Whataboutism exists to show fucks like you contradictions in your beliefs, not to excuse what is happening. Opposition is so strong in any capitalist country nowadays, isn't it? Freedom of speech is universal right, until couple of journalists say something too "freespeachy". Sure, making people to vote between two indistinguishable candidates is fine, but when one guy wins throughout the years - FREEDOM IS LOST, AUTHORITARIANISM IS ON THE RISE. Play pretend game of thinking that these two are so different, that one can be called democracy and other is fascistic dystopia is really funny.
AND OF COURSE THERE IS A FUCKING NAZI SLOGAN IN THE FLAIR, HOW VERY DEMOCRATIC.
If Russia was such a cartoonishly evil dictatorship, they wouldn't be having elections at all. But then, if you try to articulate that Putin is simply popular the conversation shifts from "Putin is evil" to "All Russians are evil"
I also love how libs avoid discussing the fact that Ukraine, which they tout as fighting for their values, cancelled elections.
Zelensky is basically an unelected dictator at this point.
quite literally
After outlawing opposing political parties.
Also the whole thing about how russians are just grabbing people off the streets to throw on the front line when one country in the war is actually doing conscription and it isn't Russia.
No you see, it's to trick all those Russians into thinking they have a democracy, they're all brainwashed you see, which means the US has to invade them to install a real democracy in their country, because they just don't know what that looks like (Just ignore the last time the US did that to them, creating their current situation in the first place)
Just once I'd like to get an actual response from one of the libs who say that all russians deserve to be discriminated against, ostracized from the international community, and even bombed because they aren't doing anything to stop their obviously evil government from committing war what that means for Americans after Iraq and Afghanistan.
So far it's a 100% succes rate of "whataboutism"