[drop 50 and fire for effect]

“Conservative” and “liberal” in the Russian context mean very different things than they do here. Conservatives in Russia do not respect God given individual liberty, nor do they support limited government.

Putin’s “conservatives” support an oligarchical and centralized government, politically powerful Church, and an overtly crony capitalist economic system where your political connections determine economic success.

It is palatable to a Russian people that value stability over Liberty, but not something Freepers should admire.

[ETL]

Putin's "conservatives" support an oligarchical and centralized government, politically powerful Church

Putin: Defender of Christian Faith and Morality?

September 2014

(excerpt from a long, detailed article)

First and foremost, in any review of the basics regarding Putin, the most outstanding fact is that he is a creature of the Soviet KGB, a truly diabolical organization nonpareil, which stood for murder, terror, and grand deception.

It was the Soviet Communist Party's tool for the brutal suppression of religion, including the persecution of Christians: denying them jobs and education; spying on and entrapping them; arresting and imprisoning them; torturing them in unspeakable ways; desecrating and demolishing their church buildings; infiltrating their agents into churches to subvert them. The KGB destroyed thousands of Christian churches, monasteries, convents, and schools, and slaughtered millions of Christians.

But it did not destroy the churches utterly. There remained an underground church, whose members were always at risk of discovery, arrest, torture, and martyrdom. Above ground, the KGB took control of the Russian Orthodox Church, which became a very useful organ of the Soviet atheist state.

In January 2009, Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyaev, better known as Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, was elected, from a short list of three candidates, to be the 16th Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, the highest position of authority in the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). The election was called to fill the post that had been left vacant by the death of Patriarch Alexy II, who had headed the ROC since 1990.

Documents from the KGB archives have confirmed what sensible observers had long ago deduced from his actions: that Patriarch Alexy II (also spelled Alexi or Alexei) was a long-serving KGB agent (code-named Drozdov, "Blackbird"), in other words, a traitor to his Christian brethren and the God he claimed to serve. Putin's KGB/FSB was taking no chances with his replacement. All three candidates - Metropolitan Kliment of Kaluga and Borovsk (code-named Topaz), Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and Slutsk (code-named Ostrovskii), and Metropolitan Kirill (code-named Mikhailov) - also have been reliably identified as agents of the KGB/FSB.

Russia expert David Satter, a former Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times (of London) and the Wall Street Journal, wrote of the election in 2009 for Forbes:

According to material from the Soviet archives, Kirill was a KGB agent (as was Alexei). This means he was more than just an informer, of whom there were millions in the Soviet Union. He was an active officer of the organization. Neither Kirill nor Alexei ever acknowledged or apologized for their ties with the security agencies.

Because Patriarch Kirill is of central importance to the myth of Putin as the Saul-to-Paul, Christian persecutor-to-Christian champion, it behooves us to more closely examine the man. He has publicly presided over, and provided official benedictions and exhortations for, Putin's cynical and Stalinesque exploitation of Russian nationalism and Russian Orthodoxy. Josef Stalin, who had very nearly consummated the annihilation of the Russian Orthodox Church begun by Vladimir Lenin, reversed course in 1941. The reason? His erstwhile partner in crime, Adolf Hitler, had turned on him and had invaded Russia.

Stalin, needing all the help he could get, cut a deal with ROC Metropolitans Sergius, Nikolay, and Alexy. In exchange for their support in rallying the Russian people, he would cease (temporarily) the persecution and allow the reopening of churches and theological schools. In fact, Stalin's Soviet government paid for the rebuilding of many of the churches. The ROC was thus placed even more firmly under the control of the NKVD, which was later to be reorganized and renamed as the KGB. ..."

much more at link

http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/europe/item/19162-putin-defender-of-christian-faith-and-morality

[marvel5]

PUTIN/RUSSIA v. OBAMA/US
Putin FLAT INCOME TAX of 13% in Russia (instituted in 2001) v. US Marxist progressive income tax up to 38%.
http://rense.com/general36/flat.htm
Putin NO ESTATE TAX in Russia (abolished in 2006) v. US Marxist Estate Tax up to 40%. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inheritance_tax
Putin CORPORATE TAX in Russia half that of US (20% v. 40%).
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/russia/corporate-tax-rate

Putin Russia NATIONAL DEBT TO GDP RATIO 18% v. 101% for US
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/russia/government-debt-to-gdp

Putin on ECONOMIC POLICY: “Look at their trade balance, their debt, and budget. They turn on the printing press and flood the entire dollar zone — in other words, the whole world — with government bonds. There is no way we will act this way anytime soon. We don’t have the luxury of such hooliganism.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/04/20/putin-u-s-monetary-policy-is-hooliganism/

Putin on WELFARE SPENDING: “European countries have been “living beyond their means” and are now “witnessing the rise of a dependency mentality … [that] endangers not only the economy but the moral foundation of society,” Putin said. “It is no secret that many citizens of less developed countries come to Europe specifically to live on social welfare.”
http://sputniknews.com/russia/20130614/181653890/Russia-Wont-Embrace-Europes-Inefficient-Welfare-Model—Putin.html#ixzz3n4o6GEe6

Putin on STATE INTERVENTION IN THE ECONOMY: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said the US should take a lesson from the pages of Russian history and not exercise “excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state’s omnipotence.”

