Putin is kinda of strange?

Does anyone else find Russian Pres. Putin beyond bizarre? I was floored when before elections he endorsed Bush, and now with the Ukaranian elections he taljks about America as some awful interceding entity ruining Russia’s friendship with the Ukraine.

So, why would he endorse Bush if he really didn’t like the White House? And are they still getting money from the Ukraine as if it were still a partial Soviet state? Putin’s statement referrign to the Ukranian re-count seems to be cold-war antics starting up again…

“In Soviet Russia, games play you!”

Maybe he feared a White House that would actually put some focus on the concerns of increasing totalitarianism in Russia instead of treating them like “an ally in the War on Terror”. In Russia and the other former Soviet states, he has to (try to) show the strength that he has.

I think Putin endorsed Bush because for the most part Bush would leave him alone and turn a blind eye to what Putin was doing. Stuff like keeping political opposition down (such as that oil tycoon that had political ambitions) and the Chechen thing.

But the Ukranian situation was too blatant that Bush had to respond, if Bush didn’t he would have been seen as a total hypocrite when it came to the whole spreading democracy nonsense. Bush was basically forced to respond to it and Putin is just bitching about it.

This is pretty normal the way Bush is handling things when he does the ‘right’ thing, he has to be pulled into it kicking and screaming. For example when creating the 9/11 independent commision and when he answered questions for the 9/11 commision.

I think Putin still prefers Bush to anyone else that could be elected because Bush will still turn a blind eye to what he does unless its a special case like the Ukraine one where its too blatant and the media is hounding Bush.

interesting…

Y’know, he’s also a sixth dan in Judo.

http://www.fightingarts.com/content01/putin.shtml


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It unnerves me that Putin is better at Judo than I am. I’ve only gotten to Sandan.

Just think of him as the KGB officer he is, and it won’t seem so strange.

I like to think of him as “Stalin 2.0”

Nope, he’s too moderate.

More like Mussolini than anyone else. Clumsy, very overt politics, but with a lot of power behind it and a tired populace looking for change and improvement.

Nope, he’s too moderate.

More like Mussolini than anyone else. Clumsy, very overt politics, but with a lot of power behind it and a tired populace looking for change and improvement.[/quote]
For once, I agree with Jakub. Putin is practically a marionette wielded by a court jester in the court of a shadowy tyrant.

Nope, he’s too moderate.

More like Mussolini than anyone else. Clumsy, very overt politics, but with a lot of power behind it and a tired populace looking for change and improvement.[/quote]
For once, I agree with Jakub. Putin is practically a marionette wielded by a court jester in the court of a shadowy tyrant.[/quote]

huh? Who’s controlling Putin?

Who else?

Hard to say form an outsider’s perspective, but my guess is either Soviet-style hardliners or corporate/mafia bosses. Definitely not both as the two are locked in battle. And I should add I don’t mean in the sense that a group tilted his views by donating X rubles to his election fund, I mean controlled as in told what to do in a “man behind the man” sense.

I think you’re mistaken. No one’s controlling Putin. As with Hitler or Mussolini, I’m sure some backers thought they were, but he’s obviously struck out on his own.

Putin isn’t stupid - I’m sure he’s got a system to lock down Russia better than anyone since that coward Brezhnev. However, his international politics are clumsy and inept, like Mussolini was. People don’t take him seriously but they’re making a mistake, IMO. Western politicians are too used to judging people by how slick they are - in fact, that extends to westerners period.

Although Putin isn’t subtle, and he’s been embarrassed internationally (most notably in the Ukrainian fiasco), he is making Russia stronger.

I think you’re mistaken. No one’s controlling Putin. As with Hitler or Mussolini, I’m sure some backers thought they were, but he’s obviously struck out on his own.[/quote]
Well I certainly have no proof for my conspiracy theory, it was just a guess based on past post-Soviet Russian leaders. But you’re right, he is making Russia stronger overall (slowly but surely).