Is there an echo in here?
Different times bret…
Yes Lincs, I never like to accept the first theory that the establishment and media puts out, like you do…Because there’s always something behind the headlines.
It is always necessary to be sceptical. And its good to look beyond the headlines or the story being promoted by one side. However, when all reviews and checks and cynicism still comes up with the same answer then … there’s your answer.
I’d even agree that the press, media, commentators and politicians were too happy in the past to ignore the problems with Putin and his oligarch cronies. And to take money or oil from them. It was too convenient to not mention the assassinations, the corruption and money laundering and the disappearances. Or Putin’s own false flags that he blamed on Chechins to justify that war. But invading Ukraine simply to re-instate a pro-Kremlin corrupt president and stop Ukraine moving to closer to NATO and the EU was too much. Bad info about Putin did not suddenly appear. It was there all along. After Ukraine it simply moved to the forefront.
agreed - he longs for the great empire Russia again and wants to be an emperor in robes!! trouble is his effin legs are too short!
You could be right about Putin Lincs I don’t really know…However, if you look at a thread on this forum about Margaret Thatcher, some people hate the very bones of her and to others she is a messiah. Seldom is a leader liked by everyone and the only true way of knowing whether Putin is an asset to Russia is to listen to the common people. Do they feel oppressed and bullied by a heartless dictator? Has their lot in life changed for the better? In the past the Russians have had no hesitation to unseat a ruler. Have they gone soft? Are they happy? Or will Putin’s reign come to a sticky end with another revolution…Either way, I don’t expect to get a true analysis in the western media.
Bunch of stuff to consider in your post.
Regarding Thatcher, yes she was loved and hated. But no-one accused her of crimes or stealing wealth from the nation. We can argue the toss about whether Thatcher mis-spent the revenues from North Sea oil. But what she did not do was pocket a large slice of these revenues. Its estimated that Putin pocketed $200m just from the collapse of Yukos.
And related to all that is how much the country and the people are benefiting from Russia’s enormous mineral and oil wealth. Not a lot. They should. There should be fantastic infrastructure, hospitals, schools, etc. There is not. And if the population woke up to this fact (which is difficult as they are fed daily lies through entirely state run media) they can’t do anything. Opposition is killed off. Who would dare to try to unseat Putin when he runs the secret service, the army, the police - everything including gangs and militia?