Your opinions on Vladimir Putin?

[Cowley]

E’s a bit scary isn’t he?

There seems to be a lot going on at the moment with Putin and Russia, so I thought it might be worth starting a thread as I’m sure there’s the odd person on here that might have an opinion or two on things.

Here he is (if you don’t know him).

Picture showes Mr Putin majestically riding a brown horse through a forest with a bare chest (Putin that is, not the horse).

 

[yorksrob]

Now there's a man who knows how to eat properly.

Vegetables.

Steak.

Salad (hold the polonium !).

 

[Cowley]

Now there's a man who knows how to eat properly.

Vegetables.

Steak.

Salad (hold the polonium !).

You’ve got some nerve(agent) Rob.

 

[yorksrob]

Well, one has to laugh at current affairs (whilst avoiding pointedly aimed umbrellas !).

 

[Cowley]

Well, one has to laugh at current affairs (whilst avoiding pointedly aimed umbrellas !).

. I know.
I only feel safe starting this thread because there’s no photos of me on the forum, Cowley’s not my real name and no-one know where I live... oh bug**er.

Mods - how do get a thread removed if you’ve talked out of turn about Russia?

 

[yorksrob]

. I know.
I only feel safe starting this thread because there’s no photos of me on the forum, Cowley’s not my real name and no-one know where I live... oh bug**er.

Mods - how do get a thread removed if you’ve talked out of turn about Russia?

I think it's all worth saying for the sake of glasnost and perestroika ! ( would have been topical twenty years ago !!)

 

[fowler9]

Russia is a bizarre country. I am far from an expert but what I do know from my Polish mates is that they certainly aren't massive fans of the country or Putin which is hardly surprising. My two closest Polish friends are very different, one is a massive death/black metal fan and male, the other is a strict Catholic Church goer and female. One strong thing they have in common is not liking Russia and not being fans of Putin. Feel free to correct me but it seems very much like some kind of gangster state at the mo just from what I read in the news and from people I have met when visiting the old Soviet block. I would love to expand but I have had a few beers after work on Friday so it wouldn't be a very intellectual debate on my part.

 

[Busaholic]

Charles Atlas Syndrome (if you don't know who I'm referring to, I'm sure (inadequate) info is available on the internet.) Plus, always beware a Mummy's Boy - Trump is another one. I daresay Putin is a gay icon, too - how much would he love that?! Probably the most dangerous man on the planet, for the rest of us.

 

[Mag_seven]

Funnily enough there is a documentary on Putin starting now (21.00) on BBC2.

 

[fowler9]

BBC2 right now may be of interest to people reading the thread. "Putin The New Zsar".

 

[Cowley]

I’ll watch it later on iplayer.
And then have nightmares probably...

 

[Iskra]

Russia is an amazing, but also crazy country. I've only been to St Petersburg, but would like to visit Moscow.

Internationally Putin is playing a very good (but dirty game), by walking the 'red line', but not quite crossing it openly. When he does he does that using false flag tactics and cyber warfare which is a very 'grey' form of warfare and he's very unpredictable, confusing and subsequently keeping one step ahead of his opponents. What is driving all of this? Hiding Russia's inherent weakness, and Putin's inability to confront Russia's economic woes and its inability to afford to be a super-power anymore. I think internal politics will be his downfall eventually, but it could be a very scary time for the world when it comes.

I respect Putin for being very good at what he does, but I obviously don't agree with what he does.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Russia is a bizarre country. I am far from an expert but what I do know from my Polish mates is that they certainly aren't massive fans of the country or Putin which is hardly surprising. My two closest Polish friends are very different, one is a massive death/black metal fan and male, the other is a strict Catholic Church goer and female. One strong thing they have in common is not liking Russia and not being fans of Putin. Feel free to correct me but it seems very much like some kind of gangster state at the mo just from what I read in the news and from people I have met when visiting the old Soviet block. I would love to expand but I have had a few beers after work on Friday so it wouldn't be a very intellectual debate on my part.

Try talking to Poles in Poland, they absolutely and vehemently hate the Russians. To the extent that you can have calm discussions about what happened there under the Nazis but any mention of the time under Russian occupation and the puppet state that followed will provoke extremely heated outrage.

