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Putin’s Rambling State of the Nation Speech Unnerves Russia’s Elites
TIME ^ | December 04, 2014 | Simon Shuster

Posted on 12/05/2014 12:05:29 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper

Vladimir Putin’s state of the nation address on Thursday looked at first like a flashback to the not-so-distant past. It was held in St. George’s Hall, the same ornate room in the Kremlin where the Russian President announced his decision in March to annex the region of Crimea. The same honor guard opened the gilded doors when it came time for the President to enter, and Putin sprung into the hall with his usual strut, at once cocky and contained, like a boxer trotting into the ring. He also surprised exactly no one by repeating his hackneyed slogans of defiance toward the West: “It is pointless trying to talk to Russia from a position of strength,” he declared. And later on: “No one can gain military superiority over Russia!”

But there was one big difference: the reaction. The audience’s composition was the same as before, the rows packed with the same sycophantic lawmakers, technocrats, and propagandists who attended Putin’s blistering Crimea speech on March 18. But the applause Putin received this time was a lot more muted. Not a single standing ovation interrupted him, and even the most crowd-pleasing quips – “Our army,” Putin said, “is polite but terrifying” – hardly got more than a chuckle and a golf clap.

(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Russia
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1 posted on 12/05/2014 12:05:29 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper
West behind falling ruble and oil prices - Russian spy chief
“Any speculation has specific schemes and the schemes have a number of participants.”
2 posted on 12/05/2014 12:11:42 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper
“The policy of containment was not invented yesterday. It has been carried out against our country for many years,” he said. “Whenever someone thinks that Russia has become too strong or independent, these tools are quickly put into use.”

Queeg

3 posted on 12/05/2014 12:16:49 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper

The Russkies screwed up because once the Ukrainians got organized they halted the Russian advance— it wasn’t even the Ukrainian army in general that made the biggest gains, but volunteer militias such as Right Sector, which even has Jewish Brigades working under it, who were performing the most dangerous tasks and with zero pay, but for the glory of God and country.

All that momentum the Russkies had with Crimea was lost and is now entirely on the Ukrainian side, despite horrible economic conditions and a lack of supplies. At least 5,000 Russian soldiers are reported to be dead, not counting so-called “separatists” from Neo-Nazi and Stalinist like organizations who came into Ukraine at Moscow’s bidding.

Now the Russkies just have a sliver of land in East Ukraine compared to what they had just a few months ago when the Ukrainian army was basically worthless, and they keep getting chopped to pieces every time they mount an attack, and all this because the Russkies are too afraid to give up the fiction (that nobody but Paul-Bots and Putinistas believe) that these forces are merely “separatists”, so they won’t commit any airpower or launch cruise missiles to take out Ukrainian targets. (Though the average Ukrainian patriot, I expect, would still make it a bloody war for them.)

Vlad the Czar and expert strategist did not achieve his military objectives, objectives that the Russkies had been preparing for literally for years and yet still couldn’t cut it. Now the Chechens are even starting to get restless and are actively gunning for Kadyrov and the other Russian puppets who currently occupy their country.


4 posted on 12/05/2014 12:16:52 AM PST by Greetings_Puny_Humans (I mostly come out at night... mostly.)
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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans

Dead man walking?


5 posted on 12/05/2014 12:22:40 AM PST by txhurl (No more taglines)
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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans
Stopped by women and children.
6 posted on 12/05/2014 12:23:46 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper
Stopped by women and children.
“Our army,” Putin said, “is polite but terrifying”
7 posted on 12/05/2014 12:26:46 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Everyone should be unnerved by this guy. He is one of a handful of people who could by mistake or intent take an action that could destroy the world as we know it.

We have a fool of our own who belongs to the same dangerous club. :-(


8 posted on 12/05/2014 12:36:51 AM PST by Bobalu (Please excuse the crudity of this model. I didn't have time to build it to scale or paint it.)
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To: Berlin_Freeper
President Vladimir Putin Thursday accused the West of exploiting the Ukraine crisis to undermine an increasingly confident Russia, and said that Crimea was “sacred” to Moscow.

My PRECIOUS!!!!

9 posted on 12/05/2014 12:54:18 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-04/putin-says-crimea-is-russia-s-temple-mount-sacred-for-country.html


10 posted on 12/05/2014 12:57:02 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Bobalu

What you say is true,

But with that collection of reprobate minds we have operating in the White House, I’m not sure any would actually believe your statement, the idea that something catastrophic is not impossible, seems to be far removed from that mindset, and that is very dangerous, and this is a very dark time,


11 posted on 12/05/2014 12:58:43 AM PST by captmar-vell
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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans
All of which tends to indicate the Russian military isn't well suited to launch new invasions into Poland or the Baltics.

A letter from Lincoln to General Hooker is relevant here. "Only those generals who gain successes, can set up dictators. What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship."

Dictators, which sort of describes Putin, cannot survive politically, and sometimes literally, major defeat.

Russia's finances are headed down the toilet due to energy prices.

12 posted on 12/05/2014 1:00:26 AM PST by Sherman Logan
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To: Berlin_Freeper
For the record, the aboriginal sacred space of Russian Christendom is Kiev. Let’s hope Putin doesn’t start talking about that.
13 posted on 12/05/2014 1:00:30 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper
Vladimir Putin excoriated the West in a speech on Thursday, comparing his foreign opponents to Adolf Hitler
14 posted on 12/05/2014 1:05:18 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper
West behind falling ruble and oil prices - Russian spy chief
“Any speculation has specific schemes and the schemes have a number of participants.”
"They take it out on me as if it's my fault."
15 posted on 12/05/2014 1:10:46 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper
"Luck," wrote the U.S. gonzo-journalist Hunter S. Thompson, "is a very thin wire between survival and disaster, and not many people can keep their balance on it." Russian President Vladimir Putin, who Thursday gave the most pitiful state-of-the-nation speech of his extraordinarily lucky career, is falling off the wire.
16 posted on 12/05/2014 1:20:25 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper
Ukraine, pro-Russia rebels announce December 9 truce
17 posted on 12/05/2014 1:24:41 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper
Russia lifts ban on importing products of Kalinkovichi Meat Processing Plant
18 posted on 12/05/2014 1:25:30 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper
The ruble crumbled 2 percent against the U.S. dollar in the opening minutes of Putin's annual state of the nation address to Russian lawmakers and fell further through the day to trade at 54.5 in the early evening.
19 posted on 12/05/2014 1:30:47 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper
The ruble crumbled 2 percent against the U.S. dollar in the opening minutes of Putin's annual state of the nation address
"They take it out on me as if it's my fault."
20 posted on 12/05/2014 1:34:27 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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