But presumably did it a peaceful and non-exclusionary way.

Red and Blue Army!

I have no doubt that Putin will take this as an opportunity to round up the usual suspects.

One more point

Can you provide us with a day by day account of how his opponents are at risk every day?

I know, I agree. I was just posting a parody of the ridiculous sort of dissembling nonsense that a certain poster on here specialises in.

More than 8,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria during 2023. A report gives details of killings, kidnappings, and forced disappearances of largely Christian populations in several parts of Nigeria.

The killings were carried out by a range of factions, including Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen who were responsible for at least 5,100 Christian deaths, Boko Haram and their allies with 500 deaths, Jihadist Fulani Bandits with 1,600 deaths and ‘Islamic-inspired’ security forces with 1,000 Christian deaths.

The killings are part of a long-standing war against Christians, dating back to 2009 when Boko Haram started its campaign in Africa’s most populous nation. Nigeria has experienced more 150,000 religiously motivated civilian deaths since 2009. In addition there has been the destruction of tens of thousands of homes of civilians, more than 18,500 Christian places of worship, 1000 religious shrines and 2,500 Christian/Traditional education centres. During the same period, over 59,000 square kilometers of land that belonged to native Christians and non-Muslims were taken over and their inhabitants displaced and expelled.

Boko Haram group and its affiliates were responsible for the kidnapping and disappearance of at least 22,500 Christians between 2009 and 2014, during which time they also demolished or set fire to 13,000 churches and 1,500 Christian schools and compelled over 1.3 million others to leave to avoid being killed or coerced into Islam. Between 2016 and 2023, more than 30,000 civilians were abducted by Islamic Jihadists and, some say, ‘Islamic-inspired’ security forces.

The Muhammadu Buhari government (2015-2023) and the following Bola Tinubu government have been complicit in the killing of Christians in Nigeria.

Of course the left-wing crackpots on here will just shrug their shoulders and post something about Israel carrying out genocide and Islam being a peaceful religion.

I was there and St Petersburg in 2019, I did not pick up that vibe, people were friendly and happy to talk, but this is just my perception.

I think I mentioned that my Russian friend who lives in the UK says that Putin despite all his nastiness is popular in Russia. Yes he rigged the elections and intimidates and kills people etc. But that doesn't mean that he does not have a supporter base.

Russia, apart from a handful of years, has never been a democracy and has always been ruled by autocrats, Putin being the latest. Many Russian still yearn for the good old days of the Soviet Union.

When I was in Uzbekistan last year I was surprised at how pro Russian they were, they did not want the Soviet Union to collapse.

This is the problem we have in the west, we assume that the rest of the world wants western style democracy and that all dictators are unpopular with their people. I am not sure that is true, I wonder how many Iraqi's regret the fall of Saddam or Libyans the fall of Qaddafi.

Edited by Badger11 (26 Mar 2024 7.45am)

One more point