A commentator has summed up Russia under Putin as being under an unspoken contract, namely that Putin will provide slow improvement for the lives of most citizens, which arguably is being achieved, in return for no discussion as to how this is achieved. Accordingly opposition voices have largely been silenced with almost all media sources being under de-facto state control. And there can be little doubt that Putin is behind the Russian based cyber "explosions" happening all over the world. At some point he will be succeeded by someone after a nasty power struggle but given his age that could be an awful long way off.

 

[fowler9]

I’ll watch it later on iplayer.
And then have nightmares probably...

Worth a watch. Worrying stuff and probably not something to watch after a few Friday beers. Ha ha. Am currently terrified what with Trump on the left of me, Putin to the right.

Russia is an amazing, but also crazy country. I've only been to St Petersburg, but would like to visit Moscow.

Internationally Putin is playing a very good (but dirty game), by walking the 'red line', but not quite crossing it openly. When he does he does that using false flag tactics and cyber warfare which is a very 'grey' form of warfare and he's very unpredictable, confusing and subsequently keeping one step ahead of his opponents. What is driving all of this? Hiding Russia's inherent weakness, and Putin's inability to confront Russia's economic woes and its inability to afford to be a super-power anymore. I think internal politics will be his downfall eventually, but it could be a very scary time for the world when it comes.

I respect Putin for being very good at what he does, but I obviously don't agree with what he does.

It is a country I would love to visit. The documentary was interesting but as always I wonder how biased the views given were. Not that for a minute Putin seems a nice guy. Scary days we live in.

 

[Cowley]

Worth a watch. Worrying stuff and probably not something to watch after a few Friday beers. Ha ha. Am currently terrified what with Trump on the left of me, Putin to the right.

Like you I’ve had a couple of beers tonight so I’ll refrain from commenting for now, but it’s interesting to read others opinions.
Will give it a watch in a minute though.

 

[fowler9]

Try talking to Poles in Poland, they absolutely and vehemently hate the Russians. To the extent that you can have calm discussions about what happened there under the Nazis but any mention of the time under Russian occupation and the puppet state that followed will provoke extremely heated outrage.

A commentator has summed up Russia under Putin as being under an unspoken contract, namely that Putin will provide slow improvement for the lives of most citizens, which arguably is being achieved, in return for no discussion as to how this is achieved. Accordingly opposition voices have largely been silenced with almost all media sources being under de-facto state control. And there can be little doubt that Putin is behind the Russian based cyber "explosions" happening all over the world. At some point he will be succeeded by someone after a nasty power struggle but given his age that could be an awful long way off.

Like I said I have spoken to Poles in Poland including, of course, my Polish mates and also people in other countries that are former members of the Soviet block. Like I said they weren't massive fans. Kind of putting it mildly but I didn't want to go on one after a few beers after work. Also as I said it comes across like a gangster state, and I include Putin and his cronies in the way he does things (Not just the Russian Mafia). Nothing I saw in that documentary changed my mind. I guess we broadly agree.

 

[Cowley]

Well I just watched that and it was interesting.
At the end when Hague talked about Russian involvement in various elections and referendums in the west, he said something along the lines of - that it was not always to achieve a specific result, but also to damage belief in the democratic process and weaken the unity of the west.
To my mind if that’s one of his goals then I’d say he’s doing pretty well?
I don’t know where this’ll all end up. He seems to be a leader (emperor/dictator?) that has no plans to let anyone else control anytime soon.

 

[mushroomchow]

The man is abhorrent. Because I dare to speak up against his administration and their flagrant breach of international law, intimidation and threats are constantly coming my way. I fear this may be the last thing I ever type and OH GOD NO THEY'RE HERE *fighting and gunfire heard in background*

нет, я счастлив. Путин хороший человек. All okay. All praise to Putin.

Sincerely,
Man at keyboard.

 

[DarloRich]

Vladimir Putin is a really good bloke who would absolutely not, in any way shape or form, sanction or in other way approve of the murder or attempted murder of individuals, who may sadly have fallen out with either him or the Russian state, on foreign soil by increasingly bizarre and frightening methods. Not at all. Ever.

