>> What is this piece of garbage doing on Freerepublic spewing its wild defamatory lies? <<
It seems to me that there have been quite a few of these pro-Putin articles on FR over the past month or two.
Therefore, I’m wondering how many of the pretend-to-be “Freepers” who post this propaganda are actually professional hackers from St. Petersburg, financed lock, stock and barrel by the Russian FSB?
Most of the people that post this garbage aren't new. We just have a small percentage of folks that have allowed themselves to become Putinista's. It's mostly conspiracy theorist, libertarian types who think this whole thing is a giant EU, Neo-Con (aka Jew) conspiracy having to do with fiat currency, gold reserves, etc, etc. There are also a few social conservatives that are willing to look past Putin's anti-democratic oppression of any opposition because they like his positions defending traditional marriage and attacking the homo-lobby. They just don't seem to appreciate that the enemy of my enemy isn't always my friend.
In the end, this isn't going to work out for Putin/Russia. Most ethnic Ukrainians, 75% of Ukraine, are now so bitter about what Russia has done that they will almost certainly push harder than ever to join up with the West. Putin may be able to keep the Crimea, but he's effectively lost the bulk of the rest of the Ukraine for generations.