Just to amplify David's excellent analogy, let me explain a few other things about Russia.

- There will be no Joe Biden elected six months after the protests.
- The entire Russian police state will remain in place even if Putin drops dead tomorrow.

/1 https://twitter.com/dburbach/status/1353122360568786946

- The size of the Russian police apparatus is immense and centralized and is not just a bunch of local police departments

- In Russia, the media is not on the side of the protesters and will do everything it can to minimize them and stay out of Putin's way

/2

- Many of you have tweeted George Floyd's name, as well as Breonna Taylor and others. The fact that you know their names is a huge difference. People will be killed and tortured in Russia and you will never know who they are.

- Yes, Russia *does* target specific groups.

/3

- If you think it's safe to be a person with dark skin in Russia, you're an idiot. As anyone from Central Asia or the Caucasus; I've been there for random "show your papers" stops in Moscow.

- Forget the courts or "I want a lawyer" protests. Good luck with that

/4

Finally, none of this is to say "Russians hurt more when beaten than Black people." This is to say: Stop trivializing *both* struggles by comparing them. I realize that American liberals always want to be The Resistance, The Avengers, The Band of Brothers. That's not this. /5

What the Russians are up against is a far superior force than BLM - or, really, any U.S. protest movement - has ever faced. This is a combination of a mafia and a police state and if you think that's like throwing bottles of piss at the Portland cops, you're an idiot. /6

This is a lethal, well trained police state that Americans cannot begin to imagine with control over state media and the ability to vanish you. This doesn't mean BLM's struggle isn't real. It means: Stop comparing them. Try to be adults, and serious, about democracy. /7

Being *serious* about democracy means recognizing that struggles in one place are not the same as struggles somewhere else. You can be pro-democracy while recognizing the advantages you have in your struggle that others don't. Grow up, be resolute, and try to learn something. /8x