Any suggestion that there is a programme led by the Russian secret services designed to restore the Russian state to a level of power ( and fear) commensurate with the old soviet union and simultaneously undermine and fracture the post war western institutions that have kept the peace is both false and the work of desperate conspiracy theorists within the corrupt so called western democracies. These people are desperately trying to cling to their neo liberal station and are worried that a truly open and transparent democracy, like that of Russia, would lead to a weakening of their prestige and their unmasking as zionist lizard people who control the world via a shadow cabal.

Only Valdimir Putin speaks the truth.

 

[northwichcat]

Russia is a bizarre country.

So bizarre that an area of Russia remains adjacent to the Baltic States, cut off from the rest of Russia known as Kaliningrad, where the people are generally very happy to be part of Russia, unlike the Baltic states where they are generally glad to no longer be under the control of Russia.

It was also interesting to see Simon Reeve's documentary on Russia and the obvious Russian attempt to make it difficult for the BBC to film about the growing Chinese population in the east of Russia, that Russia seems to not want the rest of the world to know about.

 

[yorksrob]

So bizarre that an area of Russia remains adjacent to the Baltic States, cut off from the rest of Russia known as Kaliningrad, where the people are generally very happy to be part of Russia, unlike the Baltic states where they are generally glad to no longer be under the control of Russia.

It was also interesting to see Simon Reeve's documentary on Russia and the obvious Russian attempt to make it difficult for the BBC to film about the growing Chinese population in the east of Russia, that Russia seems to not want the rest of the world to know about.

It was called Konigsberg and was part of Prussia prior to WWII, however I suspect that a lot of the German population moved west when it changed hands.

 

[DarloRich]

It was called Konigsberg and was part of Prussia prior to WWII, however I suspect that a lot of the German population moved west when it changed hands.

they didn't move west by choice - they were expelled. That was after the allies had flattened the place. When the Russians moved in the remaining civilians ( 100k+) were held as slave labourers. Those who survived, about 20k, were thrown out.

 

[northwichcat]

It was called Konigsberg and was part of Prussia prior to WWII, however I suspect that a lot of the German population moved west when it changed hands.

I was meaning the region, rather than just the city which historically would have been Lithuania Minor.

 

[Senex]

I was meaning the region, rather than just the city which historically would have been Lithuania Minor.

Königsberg was the capital of the historic Prussia (where the Prussian language was spoken) before the whole area was colonised by the Teutonic Knights. Prussia then expanded westwards through the personal uion with Brandenburg. There was a time when the Markgraf of Brandenburg was King IN Prussia before becoming King OF Prussia ... Altough Berlin became the capital of what is nowadays gbenerally thought of as Prussia, the coronation city remained Königsberg right up to the end. Direct communication was cut after WW1 by the creation of the Danzig Corridor to give the re-created Poland a seaport. On a strictly railway topic, the Preußische Ostbahn had the longest single sequence of kilometre-posts on the German railways, from zero in Berlin through Dirschau to Königsberg and on to the frontier with Russia at Eydtkuhnen.

 

[hexagon789]

Can't say I like the bloke, bit of a dodgy character in my opinion.

 

[WessexEclectic]

Trotsky accused Stalin of poisoning Lenin. The alleged assailant was Lenin’s chef, Spiridon Putin - President Vladimir Putin’s grandfather.

It seems that there are persistent familial traits....

 

[Cowley]

Trotsky accused Stalin of poisoning Lenin. The alleged assailant was Lenin’s chef, Spiridon Putin - President Vladimir Putin’s grandfather.

It seems that there are persistent familial traits....

Blimey that’s a good little bit of knowledge.

 

[Iskra]

they didn't move west by choice - they were expelled. That was after the allies had flattened the place. When the Russians moved in the remaining civilians ( 100k+) were held as slave labourers. Those who survived, about 20k, were thrown out.

The vast majority left by choice before the Russians got there, many ending up in German-occupied Denmark spreading disease amongst the native Danes (not deliberately), causing further fatalities and starvation. The Russians flattened cities too, but they used artillery instead. Two horrific ideologies to be caught between.

 

[martinsh]

Trotsky accused Stalin of poisoning Lenin. The alleged assailant was Lenin’s chef, Spiridon Putin - President Vladimir Putin’s grandfather.

Is he not related to Ras Putin ?!

 

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