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It's nice to see how some western people want to tear apart Russia. Makes me believe that Putin is not that bad, at least he wants Russia to be a strong indepen

It's nice to see how some western people want to tear apart Russia. Makes me believe that Putin is not that bad, at least he wants Russia to be a strong independent country, even if his methods sometimes are questionable. No, you won't tear apart Russia as long as nuclear weapons are ready to launch.

dangus 6y ago
If he’s “not that bad” why is he dictator for life? His methods are always questionable! E.g. poisoning opposition leaders. (And by the way, the need or ability or justification to criticize Russia’s adversaries doesn’t excuse Russia from criticism: i.e. I’m aware that the western world does unfair things, but Russia is a pure dictatorship)
- vbezhenar 6y ago
  > If he’s “not that bad” why is he dictator for life? He's not dictator. Russian people voted for him. Just like american people voted for Trump. You might like it or not, you may call them brainwashed, but that's their choice. > His methods are always questionable! E.g. poisoning opposition leaders. Nobody in Russia believes to those fiction stories. If they were poisoned by Novichok, they would be dead. I would more believe to NSA poisoning Navalny to paint him as a victim. He's absolutely unpopular in Russia at this moment. There's 0 reason to poison him and 0 reason to let transport him out of the country. Just turn on your logic. This story is absolutely made up by western secret service and propaganda, it's so stupid, I don't know who can believe in it. > Russia is a pure dictatorship Again, Russia is not pure dictatorship. Putin clears political landscape, so he can win the elections. That's obvious. It does not make him dictator in my eyes. And it's all words, anyway. I'd prefer dictator who cares about his country, rather than "democratically elected" puppet who'll sell his country to his masters. He's old anyway, so someone will replace him, one way or another. And many people will remember him fondly, just like many people fondly remember Stalin despite all propaganda against USSR.
  - lostmsu 6y ago
    No they did not. The elections are rigged, opposition jailed or even killed. Have you ever talked to independent election observers in Russia?
    - Joker_vD 6y ago
      Well, one of my university buddies happened to be an observer in the 2012 presidential elections (he went as the observer from the Communist Party, although he himself was supporter for Prokhorov, ironically enough). Well, he claimed he did his duties with utter dilligence, never leaving the voting station, and that he saw a) absolutely zero fraud attempts; b) 70% of valid bulletins had votes for Putin. And when he later checked in the GAS "Vybory" whether the protocol he signed was meddled with in the system, no, it was there with the counted numbers just as it was signed. He was rather upset with Prokhorov's loss but admitted that that guy wasn't actually popular.
      - lostmsu 6y ago
        Good anecdata. I observed a few different elections between 2008 and 2012, and the only clean one showed result vastly different from nearby regions. I myself was kicked out by police force under a made-up reason (obstructing work of commission by making them nervous - without even speaking to them) during parliament elections in 2011. When this kind of stuff did not happen, you could see a different result from nearby stations. Friends of mine reported discrepancies between observed counts of voters and reported results, indicating fake bulletins. And you can find quite a few videos on YouTube with busses/minibuses driving people around to vote multiple times.

dangus 6y ago

If he’s “not that bad” why is he dictator for life? His methods are always questionable! E.g. poisoning opposition leaders. (And by the way, the need or ability or justification to criticize Russia’s adversaries doesn’t excuse Russia from criticism: i.e. I’m aware that the western world does unfair things, but Russia is a pure dictatorship)

vbezhenar 6y ago
> If he’s “not that bad” why is he dictator for life? He's not dictator. Russian people voted for him. Just like american people voted for Trump. You might like it or not, you may call them brainwashed, but that's their choice. > His methods are always questionable! E.g. poisoning opposition leaders. Nobody in Russia believes to those fiction stories. If they were poisoned by Novichok, they would be dead. I would more believe to NSA poisoning Navalny to paint him as a victim. He's absolutely unpopular in Russia at this moment. There's 0 reason to poison him and 0 reason to let transport him out of the country. Just turn on your logic. This story is absolutely made up by western secret service and propaganda, it's so stupid, I don't know who can believe in it. > Russia is a pure dictatorship Again, Russia is not pure dictatorship. Putin clears political landscape, so he can win the elections. That's obvious. It does not make him dictator in my eyes. And it's all words, anyway. I'd prefer dictator who cares about his country, rather than "democratically elected" puppet who'll sell his country to his masters. He's old anyway, so someone will replace him, one way or another. And many people will remember him fondly, just like many people fondly remember Stalin despite all propaganda against USSR.
- lostmsu 6y ago
  No they did not. The elections are rigged, opposition jailed or even killed. Have you ever talked to independent election observers in Russia?
  - Joker_vD 6y ago
    Well, one of my university buddies happened to be an observer in the 2012 presidential elections (he went as the observer from the Communist Party, although he himself was supporter for Prokhorov, ironically enough). Well, he claimed he did his duties with utter dilligence, never leaving the voting station, and that he saw a) absolutely zero fraud attempts; b) 70% of valid bulletins had votes for Putin. And when he later checked in the GAS "Vybory" whether the protocol he signed was meddled with in the system, no, it was there with the counted numbers just as it was signed. He was rather upset with Prokhorov's loss but admitted that that guy wasn't actually popular.
    - lostmsu 6y ago
      Good anecdata. I observed a few different elections between 2008 and 2012, and the only clean one showed result vastly different from nearby regions. I myself was kicked out by police force under a made-up reason (obstructing work of commission by making them nervous - without even speaking to them) during parliament elections in 2011. When this kind of stuff did not happen, you could see a different result from nearby stations. Friends of mine reported discrepancies between observed counts of voters and reported results, indicating fake bulletins. And you can find quite a few videos on YouTube with busses/minibuses driving people around to vote multiple times.