Right, Vlad! Come now, what possible reason could Mr. Putin have to lie?
Russian democracy has disappeared and the government was an oligarchy run by the security services.
Isn’t he talking about the TSA?
Wow.
Just wow.
Who is lying to me now, Robert Gates or Vladimir Putin???
Decisions, decisions......
AFAIAC, it’s a tossup....
Vladimir is right and Gates needs to take a look at who he’s working for.
Me and Vlad can agree that Gates is deeply misled. Oh I agree with what he says Gates has said about the Russians but I believe Gates is deeply misled in that he thinks “If Congress changes the law to allow homosexuals serve openly that it will be the will of the people and the Military will drop trou- bend over and grab ankle to comply.
Russia is Russia.
Personally I think this whole You need to be Democratic line of thinking, followed by declaring people who have policies we dont like as being undemocratic, needs to stop.
Who even cares if Russia is a Democracy or not? Democracy is not a good in and of itself, and if the people are well treated and free to live their lives, thats what matters most.
Meanwhile, in America if I go on a flight I get to be patted down, can be arrested for hate speech, and have dozens of regulations on my businesses if I own one.
I think thats more of a problem than Russia lacking Democracy.
Putin is right, in his closing remarks too.
When we are talking with our American friends and tell them, there are systemic problems in this regard, we can hear from them: ‘Don’t interfere with our affairs. This is our tradition and it’s going to continue like that.’ We are not interfering, Putin said. But to our colleagues, I would also like to advise you, don’t interfere either [with] the sovereign choice of the Russian people.
America just wants to bully the world these days. What ever happened to America minding its own business? Why should all countries have to enforce their will on each other in some stupid Global Culture as if a solution for one place works in another?
I wish wed all come to our senses and realise that we shouldnt try to run other countries on some international Standard.
Then again, I supported Ron Paul, not Barrack Obama or Juan McCain.
The sad thing is that there are two key players in Russian politics: the Oligarchs and the KGB henchman. As they fight for spoils, there is nothing left for the little guy. For example, neither the police nor the courts have interest in helping to solve crimes against their citizens. They would rather spend their time killing journalists and jailing anyone who dares to consider running against them.