I would probably agree about the Mafia state. It was that way inder the Soviets. It was certainly that way under Yeltsin. Putin inherited this mafia state and bent it to his will. I will admit that he is despotic. But I also think that he is a benevolent despot, and that he is a patriot who has the best interests of Russia in mind.

Ask your friends what Russia was like in the 1990's when life expectancy had fallen by 7 years and people were starving and unemployed. Ask them seriously whether life is better now under Putin than under the "West-friendly" regime of Yeltsin. Seriously. I wonder how they will respond.

As far as a "mafia state" is concerned, I know all about this, as I grew up in the USA. The great Noam Chomsky has described the USA as a "mafia don" for years. And that is just in terms of foreign policy.

In terms of domestic policy, the US system is one of "inverse totalitarianism", or "corporate oligarchy". Wall Street and the Deep State basically direct everything. Studies have shown that it does not matter whom the people elect, nothing the average people want to happen ever happens, and things just get steadily shittier for the 99% while the 1% get right and richer.

I have already written one article about Biden's bullshit lie about "democracy versus autocracy" - I intend to write more, because I think it may be true that, for the vast majority of Americans, having an autocrat who wields power but worries about getting deposed would be FAR superior to the US system of hidden power and immutable and abiding deep state interests who run things from the shadows with 100% impunity, unseen, unthreatened, as invisible as they are invincible.