Posted on 08/10/2010 11:55:30 AM PDT by RS_Rider
MOSCOW – Prime Minister Vladimir Putin climbed into a firefighting plane Tuesday and dumped water on two of the hundreds of wildfires sweeping through western Russia and cloaking Moscow in a suffocating smog.
Putin has been a very visible leader in the battle against the fires, which have caused billions of dollars in damage and left thousands homeless in the past two weeks. He has demanded that soldiers help overstretched firefighting brigades and has walked through smoldering villages, consoling residents and promising them new homes by fall.
But with his once sky-high approval ratings dropping — and sociologists warning that discontent could grow as the fires and a severe drought take their toll — Putin has not let up.
He took off Tuesday in a Be-200 firefighting plane and then moved into the copilot's seat. Television footage showed him pushing a button to unleash water on blazing forest fires about 120 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Moscow.
After hitting the button, Putin glanced toward the pilot and asked, "Was that OK?"
The response: "A direct hit!"
The stunt was classic Putin. In past years, he has copiloted a fighter jet, ridden a horse bare-chested in Siberia and descended to the bottom of Lake Baikal in a mini-sub. Just last month he drove a Harley Davidson motorcycle to a biker rally.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
What a man! What a guy! You might disagree with some of his policy goals, and methods, but you have to admit he is not a girly man like someone who shall remain nameless.
“Remember when we had leadership?”
Barely.
Between the liberal schools, the communists in the State Controlled Media, and the howling, America-hating left that’s in power now, America has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.
Putin is ... kind of like an Atlas Shrugged character... except for his innate evilness...
Hey....Obie drove a car 10 feet..and said it was smooth...like his legs....
In a firefighting mission, the fully fuelled aircraft can fly 200km from the airfield to a water reservoir, make successive trips between the site of the fire and the reservoir (over a range of 10km from the fire zone to the reservoir), to drop a total of 310,000kg of water on the fire and make the 200km return flight to the airfield for refuelling.
The aircraft is capable of scooping 12t of water in 14 seconds from seas with waves up to 1.2m. The aircraft flies at speeds above a minimum drop speed of 220km/h to empty the water tanks over the site of the fire in 0.8 to 1.0 seconds.
The roles are reversed.
The Russian people admired Regan because he was patriotic and unapologetic.
Now the US people have to look to Russia to see a leader.
What a shame.
RS
Our guy squatted down and looked at tarballs.
More than the Usurper would have done.
Then again I wonder if Putin’s kid keeps asking him, “Daddy, did you put out the fires, yet?”
Its still a photo op but comes across as more engaged than zeros’s photo ops. Remember 0 squatting on a beach? Putin would wade bare chested into the water to show its safe.
I don't find a commie leader capable of pushing a button particularly comforting.
Looks like he took the measure of BO and found it wanting, too.
I’m not sure whether this is leadership or publicity stunt.
I’ll concede that Putin can pull it off without looking ridiculous. Zero would look like a punk kid, such a stunt on his part (if he even had the guts to try) would be met with howls of derision.
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