Quote of the Week...from Vladimir Putin

Stalin is the most popular figure in all of Russia.           ---Vladimir Putin

The above is a quote from the current president of the Russian Federation, who during his incrementally-lengthening tenure has rolled back representative democracy in his country, persecuted his political opponents, and restricted the freedom of the press...while engaging in an aggressive foreign policy designed to interfere with neighboring countries like Ukraine and Georgia through military occupation and fomenting rebellion.  It is strongly suspected that under his direction, Putin interfered with our own presidential election in 2016 and has also tampered with other countries' elections.  Yet he consistently gets a very high popularity rating among his people, at worst in the 60s percentile and recently climbing to the upper 80s.  To understand this, it is important to note something about the Russian people...

Every culture on Earth has its own traditions and priorities, and Russia has a long, long history of its people living under autocratic or totalitarian rule with very little experience of democratic representation and freedom of expression as we see it practiced here.  Whether or not their leader becomes revered is largely a matter of how well he has asserted Russia's presence on the world stage and comes across as strong.  Actually, to a lesser extent Americans also judge their own presidents by similar standards...this is not confined to being "Russian".  But we here also have a strong tradition of individual freedom and have a system of two well-established political parties in opposition to each other.  Of course, there are many Russians opposed to Putin and his regime and tactics...but we in America would be deluding ourselves if we thought that he is only in power because he oppresses his people and crushes political opponents.  In fact, Vladimir Putin is very highly regarded in general over there...and I'm sure that he was careful to create the same kind of image for himself that Josef Stalin accomplished: ruthless to the enemy, but benevolently and paternally taking care of his own.  That's the image, not necessarily the reality (Stalin was responsible for untold millions of deaths): but politics are politics, and people react to their leaders in their own way and judge them differently in different countries...

Unlike Stalin, though, who was an ideologue and extremely paranoid, Vladimir Putin is just a savvy, rather cold-blooded Russian nationalist whose priorities are (1) to protect and advance his own political power using whatever means necessary and (2) to look after the interests of Russia and Russian nationals.  Beyond this, he is not particularly interested in being anyone's friend or ally...unless doing so furthers (1) or (2)...