Indeed, totally agree with you. Hence the intense pushback from citizens all over the world. And yeah, thanks for Bitcoin.

Regarding hog cosmetics: The difference between the US/Canada/EU and Russia is that in the West we celebrate criticism, we have a Tradition of Criticism--which goes all the way back to people like Galileo, Copernicus, Martin Luther and, hell, Mark Twain. There's no method of criticism in Russia (or China, or North Korea) that isn't intermediated. If a solider asks questions, they get killed, if they defect, their family gets killed (or silenced in some way). Bitcoin, again, is a digital extension of that Tradition of Criticism where all Western progress derives from.

I agree with the negative points about centralized governance, but I also see more reasons to be optimistic than ever.