its not just propaganda , its simply the arrogance with ignorance . Western libs feel good when US invades and destroys other governments , genocides the people but Russia can’t talk about their own security issues . Its simply Putin this or Putin that. Putin has always higher popularity than these nutjobs who are ruling the west and Navalny is the not the opposition of Putin.

Luckily I was innoculated against it since my stepdad is Navajo but I can also understand how these people fall prey to it.

Why? The Western political system is more resilient and powerful, but that means that the individual people who are part of that system (including the heads of state) have less power over that system they can exert by themselves.

Is the Western capitalist class more powerful? Yes. Are the political systems that function for their benefit more powerful? Also yes. But are the individuals who temporarily serve as heads of state more powerful within that system? Resoundingly no.

And yeah, the relationship between the Russian capital class and that of the Western capital class and the respective workers under their thumb is identical, but that doesn’t mean that the relationship they have with the political leaders is identical. In the West politicians are arguably more like well paid employees of the capitalists, while in Putin’s case there’s a more equal footing.

Does that make a difference to the people at the bottom? No. Does it make those situations identical? Also no.