I think you confuse grudging respect for “Support”.
Putin doesn’t give a damn about “Rules for Radicals. He doesn’t give a damn what some gay wonk in the US Media, or a lesbian late-night comedian joke writer thinks about him.
But, if you have read, (and more importantly, UNDERSTAND) Machiavelli, then Putin’s actions become predictable, given the world situation as it is right now. (and yes, Putin is/was a student of Machiavelli.)
This puts the Chomsky/Zinn-trained people currently running the US Government at a serious disadvantage, especially when they try to apply that theology to foreign policy.
Putin is a student of Machevelli. Putin is also a study of the use of hard power Marxism, and knows how Alinskitism was designed and how to defeat it.