Chengdu54 : "I don’t admire Putin, but he’s not my enemy. Putin hasn’t murdered millions of people."
So, I see where you fellows went to the same school of indoctrination -- where any dictator who hasn't killed millions of people is A-OK by you guys, right?
I would point out that President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill quickly allied with Comrade Stalin (who did kill millions), when they had a common enemy to defeat, so that is not the issue here.
Rather, the issue is the article's opening sentences:
It's one thing to say: "sure, let's partner-up with Putin in the War on Terror, if possible", but it's very different to say: "Putin is our ideological hero, whom we respect more than, oh, say, Senator McCain"!
I'm saying: let's not get carried away here.
Putin is a dangerous man, not to be trusted any more than absolutely necessary.
Just like a leftist, YOU change the subject. You were the one who picked the dictators you chose to compare Putin to. I'm not even sure Putin is a dictator in the sense that you suggest. He might be but Russian government is something I really don't understand.
But speaking of dictators, why do you think have been the top five American Presidents?
(Clue: the one usually rated at the top WAS a dictator and has many more deaths that should have been attributed to him than Putin does.)
ML/NJ
Your second point, that we should work with Putin's Russia very carefully and in places where we have common National interests is absolutely correct, we don't have to be nice guys, just careful and honest.