My friend is falling into the "imperialism" trap

A friend of mine has started parroting the idea that big power imperialism is 100% of the worlds problems. He genuinely believes that the US, China, Russia, etc are the root of every problem with a 0% personal responsibility assigned to smaller countries. <br><br>I've tried arguing with him that there is a pretty big difference between your average Russian citizen and Putin, even though Putin does hold a lot of power. I also told him that there is a huge difference between the Russian state and Russian culture, hinting that one is 100% political and the other is, well, cultural.<br><br>Anyways, this isn't going anywhere. He will outright deny any instances of historical big power oppression existing outside of the context of, you guessed it, imperialism. <br><br>My friend is getting pissed off because I am saying that there is a big difference between the Russian state and Russian people, and he is acting like I am being extremely racist saying that. Talking about how that type of thinking is what leads to racism. <br><br>Oh man, I am pissed.