Quote Originally Posted by Basil77 View Post
After watching the situation at Ukraine for the last several weeks my attitude changed drastically. I'm not saying anything about current nazi coup "goverment" in Kiev (they are just criminals and not worth mentioning). I somehow started supporting Putin whom I despised for the last 10 years or so. Also I've got my final confirmation for my life philosophy: "the only way to be totally objective in this world - to be cynical as hell".
Hahaha! Well thanks for your honest admission. I'll watch out for you waving an Edinaya Rossiya banner on TV, ROFL!!!

Seriously, you can admire somebody's skills and professional behaviour in certain situations, without necessarily LIKING them, or planning to vote for them, or whatever. I don't think he is sympathetic or likable, but some of his one-liners are very witty and he is a talented politician. Machiavelli,lol.....

If this was a chess game, he is in a tricky spot, but he hasn't actually made any mistake yet. It's like he is playing by the book, considering every move very carefully.

He was NEVER going to win public support in Western Europe regardless of what he does ("free gas for all of Europe, forever!", "damn Russians, what are they up to now?!") So it was probably no point even trying....

Another thing is, he's got Lavrov and some very talented foreign policy advisors. While the USA doesn't seem to read up and understand local areas/cultures/priorities properly, Russia does this and it's always been famous for it, in the subject of political science. It worked in Syria. Simultaneously the USA seems to get distracted with their "ideology" and wishful thinking, whereas modern Russia is more practical and pragmatic I think it will pay off in the long run, if Russia can keep its head cool.

But this is not over yet! There is plenty of scope for things going terribly wrong.

I was very much affected by what it-ogo wrote. Fingers crossed they can reach a conclusion internally in Ukaine, that will be satisfactory to all. If things go completely out of hands in Eastern Ukraine - Russia might find itself in very deep waters and could easily end up committing a terrible mistake.



Hats off to ThrobertMcGee for his insights into China in the 1960s. Very interesting.

The thing that made me write off that film as tosh was that whoever wrote the script didn't seem to know the first thing about the ideologies or the countries he is depicting (other than the US). There was plenty of genuine faults to bring up, and there ARE some good anti-communism and anti USSR books. No need to hype, lie and exaggerate like this film does.