Putin:- Playtime is over.....

[anonymous-user]

Some of you have blinkers on and plugs in your ears.

[Tunku]

Sorry, but Putin is much like his doppelganger, the house elf. Small and puny. His type of leadership would not wash in the Western world.

[vonuber]

smegmore said:

Jimbeaux said:

He's coming; I feel his presence in the crowd.

One waits with baited breath to feel the warmth and tenderness in his musings.

I feel a certain chill in the air..

He is coming.


We cannot get out.

[egor110]

Tunku said:

Sorry, but Putin is much like his doppelganger, the house elf. Small and puny. His type of leadership would not wash in the Western world.

The small puny elf as you describe him seems to of done just what he wants in ukraine and the rest of the western world just st themselves and watch it happen.

[skyrover]

He sounds a lot like Hugo Chavez

[YankeePorker]

ATG said:

Putin views international relations from the perspective of someone stuck in the 19th century. The rest of the world had moved on.

I'm not even remotely a Putin fan, but greatly admired his political manoeuvring on the issue of "allied" strikes on Assad in Syria to deal with the chemical weapons issue. His "let's ask them to surrender them" tactic made Obummer and Hollande look like precocious warmongers, and probably contributed to the democratic victory in the UK when the parliament refused to sanction British military involvement.

In hindsight, helping the rebels that have partly morphed in ISIS wouldn't really have been that smart, so well done Vlad!

The Ukraine issue is a tad more thorny I'll grant you, but the issue came to a head because of the EU trying to soft talk Ukraine into the fold. Given the importance of Crimea to the Russian navy, it was always going to get messy!

[Wacky Racer]

Putin sings Blueberry Hill........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV4IjHz2yIo

[hidetheelephants]

eldar said:

ATG said:

Russian economy is screwed. Putin's domestic popularity is a function of mindless nationalism and state media control. His external credibility is in tatters. The economic decline will eventually undermine his domestic popularity too. What an idiot.

Interest rate up to 9.5% today, rather than the expected 8.5% Putin shoots inflation!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29848940

Presumably this is a rather desparate attempt to coax foreign money back into the rouble? It certainly makes a contrast with the ZIRP elsewhere.

YankeePorker said:

I'm not even remotely a Putin fan, but greatly admired his political manoeuvring on the issue of "allied" strikes on Assad in Syria to deal with the chemical weapons issue. His "let's ask them to surrender them" tactic made Obummer and Hollande look like precocious warmongers, and probably contributed to the democratic victory in the UK when the parliament refused to sanction British military involvement.

In hindsight, helping the rebels that have partly morphed in ISIS wouldn't really have been that smart, so well done Vlad!

[xjflyer hat]
Given the allegations that Assad helped to create ISIS this would appear to have been a slamdunk by the Forces of Darkness(TM).
[/xjflyer hat]

Edited by hidetheelephants on Saturday 1st November 04:58

[Transmitter Man]

ATG said:

Russian economy is screwed. Putin's domestic popularity is a function of mindless nationalism and state media control. His external credibility is in tatters. The economic decline will eventually undermine his domestic popularity too. What an idiot.

Dead right on all points.

Just don't tell this to the PH RT viewers because they will not believe any of it.

IMO they just have to look into his control of the media (make that total control). Very simple research clearly shows you what happens to media people who step out of line. The shrewed ones have moved abroad.

Phil

[Octoposse]

ATG said:

Putin views international relations from the perspective of someone stuck in the 19th century. The rest of the world had moved on.

But Putin is right . . . international relations work exactly as in the nineteenth century. How else?

Braindead newspaper articles talk about 'goodwill' and 'allies', but actually there is a deal to be done on everything, and bygones are always bygones. Thus - as I recall - Tony Blair gave up some of the UK's EU rebate in exchange for France agreeing to bomb Serbia. Thus there was a deal with Putin over Crimea and Ukraine on the table seven months ago, but we chose condemnation instead as a policy.

And come to think of it, isn't a Great Power deciding that, say, Gaddafi or Saddam Hussein, must be toppled and replaced just a little, er, nineteenth century?

[Transmitter Man]

Octoposse said:

And the economy looks OK for now at street level in Moscow.

Could write more, but somebody is demanding a cuddle . . .

I'll call a rain-check on the cuddle.

Could you please explain the 'street level' power of the Ruble?

[ATG]

@octoposse Seriously?

[Transmitter Man]

[quote=YankeePorker]

I'm not even remotely a Putin fan, but greatly admired his political manoeuvring on the issue of "allied" strikes on Assad in Syria to deal with the chemical weapons issue. His "let's ask them to surrender them" tactic made Obummer and Hollande look like precocious warmongers, and probably contributed to the democratic victory in the UK when the parliament refused to sanction British military involvement.
_______________

This will come back to give Pukin a red face as several new CW factories/stores have come to light in recent weeks.

Asswipe comfortably forgot about those!

[Stevanos]

jogon said:

Sitting on a vast amount of natural resources, a huge and ever expanding army and security services, yeah I am sure he is wetting himself.

Sounds like perfectly reasonable requests to me.

Sadly, stupidity prevails on their side.

[skyrover]

Russia's economy is in the toilet, the sanctions are beginning to bite.

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2014/10/31/Russia-Hi...

Putin needs to give up his dreams of grandeur, stop splurging money he does not have on the military and get out of Crimea/Eastern Ukraine.

[Puggit]

skyrover said:

and get out of Crimea

That is never going to happen

[skyrover]

Probably not... but Russia is going to struggle to afford to take the place on. It was heavily subsidised by mainland Ukraine which provided all of it's water, gas and power.

So Russia has inherited a flaky pension system, failing infrastructure, a sealed border and no utilities.

The place needs massive investment and the Bridge across the Kerch straight aint gonna be cheap either.

[DJRC]

Ppl need a history lesson. The Crimea is a matter of vital Russian national interest. It always has been and they do rather have form in going to war over the place. Here Endeth the story. There is no "but", that is simply how it is with regards to Russia and the Crimea, all other factors take second place. Whilst Ukraine was a buffer zone they handled the status quo, Putin was never going to let Ukraine become an EU/NATO hangout. As to international relations and 19th C, well it's the same as every other century before that and since. Might makes right, always has always will.

[ATG]

DJRC said:

As to international relations and 19th C, well it's the same as every other century before that and since. Might makes right, always has always will.

Yes but where is the might these days? It's with the public. Look how many popular revolutions (ill fated or successful) have taken place in the 20th and 21st century and compare that to the number in the rest of history. They're isn't a single economically successful country on the planet that hasn't been on the path of political liberalisation. Eventually if you don't deliver economically the public will chuck you out of power.

[Octoposse]

ATG said:

@octoposse Seriously?

Yes. Abso-bloomin-lutely. (Which bit in particular do you question?).