This is the simplest explanation I have found for why some on the left defend Russia
against the US.
http://odessareview.com/ukraine-american-solipsist-mind/
Ukraine And The American Solipsist Mind
By Igor Satanovsky -
December 26, 2016
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For decades, many American intellectuals on the Left concentrated on criticizing the American foreign policy, which theyve perceived (and often rightfully so) as needlessly interventionist. However, this mindset left them ill-prepared to judge the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Sympathetic to the critical voices from abroad, they internalized anti-American propaganda particularly the belief that most political developments in the world are only effects of the application of Americas will.
...
Just like Mr. Chomsky, the American Leftist-at-large found it much harder to understand Ukrainian concerns, or grasp complexities of Ukrainian politics. It might as well have been Western Sahara. Its all about America: projections of the American solipsist mind locked into internal debate over its identity and policies toward the major geopolitical forces like the EU, China, Russia, and the Islamic World. Tens of millions of puppets, remote-controlled from the State Department, must be populating vast areas in between, so why even try?
This bizarre worldview mirrors the opinions expressed by Russian conspiracy buffs & Putins propaganda in the most comic and unfortunate way. Distorted reflections of American power are absorbed and internalized to fortify the perceived might of American thought, will, and ego.