It's a big, beautiful constitution. Absolutely, it is. It guarantees democracy. It says its "supreme value" is individual rights and freedoms. It promises political diversity, equality before the law, free speech, free elections, human dignity, privacy, freedom from torture, and the inviolability of the home. How can you go wrong with rights like these?

It's the world's greatest legal document. The best. Until you find out it's the Russian constitution. Too bad. The promises in that document are about as trustworthy as being told your job is safe by President Donald Trump.

Now, with Trump questioning whether he has to obey our constitution, it might be well to remember the sad—the very sad—story of what happened when Russian President Vladimir Putin decided he didn't have to follow the parts of the Russian constitution he didn't like.

Ask the family of Putin opponents Boris Nemtsov and Alexei Navalny how they feel about rights in Russia after the former was shot and the latter was poisoned. Ask the survivors of the rich and powerful men that Putin once assured that their places were safe. At least seven of them died dropping out of windows. Remember, too, those who died in shootings, in mysterious hotel accidents, of illness in prison, or of inexplicable suicide.

Better yet, ask ordinary Russians........

© Newsweek