Posted on 12/17/2014 9:25:50 PM PST by Bettyprob
MOSCOW — From a Western perspective, Vladimir Putin's days as president of Russia should be numbered: The ruble has lost more than half its value, the economy is in crisis and his aggression in Ukraine has turned the country into an international pariah.
And yet most Russians see Putin not as the cause, but as the solution.
The situation as seen from a Russian point of view is starkly different from that painted in the West, and it is driven largely by state television's carefully constructed version of reality and the Kremlin's methodical dismantling of every credible political alternative.
As Putin prepares to face his public in a much-anticipated televised news conference, an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released Thursday found that about 80 percent of Russians still support him.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
A bank across the street from me announces it won’t buy USD over 52 rubles right now.
There is a rally on stocks right now. RTS is 74000 points right now from under 60000 on Tuesday.
Yeah, good points. And Putin has been man of the year in Russia for 15 years because it’s a normal country.
Ask the oligarchs, they are the ones who matter.
Well, do you count FDR as President for Life?
Yes, I think Uncle Joe had widespread support among the masses too, didn’t he?
~You talking about when the Russians shot down that Malaysian airliner full of innocent people this summer?~
What Russians? Where is your evidence?
You probably don’t know it, but that problem was cured with an Ammendment to our constitution, which will never happen under Putin. He jails his opponent, if you haven’t heard.
Wow, you’re in full Soviet mode today even denying it was a Russian missile provided by Putin to his proxies.
~Wow, you’re in full Soviet mode today even denying it was a Russian missile provided by Putin to his proxies.~
Well. Even in our version of events it wasn’t the Russians but proxies who did it.
And I’m yet to see a serial number of this missile, which is plentiful in Ukrainian government inventory too.
~Putin. He jails his opponent, if you haven’t heard.~
It is a possibility, but every time I ask for example your type of guys brings some crook who would get some 10 times the longer term being convicted for the same type of crimes in America.
It become a nice line of defense for a crooks with money in Russia. Kill, embezzle and claim dissident line. You get as much Western cheerleaders as you can dream about, a free good press and a couple of statements from Hillary and McCain.
Russia is a slave country. It is filled from top to bottom with corruption, rape and murder. It is like saying that Mordor loves his nation of orcs and goblins who live in holes in the ground.
Seriously, Russkie? This is why your people follow Putin. Because you're slaves who will believe anything your masters tell you.
I wonder how do you distinguish between Russian and Ukrainian units?
The reasons for damage control on Russian side is obvious - Rebels declared they have shot a military flight and they had a commercial airliner hit the ground.
As for a fuselage removed to Russia it is something new to me.
Anyway, most probable version is a rebel screw up for sure. But the source of their weapon is still unknown (though Ukrainian defectors are the most probable source) and Kiev must answer why did they vectored MH17 to a kill zone.
~For sure they’re got one thing we don’t - a leader who loves his country...
Seriously, Russkie? This is why your people follow Putin. Because you’re slaves who will believe anything your masters tell you.~
You have started your tequila early, puny.
I haven’t said that you are quoting.
Freepers, do not believe this Russian todie. Check his profile and that big flying Russian flag there and his join date. The Russkies have sent trolls all over the internet. If he were honest with us about the condition of Russian society, then he would inform us that the reason why all of Putin's enemies are always being charged with crimes is because the Russian criminal justice system is just an organized crime group. Everything is corrupt in Russia. You can't even get a driver's license over there without bribing someone:
"In simple terms, Russia is a mafia state. All the way from Moscow to regions and to small towns, everything is controlled by various mafia gangs. Police and judiciary are parts of most powerful gangs. They usually assist in extortion or theft of property earned by local small and medium size businessmen. Big business is subject to federal mafia clan wars.
The mafia-state formation is logical consequence of Russian economy: it is totally dominated by oil and gas revenues. Oil, gas and derivatives provide meaningful employment to about 1M people. Russian population is about 150M. How do they survive? The majority depends on various forms of government handouts.
With russian-style oil production you don’t have to think, innovate or even hire smart people. All you have to do is to cash the check. Gazprom is ranked as one of the most grossly inefficient enterprises in the world. So what happens when a small, totally incompetent minority controls country-wide oil rent while the rest of 149 million people are a burden? The answer is obvious: that 1M would create a mafia state to keep the rest of 149M in check by means of police and judiciary abuse and mass propaganda.
Russian propaganda machine is vast, it now exceeds the one of Soviet Union. Official TV propaganda lies professionally and constantly. There are no independent TV channels; everything is controlled by government stooges. The “news” teams employ special teams that do video editing and fabrications to present absolutely falsified accounts for TV transmission. Then these fabrications are broadcast to brainwash captive population.
The population at large is, statistically speaking, not very bright. Many are deranged from overuse of alcohol or drugs. A big number are simply aging elderly rooted in USSR-centric mindset who never adjusted to the modern world. Most of them do not “work” in the sense we understand full-time employment here: they occupy placeholder positions sponsored by the government. Being dependent their whole life on government help, they are psychologically unable even to think government can do something wrong."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3189416/posts
That latter section tells you all you need to know why Putin enjoys a 80 percent approval rating, even with Russkies fudging the numbers. Even when they are starving they will still love their chains, they'll just start cannibalizing their neighbors after accusing them of being 5th columnists.
Another interesting expose of Russian society for the interested Freeper:
"In Russia, “corrupt” is not an adjective. Corrupt is a noun, a proper noun, the word for the name and nature of the place.
Corrupt crony capitalism is familiar everywhere. But in Russia the corruption is so pervasive that even the cronies have to pay bribes, not just to the higher-ups but to the lower-downs.
Pomerantsev visits a TV studio owned by Kremlin-connected moguls. It’s in a shabby warehouse on the wrong side of town. There’s no sign or address on the metal door. Inside is a dirty little room with a drunk guard.
Pomerantsev goes down a dark corridor and up two flights of dingy stairs to another unmarked metal door. Behind that is a modern, well-lit, busy Western-style production facility. But there’s an inconspicuous door here as well, with a secret code pad. And behind thatis a more modern, better-lit, even busier production facility with an even less conspicuous door with an even more secret code leading to the real offices of the moguls, where the real business accounts are kept.
All this is to foil the tax police. Who come anyway. One of the moguls tells Pomerantsev that “the tax police were much happier taking bribes than going to the trouble of stealing money that had been paid in the orthodox fashion.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3236334/posts
The only solution to the Russkies is to be well armed, so when the Orcs and Goblins come to invade your country, you can make them think twice about it with a bullet to the gut.
And why was it a kill zone?
Ukrainians weren’t trying to shoot down planes.
Answer - because your Russian bodies created the war there. So stop with this so-called “equivalency” where both sides are somehow equally culpable.
There’s only one country that is stoking the war in Ukraine, the same bully that has a history of beating up on every smaller country in the region.
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