- this one is good! Russians never called recent events an “invasion”. Truly Mr. Freud was right! You know the truth, you want to share it but you’re too afraid. Georgia is a PRISON. It can not be invaded, it can only be liberated!

17. Your entire society is an evil house of cards

- not an EVIL EMPIRE anymore? Just a house of cards? Such a pity! House of cards… Colossus on clay feet as Hitler said? Same rhetorics… Are you a Nazi? I didn’t believe when Russians wrote about Nazism being popular in some formerly poor European countries on OFFICIAL level…

18. …run by a corrupt, kleptocratic, plutocracy

- are any other governments really different? Russian one is definetely not the worst case!

19. Your public attitudes to the west are very reminiscent of 1930s German attitudes to the outside world: resentful, blaming others, jealous and riddled with neurotic inferiority (and for no reason).

- just compare Medvedef and Saakashvili! That’s obviously Medvedef that looks and acts like Hitler in the 1930′s!

20. A closer inspection of your own country’s faults would be a better idea

- there are hundreds of such inspectors coming to Russia every month. All work really hard. Tax-payers in US and EU pay for their expenses plus some extras for living in third rate hotels, eating junk food, breathing bad air etc.

21. the lack of any political opposition internally

- are they all already in Gulag?

22. effective state control of the media

- oh yes, US and EU media is remarkably independent!

23. the lamentable state of the judiciary

- that’s true. Punishment is very gentle. Criminals buy freedom just like in the USA. No death penalties. Hopefully Russia will work on it.

24. I am no apologist for Americans

- how can you be while living on welfare and being brain-washed?

25. I regret the likely impact this Russian foolishness will have on the US election.

- Clinton bombed Yugoslavia and supported Alban terrorists. Bush bombed Iraq and Afganistan and co-operates with both Kosovo/Alban mafia and Afgan drug-dealers to name but a few. Democrats are definetely better!

24. Russia wins in the short term by imposing its will but in the long term you will lose

- Well, time will tell

25. Russia has made enemies out of Europeans.

- No. I’m not an enemy of Russia. That’s US propaganda made Russians looking as the enemies in the eyes of some Europeans.

26. For all its many faults America is not run by QUITE such an evil gang of crooks

- America is run by NOT QUITE SUCH AN EVIL, but still gang of crooks, you want to say? Lesser of evils?

27. None of us have any desire to live in your gulag or to be governed by the despots who run it.

- It’s not my Gulag, but anyway… Ever read statistics regarding Americans emigrating to other countries? Too many real Americans choose other countries to reside. US population is compensated by immigration from formerly poor European countries and the rest of the world. Sh*t always attracts flies…

28. Russia could very easily have assisted in organizing a plebiscite in the breakaway provinces and organized international monitors to ensure that the vote was free and fair.

- Can you name at least one case of elections (plebiscite, vote etc.) that was accepted by the US/UN if the results were not as expected by the West?

29. Russia’s claim to have responded to an attack is utterly bogus. The attack was provoked and was long prepared for.

- Provoked? Long prepared for? So Saakashvili is Russian spy that pulled the trigger? Tell it to your children if you have any!

29. My limited personal response … will be write to my member of parliament and request travel restrictions on Russians entering the EU

- Good idea! Russian money will go to other countries then. Your parliament will hardly agree with you.

30. and the expropriation of the assets of Russian oligarchs.

- That’s what Russian people dream about! Start with Mr. Berezovsky, Khodorkovsky and Abramovich first. Russia doesn’t need them anymore.

- See the reply above. Nothing else to add.

2. The west has no interest in invading Russia (and never had any).

- Cheating and lying all the way. Learn history, my dear European intellectual!

3. Russia is still very much a 3rd world country.

- That depends on criteria used. You’d better refer to recent STRATFOR report.

4. If it attacked the west it would be DECISIVELY defeated in any non-nuclear war.

- Who said it will be a non-nuclear war? It will, just read Russia’s new military strategy officially approved few years ago. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki we all know nukes can be used in ANY war.

5. …mainly because of the west’s overwhelming superiority in technology

- ha-ha! West’s superiority in technology results in the weapons sales figures to other countries. Compare Russia’s sales of arms in 1998 and 2008. This is what foreign customers choose. And how come that the West hires Russian spaceships to deliver cargos to ISS? Read this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station
maybe you’ll understand something about West’s superiority in technology

6. Why would the west want to attack a 3rd world country?

- Why the West wanted to invade former Yugoslavia? Irag? Afganistan? And dozens smaller countries?

7. In the West there is a strong support for the principle of self-determination.

- Oh, really? Tell it to Serbians!