“In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute,” Putin said during a speech at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.”

Sounding more like Barry Goldwater than the former head of the KGB, Putin said, “Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors, and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state.”
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/02/putin_warns_us_to_eschew_socia.html

Putin is said to considers GLOBAL WARMING a fraud. “Russia’s official view appears to have changed little since 2003, when Putin told an international climate conference that warmer temperatures would mean Russians “spend less on fur coats” while “agricultural specialists say our grain production will increase, and thank God for that.” http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/10/30/russian-president-climate-change-is-fraud/
Putin on IMMIGRATION POLICY “ Putin said those who break Russian immigration laws would be banned from entering the country again for between three and 10 years depending on the seriousness of their offenses, the Moscow Times reported.
The Russian leader also vowed that authorities would take forcible action to limit the stays of immigrants who linger in Russia without demonstrating a clear intent to find work.”
http://www.newsmax.com/World/GlobalTalk/russia-putin-immigrants-ultranationalists/2013/12/13/id/541629/

Putin on ABORTION: (1) abortion banned after twelve weeks of pregnancy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in Russia; (2) abortion advertising banned.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/russia-chooses-life-bans-all-abortion-advertising;
(3) baby bonus to couples of $9,000 for second and each subsequent child to encourage live births. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_bonus#Russia; new partnership between state and Russian Orthodox Church for anti-abortion counseling. http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2015/07/russia-church-and-state-sign-agreement-to-prevent-abortion/#.VhrVWxaFOxA
Putin on HOMSEXUALITY: gay propaganda aimed at minors banned; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_LGBT_propaganda_law “Many Euro-Atlantic countries have moved away from their roots, including Christian values… Policies are being pursued that place on the same level a multi-child family and a same-sex partnership, a faith in God and a belief in Satan. This is the path to degradation.” http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/28/whos-godless-now-russia-says-its-us/?page=all
Putin on RADICAL FEMINISM: jailed “Pussy Riot” for desecrating Moscow cathedral: “They got what they asked for.” “One must not erode our moral foundation and undermine the country. What would be left then?” the president wondered. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/08/putin-backs-pussy-riot-conviction
Putin on MULTICULTURALISM.: “Multiculturalism “elevates the (idea of the) ‘right of minorities to be different’ to the absolute and, at the same time, insufficiently balances this right with civil, behavioral, and cultural obligations in regard to the indigenous population and society as a whole,” Putin argues. .” http://islamversuseurope.blogspot.com/2012/01/putin-multiculturalism-has-failed.html
Putin on CHRISTIANITY. “We can see how many of the Euro-Atlantic countries are actually rejecting their historic roots, including the Christian values that constitute the very basis of Western civilization>
The excesses of political correctness have reached the point where people are seriously talking about registering political parties whose aim is to promote pedophilia.
People in many European countries are embarrassed or afraid to talk about their religious affiliations. Holidays are abolished or even called something different; their essence is hidden away, as is their moral foundation.
And people are aggressively trying to export this model all over the world.
Today almost all developed nations are no longer able to reproduce themselves, even with the help of unlawful migration.

Without the values embedded in Christianity, without the standards of morality that have taken shape over millennia, people will inevitably lose their human dignity.” http://kiresearch.org/2015/04/how-russia-came-to-be-a-christian-nation/

ALSO: “Russia’s turn to Christianity is a virtually unknown phenomenon in the United States…Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev go to Church frequently…and seek political and moral counsel from the Russian Orthodox clergy…Putin wears a Christian cross with him at all times.”
https://www.truthtellers.org/alerts/Russian-Revival-Gives-Hope-for-America.html
Putin: RELIGIOUS EDUCATION now mandatory Russian schools. http://www.christianpost.com/news/russia-makes-religious-education-mandatory-in-schools-87634/
Putin REBUILDS CHURCHES. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/01/us-russia-kremlin-putin-idUSKBN0G13QL20140801
Putin DEFENDS CHRISTIANITY worldwide. “After delivering the facts, Metropolitan Hilarion asked Putin to make protection and defense of Christianity around the globe a major part of his foreign policy.
And, as reported by Interfax, Putin replied, “You needn’t have any doubt that that’s the way it will be,” assuring Hilarion that Russian foreign policy would defend Christians from persecution abroad.”
http://www.christianpost.com/news/vladimir-putin-vows-to-defend-christianity-worldwide-69002/
Russian court bans internet PORNOGRAPHY. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/internet-porn-is-now-illegal-in-russia-2015-04-14