Well, thanks for answering the question, anyway. I was going to write a longer response, but really there is no point - our basic values are too far apart.
Ah, yes, values...
As I wrote in another thread:
... politics is not some lofty activity of "caring for the common good," whatever that might be, as the really naive would like to believe, but politics is a brutal contact sport of promoting interests of your constituents.
Has Britain, for instance, not done anything shameful in its recent past?
As for your example about journalists in Russia (unless you were referring to Saudi Arabia?), why everyone in the West thinks Putin is behind every single individual case? What is happening to journalists is deplorable of course, but there are many players that can be behind it, besides him. It is a nation of 150 million, with many different interests, from local to federal, and many different players, from local mafia, to local politicians, local "biznismeni" to all those at the federal level. Too many people that might be annoyed by a particular journalist's writings. Given the general lower level of democracy and rule of law, it is too easy to take the "justice" in their own hands. I lived there eight years, and met many of those players first hand. Trust me, some of them were quite capable of snapping your neck for much less annoyance, like cutting them off in traffic, or not moving out of their way fast enough, let alone an article affecting them.
