Why isn't Vladimir Putin being talked about in the same breath as Osama and Saddam Hussein?
John Oliver's latest insight into the mess that is Brexit got me thinking about what Vladimir Putin has put the entire world through in the last decade. He's made hate fashionable again and given rise to brutal dictators around the world, turned democracies upside down, families against each other, and alliances inside out. It's essentially your conspiracy theory loving uncle's worst fears about the CIA come to life. Sure, every brutal dictator has an organization that they control - Saddam had the Ba'ath Party and Bin Laden had the Al'Qaeda. You know what Putin has? He has an organization called the Internet Research Agency. And no good can come of an organization with the name IRA can it? Just ask Northern Ireland who has been dealing with the terrorist Irish Republican Army that you shouldn't trust an organization called IRA.
So while we were all distracted, Putin’s IRA has done immeasurable damage to the world’s collective psyche. Since 2016 we’re learning just how much damage the IRA did to not only America, but to the whole world. It started with Chechnya, where they elected Kadyrov based off far right fears about the LGBT community that were cultivated on social media and are being carried out by his followers in an almost genocidal fashion. Yes, we have genocide again thanks to Putin's IRA. Remember, Hitler didn't carry out the Holocaust by himself, he had his most hardcore and insane followers willing to do his every bidding, and that's what these leaders who are getting elected are secretly hoping to accomplish. But they won't say it out loud.
Then it spread to Poland, Hungary and the Ukraine. We should have seen our own fate with the whole Crimea mess and Brexit – where they’re still trying to sort out this madness, and then it moved on to the Philippines and Turkey where they elected Duterte and Erdogan, both ultra far right dictator wannabes. And most recently it spread to Brazil where they elected far right Bolsonaro – with the help of America’s ultra far right, and even France where far right douchebags are protesting the most recent election, because, they read too much trolling and misinformation about France's new president on social media and it warped their minds. And even recently they tried to turn the people of Spain against each other. Even ISIS - yes, ISIS - started mobilizing and organizing through their connections on Facebook and Twitter. They're knocking off countries one by one and you're next.
Hell, we’re learning that Putin’s IRA may have had a hand in the early days of the anti vaccination movement. Yes, thanks to online trolls, deadly diseases from your childhood that were supposedly eradicated decades ago are coming back in a big way because parents refuse to vaccinate their kids. I get it, no one wants to get autism but is bringing back polio and small pox what we really need? Yes, polio and small pox - two diseases that were supposedly eradicated decades ago, are being made fashionable again! Ha ha, well, hey, it's your funeral, anti vaccination crusaders!
And Nazism. Yes, the IRA has made neo Nazism, white supremacy, xenophobia and anti Semitism fashionable again. It’s like we’re watching Hitler’s master plan unfold on a grand scale. Ha, if only the Nazis had access to Facebook, we’d be totally different right now. We’re seeing Jewish cemeteries being vandalized daily. The FBI is reporting that since 2016, we’re seeing an untold rise in hate crimes not just in the USA but around the globe. And teenagers are thinking it's now cool to be a Nazi. Remember that Unite The Right rally where they were carrying pitchforks and torches screaming Neo Nazi slogans and beating the shit out of anyone who's not white? Yeah things like that are becoming common place now thanks to Putin's IRA.
But don’t you dare talk about Putin in the same breath as those other dictators and career terrorists, because he’s got a weapon of his own. Sure those other brutal dictators have their own weapons including gas and bombs, but Putin's weapon of choice is social media. He's using it to turn families against each other, states against their own countries, and countries against their own alliances. Hell if Facebook had been around during the Revolutionary War, we'd be under British rule and France would have given the Statue Of Liberty to Mexico!
And if you ever dare speak out against this regime, Putin will have an answer for you. That’s right, he’s got a programmable smart bomb called “Satan 2” that could wipe out an area the size of Los Angeles. Yet he's pitting us against North Korea, a country whose attempt at making similar weaponry has been absolutely laughable at best. Makes you wonder what happened to Satan one doesn't it?
Sleep tight everybody! 
= new reply since forum marked as read
"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering".
We're currently in the hate phase and are heading toward the suffering phase. I wonder what comes after that? 
...expecting a funny, "family dinner" romp. What I saw was closer to "'1984' meets "Something Wild". But, what was portrayed was way closer to reality than what made me comfortable, previously.
Great movie, highly recommended. But, recognize the short leap from what the movie portrays to REALITY.
