Don't fall for Putin's lie

Guardian ^ | March 31, 2014 | By Ian Birrell

[Jim Robinson]

Too many in the west fall for the lie that Russia has a historic right to dictate events in neighbouring nations such as Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin has won plaudits at home and brushed aside censure abroad with his brazen theft of Crimea. His few supporters at the UN last week tellingly included some of the planet's most unsavoury regimes, such as North Korea, Syria, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Their leaders no doubt appreciated the skilful blend of force, speed and propaganda with which he seized the region from Ukraine.

But it is extraordinary that the Russian president has bedazzled so many in the west – and not just his new admirer Nigel Farage. Putin is the autocratic leader of a regime reviled for domestic repression and systemic human rights abuses. He is a man accused of overseeing atrocities in his quest to restore the Russian hegemony destroyed by the collapse of the Soviet Union – something he outlined quite openly in his first speech to the Duma.

Yet many people fell for his farcical referendum, held at gunpoint and boycotted by big chunks of Crimea's population. They ignored polling showing that only a minority supported joining Russia – as well as the paltry 4% support won by the party that advocates Russian unity and now runs the region.

Even before I left last week after a month there, some Russian speakers were regretting their support as economic and social realities have hit home; other Crimeans have simply fled.

Now Putin, with his tanks and troops lined up on the border, has gone further. His foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, insists that Ukraine is effectively dismembered. The country cannot function as a unified state, he says, and must become a loose federation with autonomous powers given to regions bordering Russia...

[AU72]

Putin cut a deal with Merkel, Obama and Kerry have moved on. Ukraine is now on its own.

[elhombrelibre]

What many of the people who think Putin is no threat might want to ask is why are MOIS and FSB in bed together? And why is Putin helping Iran get a nuke?

[Dr. Thorne]

We have a Putin cult right here on FR. Because FReepers hate Obama, in a knee-jerk fashion some take the other side, forgetting that Putin is a murderous swine. Ukraine should be free to make her own decisions with neither Putin nor Obama making them for her.

[JimSEA]

Reagan had a robust foreign policy. One with which I agree even afte the dismantling of the Soviet Union and the two poorly executed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (our rules of engagement have kept us from winning one and the lack of a negotiated end of war status has allowed the other to erode). Rand Paul and his father are isolationists. I don’t think that will work any better now than it did in the 1930s.

A strong nationalistic leader like Putin attracts support in much the same way the German American Bund built support for the Nazis. Freedom is undervalued here and abroad.

[Dr. Thorne]

I’m not a Paulista, but this weird bromance going on between some FReepers and Putin is a little gay. There is a middle ground in which we accept America’s involvement in global affairs, but don’t pledge our wealth (what wealth?) and blood every time the Neo-Cons call.

[goldstategop]

This from the chap who defends onto the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar, which were stolen wholesale from other countries?

Let’s see if people are British and speak English, they have a right to be a part of the UK. But if people are Russian and speak Russian, they have no right to be part of Russia. One is self-determination and the other is theft.

The Russians follow this logic and they should feel guilty and betray the Crimeans because a British columnist says, “do as we say, not as we do.” The British have never bothered to ask the Argentines and Spaniards by the way about the legality of their annexations.

Russia has to play by the new rules and not follow its national interests. Well that is exactly what is not going to happen. And Moscow could care less how he thinks Crimea ought to be settled. After all, the UK invented the rules on possession.

[FBD]

Just a month ago, Putin said he had no interest in “annexing Crimea”.
Then Putin said the unmarked Russian troops in Crimea were "local Militia”, there to protect the Russian population. Now, Putin's propaganda machine says that the snipers in Kiev were the protesters, shooting their own. Lie upon lie.

http://ktla.com/2014/03/04/putin-russia-has-no-plans-to-annex-ukraines-crimea-region/

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[elhombrelibre]

Hey, I agree with you. Putin is a grotesque human being and a liar that would shame the Putinistas on FReeRepublic, if that’s possible. I know some of these goobers are hoping to be the next Goebbels, so bereft of common sense and decency are they that they swallow all of Putin’s claptrap. Some insist on inundating the rest of humanity, or at least FreeRepublic, with Putinista propaganda.

[FBD]

I know you and I are on the same page about Putin and Ukraine...it's easy to see where Ukraine's sympathies lie in this photo.

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http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/maydan/40days2.jpg

[elhombrelibre]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/30/exclusive-photographs-expose-russian-trained-killers-in-kiev.html#url=/articles/2014/03/30/exclusive-photographs-expose-russian-trained-killers-in-kiev.html

[FBD]

Ive read that one. A Putinista told me that the Russia, QUOTE:
“...also has photos of the snipers on rooftops shooting their own people from the maiden right sector...”

They believe any propaganda that the Putin machine puts out, solely based on the fact that our news media is full of propaganda too.

[elhombrelibre]

These Putinistas are as gullible as the Leftist who think Castro is swell. They’re true believers when it comes to Putin; it’s gotten to be like a cult.