Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuart
I was speaking on facebook to the Russian girlfriend of a friend of mine. She was saying the Russians don't understand why we westerners have a problem with him.
She was saying that there have been a lot of problems in Russia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and he has done a lot to solve them.
The trouble is Hitler was apparently viewed the same way by Germans. They had massive problems. He came in, apparently solved the problems and they loved him for it. The fact he was a genocidal maniac appeared to be beside the point.
I think the problems in Russia have been caused by a combination of organised crime and large corporations. Putin may well have been part of the problem as he owns several large corporations.
The thing that concerns me with Putin is that people form an opinion based on what they see, hear and read in the media. Putin owns a staggering amount of media. He may be using that media to control people's opinions. Russia Today is made by one of Putin's corporations and is sometimes held up as being independent from government control, as they've famously critcised putin in the past, but they've only critcised him a couple of times, and actually seem to fall into line with Putin's view generally.
Then there was the farce that was the Winter Olympics which, I am sorry to say, appeared only to have been staged to ensure mega profits for the Russian companies involved.
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I tend to agree and I think we in the west need to be fully cognisant of the danger inherent in this situation. Having said that, sitting back, doing nothing and allowing him to take liberties in former soviet States isn't going to do much for world stability either. As long as Putin is able to successfully blame the west for all Russia's ills, we're going to be in between a rock and a hard place. I'm certain Putin knows this and will exploit it to the full.