You know... at first glance, I did read the headline as "Puttin'world"...
Posted on 08/29/2014 7:11:23 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Putin's Ukraine actions this year have turned him once again into arguably the world's most fascinating leader. But just as Kremlinology comes back into vogue, the walls of Putin's central Moscow redoubt are becoming as opaque as they were during the time of Brezhnev. ....
The majority of those in the Russian government, exasperated by the sharp western response to the six-month crisis, approve of Putin's actions in Ukraine. But those who disapprove have no forum in which to voice their doubts. ....
Former employees say the level of infighting is remarkable because of the extraordinary array of people working under one roof. "In a country like America where you have a two-party system, the majority of top decision makers would change depending on if it was a Republican or Democrat administration," one former Kremlin employee says. "But the Kremlin is full of people with completely opposing views. You can have people who believe in a fully state-controlled economy working on a project with people who are market-oriented liberals."
Far from finding this a problem, Putin relishes this, according to the source. "He likes it when his subordinates fight each other; he feels it makes him stronger."
Some are uneasy about the way policy has developed, but lack opportunities to voice their worries. Public dissent is a no-go area. A deputy economic development minister who referred to a government policy as "shameful" earlier this month was immediately fired; the more free-thinking members of the government have long been purged.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
"It was not negligence, not excessive tolerance and consideration which prompted Hitler, ordinarily so ready to cut across complexities, to create a tangle of struggles for position and conflicts of authority among the top men of the National Socialist State. There was a method in the madness. In this way Hitler had at his disposal two or three "chiefs" in every field, each with an extensive apparatus. He could ensure execution of his plans by playing one man off against the other or showing preference to one rather than another. His method systematically disorganized the objective authority of the higher departments of government—so that he could push the authority of his own will to the point of despotic tyranny." — Otto Dietrich, The Hitler I Knew, New York: Skyhorse Publishing Inc., 2010, pp. 96-97.
Sounds just like “Obamaworld” doesn’t it?
Putin has no real ideology other than power. He has changed tack with the political winds. Few people understand the nature of power like he does.
And of course it helps that he has taken great care to maintain his personal popularity. With a rating exceeding 85%, he has a status most Western leaders can only envy.
With the country behind him, he can afford to keep all his options open.
IMO Putin and Obama are both shameless, sociopathic grifters.
This is bad enough in itself but when you consider that Putin is a much smarter grifter than Obama is then..oy vey!
There is simply no way that Obama and his cadre of sycophantic yes-men are going to be able to outwit Putin.
I sure wish we had Reagan as president in this troubled time. I REALLY miss the Gipper, don’t you?
Obama’s petulance is bound to get us into big trouble. I’m convinced that Obama stepped up our meddling in Ukraine’s affairs because he was angry at Putin for thwarting his plans to attack Assad in Syria. The present mess is all due to the fact that Obama felt that Putin made him look weak...yup, I’m serious, I actually think Obama is so childish that he would risk the security of the whole damned world because he wants to get back at Putin for dissing him in public.
I fear for our republic, I fear for the safety of the whole world....I hope we survive until new leadership can take the helm.
Actually its the other way around, Putin offered to help Obama wiggle out of bombing Syria that he didn’t want to commit to and understandably felt betrayed when Obama didn’t accommodate his political needs on Crimea.
To top it all off, there was the spectacle of Obama of the no red lines lecturing Putin on the proprieties of geopolitics like he was a child. You can bet there is no real love lost between the two men these days.
A good analysis, perhaps the truth is a mix of both our ideas on the matter?
Either way, this is the makings of a spectacular mess.
I’m more scared of Zero than Putin. At least the latter loves his country.
Obama only fires people for dissent, and doesn’t fire people for incompetence.
Obama hires them for incompetence
You know... at first glance, I did read the headline as "Puttin'world"...
I agree with you.
Your hypothesis explains why Obama hates Natanyahu so much.
Shoot, all Bibi has to do is stand next to Hussein and Hussein looks bad. lol...
If I were a Russian, I would probably like a leader who was putting the empire back together and scaring the hell out anybody in the way, too.
It’s pretty easy to see why the Russians feel about Ukraine the way they do; many nations or empires would try to regain what they once had and only consider it just and normal.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s a Bad Guy, but I wouldn’t bet against him.
They are different. Putin wants to be the powerful leader of a powerful sttate. The Sultan wants to wreck the state of which he is the leader in favor of a world Caliphate in which he could not even be Caliph.
There is no reason to be scared of Putin. Russia does not pose a threat to the US or the world at large. It poses a temporary threat to its closest neighbors.
I say temporary because Putin does not have the money to play no limit hold em. Even as I type the West is cranking down the credit window that he desperately needs to keep a seat at the table.
A protracted war with the Ukraine will bleed Putin dry. Not to mention the sanctions and anger from the Big Eight where he wants to remain a member. Very soon its going to be the big seven and Putey on the outside looking in. Never believe for even one minute that Putin does not want to be in with the in crowd.
Putin does not answer to the Russian electorate. He answers to about 40 Oligarchs who really control the country and who have allowed Putin to amass a 40 billion dollar person fortune through ownership of Gazsprom shares and God knows what else.
Putin is really most interested in retaining the Crimea so he can protect his naval port on the Black Sea. As much as it may tick us off to see him do it its not for us to get personally involved in. The West and the Ukraine military will make his life pretty miserable until he finally settles for just holding onto the Crimea.
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