I just don't get it. Maybe I'm getting too old and was born too long ago (1946). How can so many Americans, believe anything Putin or any other Russian leader from the old school says? You can take the boy out of the KGB, but you can't take the KGB out of the boy.
I have to admit that I was taken in by his charm also. For the first two years of his presidency, I thought the Russian people finally had a chance at a future. Sure, the men were basically lazy alcoholics (thanks to the Soviets), but the women were in a significant part highly educated. They went to college because they were not allowed decent jobs. My wife has two degrees. A lot of these women have since fled Russia for elsewhere, especially the U.S. If Russia is so great, why have the people (men and women both) left in such droves (there are over 21,000 in Baltimore); freedom of course!
That brings up another point. How many women do you ever see in leadership roles under Putin's reign? Answer that, please.
One of the criticisms you can have for Bush is that (at least for appearances' sake), he still believed Putin until recently.
In the beginning, there were business and agriculture reforms, private ownership was extolled, etc. That didn't last long; just long enough for Putin and his thugs to position themselves.
Back in 2000-2001, we watched TV6 on Russian TV until they made one too many criticisms of the regime and it was put out of business, its people scattered or scared, or both. There is no freedom of the press there anymore, not even the modicum of the first few years. The deaths of so many reporters insured that.
What disturbs me the most is the ease at which so many of our people disrespect the United States. Even if I understood the hatred for President Bush, how does that translate do the hatred of our country? Of course this didn't start with Bush; it began with the Vietnam War, and quite frankly is down-right discouraging.
This current election should load up all levels of government with Neo-Libs as a backlash to the Republican failures to be true to their beliefs, and reach across the aisle too often. Loading the congress with more of these people should plummet its rating to even lower depths, already far below Bush's. Like it or not most Americans are conservative by nature and simply want to be left alone to work, keep their pay, raise their families, and admire and defend their country. That is a hard pill for a lot of you to swallow.
Tzar Putin is well aware of the mental state of the American public and I guarantee you, he will play it for what it's worth.
He is no hero to most Russians, especially the hungry multitudes. He is only a hero to the socialists and Neo-Libs of this country. This is quite interesting when you consider he isn’t even a socialist or a communist. There is no talk of wealth redistribution, or equalities of the peoples over there. It is the Russian people “be damned” (and the rest of the world too).
He is simply a power-hungry narcissistic megalomaniac, whose drive has no bounds. His supporters are toadies wanting the table scraps, and those too fearful to resist.
Don’t buy into this crap,
The Hammer
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"How can so many Americans, believe anything Putin or any other Russian leader from the old school says?"
Well, we can't. And we don't. But Bush did. So where is the failing here?
"I have to admit that I was taken in by his charm also. For the first two years of his presidency, I thought the Russian people finally had a chance at a future."
But that would have shown a lack of serious scholarship and understanding. As you admit in your article, Putin is ex-KGB, Russia was hurting badly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the economy sucked, and the conditions were ripe for someone like Putin to establish an authoritarian regime. And yet we deluded ourselves that he was toeing the US scribed line because Putin cut brush with Bush in Crawford. When I say "we" of course, I mean the Bush Administration and not the rest of the informed people in the US or the world. This is not 20/20 hindsight, this is confirmation of what we've been observing for years. It was clear what he was doing years ago, but we did nothing. In large part because we were too busy focused on invading Iraq and ignoring the terrorists who actually were responsible for 9/11. The rest of us weren't fooled.
"What disturbs me the most is the ease at which so many of our people disrespect the United States. Even if I understood the hatred for President Bush, how does that translate do the hatred of our country?"
To put it succinctly - Rubbish! We don't disrespect our country. We don't hate our country. We love our country. And we're angry at the disrespect that Bush and Cheney and others have shown our country and its people. We want to take back our country from him and those who think like him so we can keep our country great. Frankly, this typical "you either agree with us or you're unpatriotic" holier-than-thou canard is a perfect example of how they have kidnapped our own country from us. We want it back.
"Tzar Putin is well aware of the mental state of the American public and I guarantee you, he will play it for what it's worth."
Actually, Putin has been playing the US for years. Ever since Bush's "eyes" comment Putin has been plotting how to regain the "glory" that he and much of Russia felt they lost. Bush has been asleep at the wheel since the beginning. It is not Putin predicting how he can play us in the future, it is him laughing at how he has played us over the last several years. And he knows that McCain's saber rattling will give him more strength in his own country battling "that imperial US." It is the Bush Administration that he has played and he relishes the opportunity to play a potential McCain Administration. (Ironically, an Obama Administration is something he would have more difficulty figuring out)
As I said, we love our country. And we're tired of what Bush/Cheney and the Rovian/Newtonian wing of the Republican party have done to it. It's time to take it back and restore our greatness and our influence in the world.
Thank you, for you writing.
I actually agree with a bit of it.
I have my own grips with Bush and co., mostly that he is too damn liberal and grew government so much.
What I mean by the apparent hatred of the U.S. is the constant criticism, not of Bush, but of everything we stand for. I have no idea if that fits you or not. But there are enough people out there, especially in the media whose hatred knows no end, and won't be happy until it is all gone. Then, who cares what lamentations pour forth then, it'll be too late.
There is no country that is superior to ours, morally or otherwise. Personally, I would disband the whole federal government and start over, if I had the opportunity. The very few good people in government are seldom heard from.
Pelosi, Schummer, and the rest are every bit as bad as Bush, if not more so.
Sometimes, I feel it is just a losing fight, but being a hard-headed ex-farm boy I can't quite punching.
The Bush/Cheney gang sure is nothing to brag about, two illegal wars to steal the wealth of sovereign states.
Why can't the neocon followers see what is before their eyes?
I don't think Russia has done very good with their show of becoming a democratic state but what have we done to help them along the way? Where was Reagan when the Soviet Union fell apart and don't try and tell me that Reagan was responsible for the downfall of the U.S.S.R. because he had nothing to do with it.
America is becoming a hypocritical state more and more each day.
People need to get it into their heads that whatever form of government Russia decides to take they will protect themselves from the West.
This is just the tip of the iceberg that Bush has made and Poland will be the next if the shrub does not get his act under control.
These fascist neocons want to rule the world and it will be at the expense of your family and freedom.
Notice how Mr. brave Cheney makes his asenine war monger statements that its always from his bomb shelter? Does he provide that kind of protection for you and your family?
You're kidding, aren't you??
I think they are worse because they wrap it in the "we're trying to help you" cloak.
"Putin did what he had to do in this incident. Georgia acted recklessly. "
Alan are you trying to say that invading and killing were the only option Putin had? WOW!
It's not a losing fight!
Who cares where he works? You have absolutely no idea what is going on behind the scenes. Would you be happier if he sat on the front porch of the White House and grinned at the cameras?
Or maybe he should sit in the oval office in his underwear and have the air conditioning turned down, like Jimmy Carter might do?
Which scenario sounds more sane? Working away from the media and jerks in DC or somewhere more conducive to thinking. (And don't give me this crap about him not being smart. Whether I agree with him or not, he's a hell of a lot smarter than most of you, or you would be president.)
This Bush bashing is getting really weird. The constant attacks on personalities instead of discussing ideas is so childish and typical liberal BS.
What are you going to complain about when one of the 2 losers running now is president. God help us all!
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