BERLUSCONI: PUTIN PROUDLY ANTI-COMMUNIST

AGI - online ^ | December 23, 2005

[lizol]

BERLUSCONI: PUTIN PROUDLY ANTI-COMMUNIST

(AGI) - Rome, Italy, Dec. 23 - "Putin is proudly anti-communist", said the Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi during the greetings to the parliamentary press in Villa Madama. According to the Premier, "For Putin, who had his family decimated during the siege of Stalingrad, it was difficult to get to know the outside world, that's why before he was a communist". (AGI)

[lizol]

To much espresso????

[Mike Darancette]

Putin was a Commie before he wasn't a Commie.

[Timedrifter]

Putin was from Leningrad, not Stalingrad.

[GSlob]

Communism is a way of life, characterized by how people relate to one another and to their groups, including their society, in socially important situations. It is not about party membership cards, red banners, hammers and sickles, and marxist slogans in every corner. Putin is about 200% communist by behavior [just like our own clintons are], whatever his [or anyone else's] statements on the subject.

[blackie]

Sí.

[MARKUSPRIME]

Methinks the italian has had a bit to much wine. ;)

[RusIvan]

Putin is about 200% communist by behavior [just like our own clintons are], whatever his [or anyone else's] statements on the subject.==

Clinton is communist? very new thought. DOes it mean that United States elected the communists for president for 2 turn? It sounds even more new:)))).

[GSlob]

Yes. And we are still paying for it.

[The_Reader_David]

Maybe you should all remember that under Putin, Russia got a tax structure which should make American conservatives and businessmen envious, that Putin is the first Russian head of state to visit Mount Athos (a Crown Prince visited in the 19th century, but never a Tsar), and that religious education is now mandated in Russian schools.

Even back when he was KGB, there was an internal debate in the KGB whether state atheism wasn't a hideous mistake (for a reference, you may have to go to print--there was a biography of Putin in The Atlantic Monthly within the past year and a half that discussed this). And Orthodox commentators, including some spiritually perceptive staretzi, all agree his conversion to Orthodoxy is deep and genuine. For doubters, I would also point out that his conversion followed a fire at his dacha in which he almost lost all his children.

I think you are confusing the generically Russian tendancy to favor a strong central government, which predates Soviet Communism by not a few
centuries, which Putin embodies with residual 'communism'.

[lizol]

So what?

See GSlob's post #5.

I couldn't put it better.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

Yes, we all know democratic leaders seize all the countries media outlets and natural resources and put them under state control.

How very democratic.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

How very democratic.

Berlusconi didn't say Putin was democratic, he said he was anticommunist. I think Putin might be a supporter of the Tsar, so long as he was the Tsar!

[Hill of Tara]

Burlusconi is pretty much right, Putin isn't communist, although he is authoritarian.

He wants to be in charge of Russia, but he doesn't seem to have commie beliefs. More like a dictator than a communist lol.

[GSlob]

The only thing the commies believe in is the power, and its abuse [naturally]. All the rest is a sham. Thus any dictator, or would-be dictator, has pretty serious communist leanings as a minimum, and usually is a communist [behaviorally]. Hillary is a commie in this sense.

[Hill of Tara]

Yes, but Hillary is left-wing, whereas Putin has more conservative beliefs.

[Cheburashka]

There is a contingent on Free Republic that believes that any strong Russian leader who opposes American Foreign policy is because of that a Communist.

Of course Putin is not a Communist, but he does oppose U.S. foreign policy. You won't make any headway with these FReepers by trying to point out the differences. They don't see them, they don't care about them.

Putin wants a strong Russia. Since the United States is so overwhelming in power, he feels it has to be cut down to size. I think he also believes that the Soviet Union fell apart due to a clever CIA plot to weaken Russia, so he also feels that weakening the U.S. in any way is payback.

Russians have a history of disasters when under weak rulers, and successes under strong ones.

Ivan the Terrible - Destruction of the Tatar Hordes.

Peter the Great - Defeat of the Swedes.(Sweden as the bully kicking sand on the 98-pound weakling Russians - seems strange, but once that was the way it was.)

Catherine the Great - Destroying the Polish state and the Crimean Tartars. (Same comment on the Poles as on the Swedes above.)

Alexander I - Kicking Napoleon's a-- all the way from Moscow to Paris.

Stalin - Ditto on Hitler back to Berlin.

Contrast with the weak Nicholas II, who lost to the Germans, and Russia was torn to pieces.

Ivan and Stalin were simply monsters. Their subjects suffered terribly under them. Peter and Catherine were simply brutal in their ruling techniques, Catherine less than Peter. Alexander wanted to be a ruler of the people, but never so much that he was actually willing to let go of any of his imperial power.

Because of their history, Russians perceive strength and security in a leader who is autocratic. No question Putin has concentrated power in his own hands. I am wondering if he will set the "George Washington precedent" for Russia when his second term expires, or will hold on to power indefinitely.

But Putin is not a Communist, he opposes the U.S. because of Russian interests as a (vastly diminished) great power.

[Cheburashka]

See my comments in post #18.

[Hill of Tara]

I agree that Russians percieve autocractic leaders as strong leaders (for example, recently a poll revealed that many Russians said they would vote for Stalin if he were still alive.)

But I find it hard to see how the Russians can consider him a strong leader.

Aside from making speeches about Russian nationalism, he hasnt done much else.

After Beslan, he did just about nothing. If Beslan had occured under Stalin, Chechnya probably would be a radioactive crater.

Russia is still being successfully attacked by Chechnyans, and Putin seems unable to do anything about it.

The Russian military is in pathetic shape.

It seems that the only way Russia can remain on the international stage is to sell weapons to countries like Iran and China.

The Russians should get a leader who will actually make Russia into a world-class nation, not just someone like Putin, who says he wants to.