Russia’s Anti-Western Rhetoric Is Spreading (President Obama is Wrong to Ignore It)

Slate ^ | MARCH 28 2014 | Anne Applebaum

[Mount Athos]

“and he hates the gay agenda enough to make it his dominant concern”

“I think he’ll figure out how to demagogue the gay issue.”

Your use of the word demagogue implies he is using the gay issue just as a populist throwaway issue to gain power.

That’s not consistent with your claim that anti gay hatred is a dominant motivator for him.

Is he gathering power primarily for anti-gay purposes?

Or is his primary purpose something else, and the gay issue doesn’t mean much to him — just some populist issue to demagogue and gain power with?

[Fresh Wind]

I’m more worried about King Fubo’s anti-western rhetoric.

[elhombrelibre]

Here is the whole context:

"There are illogical conservatives who sadly cannot see that they're being conned by Putin. They think because he claims to be a nationalist (is stealing from his nation not the best evidence that he loves his country they must think), and he hates the gay agenda enough to make it his dominant concern, means for the dilettante conservative that he must be a swell guy working towards a conservative utopia."

The point is that this is what illogical conservatives who are pro-Putin believe. Putinistas do not understand that Putin is a demogaogue. They see him as a devout Christian. In fact, they're gullible enough to see him as the great defender of Christ!

[Mount Athos]

Which do you believe?

Do you believe Putin’s “dominant concern” is anti-gay hatred, or do you believe he is simply demagoguing the issue to gain populist power for some other purpose, doesn’t really care about the issue.

[elhombrelibre]

BLUF; he’s an opportunist, like Milosevic. I think he’ll figure out how to demagogue the gay issue. I don’t think he’ll outlaw abortions.

[Mount Athos]

Okay then you didn’t believe at all what you were typing when you wrote this:

“and he hates the gay agenda enough to make it his dominant concern”

[elhombrelibre]

I’ve written this several times. You apparently didn’t understand. I’m saying that’s what Putin’s supporters believe, not what I believe. I believe Putin’s a phony. He may not believe anything related to Christianity or to what gays do.

[Mount Athos]

OK, so then you didn’t believe what you typed when you said being anti-gay was Putin’s dominant concern?

He’s just using it in a cynical ploy to demogogue the issue for other purposes?

[elhombrelibre]

His dominant concern is power and money. He's worth $75 billion. Again, I wrote that his followers, the Putinistas, believe he's in accord with them. A man who can go from working for the KGB for 16 years, a man who was KGB Colonel, who now says he's the champion of the Christian faith, is easily capable of using the gay issues as boob bait for dupes. I believe he's posing as a gay hater. He may be gay for all I know. But ultimately, what he says and does is not about Christian doctrine.

[Mount Athos]

Your actual quote was,
“and he hates the gay agenda enough to make it his dominant concern”

You clearly weren’t referring to his supporters when you wrote that.

You were claiming that Putin’s dominant concern was being anti-gay.

Meaning all the power he was gathering was ultimately for the primary purpose of attacking gays.

Which directly contradicts your claim that he is simply using the gay issue in a populist way to gain power without having any real interest in it.

[elhombrelibre]

The only way you get to what you're claiming - that I was not talking about Putin's supporters - in what I wrote is to take out the first clause. Why do you insist on doing that? Yes, by quoting only the second clause in a different context your point makes sense. However, it's transparent that that's not what was written or implied.

Leaving the whole sentence alone makes the point I have repeated to you several times. If you wish to misconstrue what I wrote by changing it, or if you wish to misconstrue it after I've explained it to you several times, then I cannot say that you're real concerned with what I wrote.

Defend Putin if you must. He's still a fraud no matter what you say.

[Mount Athos]

OK, I apologize for misreading your quote.

I thought you were holding two mutually exclusive beliefs about Putin, but now I see I had misread all along.

[elhombrelibre]

Admittedly, it was a complex sentence. The clearest sentences do not exceed 10 words.

[Grzegorz 246]

“Russia today has a flat tax of 13%.”

If you want to assess overall level of taxation, general government expenditure to GDP is the best indicator. Russia is at close to 40, just few points below major western countries and far above many others, China for example... What's more capitalism is not only about taxes (otherwise places like Rwanda would be at the top of the list) but also about the rule of law, intellectual property rights, corruption etc. and in this case Russia is terrible... forget about doing big business unless you are Putin's buddy. Small business ? You will have to regularly bribe people at 20 institutions, add to that CEOs of the largest companies hand picked by the president for life and that really doesn't have much to do with capitalism...

Anyway, let's say Russia is less socialist than USA... ok but then you could prove the same way that China is even less socialist... mmm let's post Xi Jinping shirtless perhaps ? Homo ? Saudi Arabia or Iran are far more anti-homo than Putin's Russia. Perhaps Ahmadinejad is also fishing shirtless... ?

You seem to admire Putin... Why ? I would really like to understand the logic behind it.