Russian Leader Putin Warns U.S. of Dangers of Socialism

If anyone should know what he's talking about, I definitely think VVP is more than qualified.

Russian Leader Putin Warns U.S. of Dangers of Socialism

Who could possibly have predicted this a few years ago: the Kremlin singing praises for free enterprise and warning the U.S. about the dangers of socialism!

Yet that's exactly what happened in January at the annual World Economic Forum, an international gathering of business giants, politicians, activists, journalists, intellectuals, celebrities and other influential figures in the Swiss city of Davos.

Speaking about the current economic crisis, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told the assembled glitterati:

"In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state's role absolute. 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. ...

"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."

This is mind-boggling. As libertarian journalist Justin Raimondo of antiwar.com noted, here Putin sounded "more like Barry Goldwater than any Russian leader I ever heard of."

But Putin went further, warning against the dangers of military expansionism as a means of solving economic woes.

"Unfortunately, we are increasingly hearing the argument that the buildup of military spending could solve today's social and economic problems. The logic is simple enough. Additional military allocations create new jobs.

"At a glance, this sounds like a good way of fighting the crisis and unemployment. This policy might even be quite effective in the short term. But in the longer run, militarization won't solve the problem but will rather quell it temporarily. What it will do is squeeze huge financial and other resources from the economy instead of finding better and wiser uses for them."

Ron Paul could hardly have put it better.

Of course, Putin's remarks should fool no one into forgetting his brutal violations of civil liberties and human rights, and the massive restrictions on economic liberty he supports.

But this was one truly weird moment in history.

As Justin Raimondo concludes: "That a Russian leader is now telling Americans that their turn toward statism and militarism is harmful both to themselves and to the world is a turn of events no one of my generation could possibly have imagined, certainly not anyone of libertarian inclinations. It is a sad and telling commentary that no American leader of any stature, aside from the previously mentioned Rep. Paul, has the courage to tell us what we need to hear."