clinton. But there is no more Gulag, and no mass murder in Russia. And there have been no massive, taxpayer-funded bailouts of banks deemed “too big to fail.” Also, lobbyists in Moscow have nothing like the clout and the financing of the ones who infest D.C.

Unlike our Mullah in D.C., Putin seems to at least be trying to improve the Russian economy, developing the energy sector in particular (our own King will not allow fracking on public land, and has declared war on coal). During Putin’s first term as President of Russia, incomes grew by a factor of 2.5, and the economy grew for eight years. Russia has a flat income tax of only 13%, compared to our high taxes and bewildering tax laws, and Russia’s profits tax (equivalent to our corporate income tax) is low, encouraging investment.

It is increasingly obvious that our government is virtually waging war on Christianity, and forcing a radical homosexual agenda down our throats, and indoctrinating our school children in the glories of perversity. But Christianity is actually encouraged in Russia, and Putin attends services on religious holidays; he may not be sincere, but at least he never attended any Russian equivalent of “Reverend” Wright’s First Church of Black Racism. In 2012 and 2013 Putin backed legislation against the kind of homosexual propaganda that is encouraged in the US under Hussein Obama.

In the US, our public schools and universities seem hell-bent on dumbing down and morally degrading young Americans, teaching them about the glories of Islam and the beauty of sexual perversion – and little else. Public schooling is generally compulsory, and home schooling is strongly discouraged. Some home schoolers, especially Christians, gun owners, preppers, and similar “extremists” have received visits from the busybodies of Child “Protective” Services, and even had their children taken from them. But in Russia home schooling is actually encouraged, and children taught at home are allowed to use public school libraries and laboratories and take exams for graduation and receive diplomas.

As noted above, preppers are viewed with suspicion here in our former Republic, and living off the grid is discouraged, and even outlawed in some cities. Our wondrous EPA is gradually extending its extra-Constitutional authority to any body of water, no matter how small, even on private land, and its emissions regulations are making almost all wood stoves illegal. By contrast, in Putin’s Russia there is nothing comparable to the EPA, and citizens can grow and stockpile food and heat their homes with wood stoves.

Note that I am not saying that we should trust Putin. Unlike some, I cannot look into his soul and read his mind. But we have done much to alienate him; how would we like it if Putin formed a military alliance with Mexico and placed missiles there, even defensive missiles? Yet the US and NATO have surrounded Russia. Consider this: Russia is not a natural enemy of America. They do not claim Alaska, and only a few cranks in the US still claim Wrangell Island. Putin even tried to warn us of the Boston Marathon bombers, but our government, just like before 9/11, ignored the warning. Rather than making Russia our enemy, perhaps we could learn a few things from Putin…like the importance of leaving the citizens alone to live their lives as they see fit.