Frankly, I have no problem with Putin.
He is for Russia. He is for not letting the oligarchs steal the wealth of his country. He is for restoring the dignity of a nation that is reduced to being the prime supplier of cheap white female flesh. Yelstin era democracy failed and failed miserably. Russia needs a period of authoritarianism to get itself together.
There is a natural bent to authoritarianism in the Russian historical narrative. I remember Stalin's 1930 speech in which he described Russian history as a long, long list of beatings she suffered for her backwardness. In the Russian national memory is the tale of the terrible defeat by the Mongols at the battle of the Khalka, a defeat that doomed Kievan Russia, a defeat suffered because the Russian side did not have a single strong leader capable of imposing unity of command upon the proud, quarrelsome boyars. Kievan Rus did not have a Czar.
Agreed.
Russian history has always been interesting, especially, I think, with the ebb and flow of foreign wives gotten for the Czars. The mix with Europe, then AND NOW, won't do damage to Russia; it will make it better.
"Rus" is the word for "oar," that is, the men with the oars -- Viking Swedes. The nordic influence is strong. The nordic people, of course, are Germanic.