8. …and the greatest aggressor the world has ever seen –which violated that principle at every opportunity– was the USSR, with Russia in the driving seat.

- yes, this is the key to all current speculations! Once again, learn history, man!

9. So, you want to explore who dares? Invade a NATO country.

- Typically paranoidal way of thinking! The answer is between the lines – THERE IS SOMEONE WHO DARES! But why should Russia invade to explore if Russia ALREADY KNOWS who is that?

10. …even I was shocked at the poverty in Russia, even in Moscow.

- In 1998? When your beloved Eltsin ruled Russia? That’s true. Anyway, everything depends on where and what to search for. Engaged and imaginative person can easily find a lot of sh*t even in Buckingham palace 8-)))

11. It seemed that many in the west had swallowed lies about the extent of the Russian threat to our freedom.

- that’s correct. Russia never threatens anyone’s freedom!

12. But having seen what Russia did to Poland and others…

- so you’re Polish? That explains a lot!

13. Brutal repression doesn’t need a lot of technology or much of a standard of living. – you’re wrong.

- Really BRUTAL repression DOES NEED a lot of technology! That’s what is all about – take a look at the USA.

14. I haven’t been in Russia for 10 years but, dear boy, you live in a gulag.

- Are you normal? Never knew they had tourist bureaus in Gulag! What about all those Russians travelling the world? Millions of KGB officers, their wives and children? All Mr. Abramovich’s friends? Your opinions were based on 10-year long impressions and newspaper articles. Being brain-washed for ten years means to be considered seriously?

15. The average American or European on welfare is better off.

- Better off what? Better off dead?

I think you don’t understand how wars are fought now. Communism has been defeated so the west has no interest in invading Russia (and never had any). And, by the way, communism defeated itself. It collapsed because it couldn’t compete any longer. It was inefficient, as well as evil.

Russia is still very much a 3rd world country. If it attacked the west it would be DECISIVELY defeated in any non-nuclear war, mainly because of the west’s overwhelming superiority in technology and Russia’s conscript army.

Why would the west want to attack a 3rd world country? This Russian psychosis is beyond sick. The only reason the west would have any interest at all is precisely the one that supposedly lay behind Russia’s invasion of Georgia: to stop a bully imposing its will (on e.g., the baltic states). In the West there is a strong support for the principle of self-determination, and the greatest aggressor the world has ever seen –which violated that principle at every opportunity– was the USSR, with Russia in the driving seat.

So, you want to explore who dares? Invade a NATO country.

I am from a formerly poor European country and even I was shocked at the poverty in Russia, even in Moscow. Everything was so utterly 3rd rate and clapped out it was unbelievable. It seemed that many in the west had swallowed lies about the extent of the Russian threat to our freedom. But having seen what Russia did to Poland and others… “lies” is perhaps putting it strongly. Brutal repression doesn’t need a lot of technology or much of a standard of living. I haven’t been in Russia for 10 years but, dear boy, you live in a gulag. The average American or European on welfare is better off. Your taunts about invasion are laughable. When did you last feel like invading a prison?

Your entire society is an evil house of cards, run by a corrupt, kleptocratic, plutocracy–one that likes to smuggle Russian wealth out of the country and bank it in the west. Your public attitudes to the west are very reminiscent of 1930s German attitudes to the outside world: resentful, blaming others, jealous and riddled with neurotic inferiority (and for no reason). A closer inspection of your own country’s faults would be a better idea, starting with the lack of any political opposition internally, effective state control of the media, the lamentable state of the judiciary etc.

The bottom line for Russia is “How Dare These People Attempt to Assert National Sovereignty Over Their National Territory”… we won’t allow it because we are strong and we will impose our will.

I am no apologist for Americans, indeed I despise the current administration, and I regret the likely impact this Russian foolishness will have on the US election. So Russia wins in the short term by imposing its will but in the long term you will lose big, just like you lost the cold war. Russia has made enemies out of Europeans. I hope you enjoy the consequences. Given a choice between America and Russia it’s no contest. For all its many faults America is not run by QUITE such an evil gang of crooks and its citizens are vastly freer than Russia’s. None of us have any desire to live in your gulag or to be governed by the despots who run it.

Russia could very easily have assisted in organizing a plebiscite in the breakaway provinces and organized international monitors to ensure that the vote was free and fair. The West, in particular the countries that supported Kosovo’s independence, would have had to accept it, and why not?

Russia’s claim to have responded to an attack is utterly bogus. The attack was provoked and was long prepared for.

My limited personal response to Russia’s deliberate preference for military action will be write to my member of parliament and request travel restrictions on Russians entering the EU and the expropriation of the assets of Russian oligarchs.