On Russia and Russian bloggers

The blogger behind the Ruxpert project wants to give straight answers minus the propaganda.  It's up to the readers if they want to believe him or not.

Elizabeth Piper writing at Reuters:
Oleg Makarenko wants to set the story straight and answer the "Russophobes" who he says are trying to split and humiliate Russia.

His website Ruxpert (www.ruxpert.ru) may not command the viewer numbers of Wikipedia which inspired it, but inside Russia it holds a prominent position in what Makarenko calls an information war with the West.

As Vladimir Putin has embraced an increasingly nationalist ideology in his third term as president, evidenced by his seizing of Crimea from Ukraine, Makarenko's anti-Western ideas have become mainstream. His website, designed to be a "Patriot's handbook", has mirrored and presaged Putin's thinking....

.......Makarenko, a prominent blogger in Russia under the name Fritz Morgen, said his website and others like it were needed after the collapse of the Soviet Union enabled America "to swallow countries up like they were nuts, one after the other".....

.....Makarenko started his blog in 2007 and set up Ruxpert last year. He says the site runs on contributions from readers and articles are written for free.

"Russia has an ideology of traditional conservatism. People have a choice - on the one hand they see the West, where there is individualism taken to the extreme, tolerance to the extreme, gay parades, the lack of a traditional family," Makarenko said.

"Russia has more traditional values. I cannot say that this is a route of development that offers a brighter future, but it is not the dead-end that Western liberalism faces."......