Correct. He gets one of his mates to deny it in as unconvincing a manner as he can muster, and then laughs as western governments threaten all sorts of action before kicking out a couple of low rankingI think we are mistaken to think that Putin cares to cover this up. Is it really conceivable that a poison that is pretty difficult to control and deliver and has a chemical signature pretty specific to one Russian lab is the choice of a Russian govt being covert? Putin absolutely wants the West and his enemy to know who did it as that is his way of frightening anyone else thinking of turning traitor. The denial is deliberately not plausible. The message from that is not that they didn't do it, but rather that they don't give a fuck what you, me, twitter or any number of largely impotent Western govts think. He wants us to know, and he wants us to feel like he's laughing at us and telling us to fuck off.
Don’t forget the Far East where there’s an authoritarian fucknut torturing and murdering millions of their own citizens but calling it “re-education”, and the Trump fanboys in charge in India and Brazil.Fucking great.
To the west we have a Cheeto faced fascist controlling elections to maintain his authoritarian power.
To the east we have a sociopathic despot who fixes elections to maintain power whilst killing his political rivals. Trying to rebuild 'The Motherland' at the same time.
And we're in the middle with an incompetent **** on power.
The enthusiasm of the 'sizeable democratic bloc' for expansionism into the former Soviet bloc and to create it's own army is a large part of the problem that has justified or at least provoked putin into the current strategic posture.Don’t forget the Far East where there’s an authoritarian fucknut torturing and murdering millions of their own citizens but calling it “re-education”, and the Trump fanboys in charge in India and Brazil.
The world is fucked and we’re in the process of distancing ourselves from the only sizeable democratic bloc left that has any clout.
Calling the decisions of independent Eastern European countries to apply for EU accession as EU expansionism, and blaming that for Russia’s own behaviour is rather bizarre. Their accession to the EU, and more importantly membership of NATO have probably helped stop them going the way of Crimea, Syria and eastern Ukraine, with Belarus next.The enthusiasm of the 'sizeable democratic bloc' for expansionism into the former Soviet bloc and to create it's own army is a large part of the problem that has justified or at least provoked putin into the current strategic posture.
Everything you say about putin is true, but the EU and NATO have been pretty opportunistic since the fall of the Berlin Wall. We've essentially been extending our soft power via EU membership to the former Soviet bloc countries. Putin has essentially appointed himself Tsar of a failing gangster state. Mindful of what happened to the last tsar he's engaging in international gangsterism and sabre rattling to gain cheap popularity with a pretty impoverished population. The rich ones have already got out mostly - look at property in London, or even Cyprus where a couple of million invested in new property now buys you a shiny EU passport as a perk. If you look at our /US military basing in eastern Europe it's little surprise that putin has decided to draw a new iron curtain around the Ukraine and crimea.Calling the decisions of independent Eastern European countries to apply for EU accession as EU expansionism, and blaming that for Russia’s own behaviour is rather bizarre. Their accession to the EU, and more importantly membership of NATO have probably helped stop them going the way of Crimea, Syria and eastern Ukraine, with Belarus next.
Putin is at heart a devious KGB agent in the process of delivering the Soviet Cold War aim of destabilising the west and expanding Russia’s influence around the world. He’s had more success than he could possibly have imagined with his biggest coup being the effective neutralisation of NATO by helping to get his own man in power in Washington. If Trump wins another term, Putin will feel emboldened to continue his own expansionist agenda with every former Soviet and Warsaw Pact country at risk, along with a number of others.
We are living in dangerous times and Putin’s agenda is the one of the main reasons for this.
Dangerous fucker. Laughable to say that he is only behaving as he is because of outside influences. He does what he does to strengthen his position and nought else.
Yes - it's prima facie good news that Putin may step down.Huge news about him looking to step down in 2021 due to having parkinsons disease, Russian law makers trying to create new a new draft that gives him immunity from prosecution for life. This is as big as the US election if true, in for a wild few years hopefully good ones though!
Yes - it's prima facie good news that Putin may step down.
Upon reflection though, will the political dynamic in Russia change when Putin steps down?
The ruling oligarchs will simply find another political creature to fill the void.