Vladimir Putin Thread

kvs wrote:

So the moderator of the interview session of Putin at the St. Petersburg Economics Forum is a full blown 5th column scumbag.
Putin noted that the "Capitol Hill insurrection" was just demonstrators unhappy with the clear problems during the election.   Over 450
people were arrested and 100 of them are being subjected to criminal prosecution for attempted overturn of government.    
(Meanwhile Russia gets lectured about "democracy" when some grifter clown like Nahalny does not win the presidential election.
None of Nahalny's protestors is facing criminal prosecution.   Nahalny is facing the music for his real crimes that predate any
NATzO sponsored political activism on his part.)

The moderator then laid into Putin for supposedly supporting the "insurrection" in the Washington and "risked" being banned by
social media.   Putin essentially said he could care less if some western social media blocked him or any Russian government
account.  People love to bitch that Putin is some tyrant.   But here you see some worm practically spitting in his face at a public
forum.   In real tyrannies there are no such "moderators" of "journalists" pushing foreign propaganda narratives.

what you talking about ?

Russia is not a democracy by any means or stretch of the imagination . There is no freedom of expression in Russia , you can be arrested for promoting gay rights in public . putin also by his finger can remove governors in russia , from people elected democratically if he don't like them .  his power over russia is at the level of kim jon un in north korea. he can replace the government , the prime minister as he did  with medvedev , he can replace ANYONE from the government he wants ,and replace it with anyone of his choice.. there is also censorship in russia for speaking badly about putin , you can go to jail for just insulting Putin.  is that a democracy for you?

on top they can censor any media and censor any religion not approved by the state. and this have nothing to do with extremism , because they have no problems with muslim in caucasus of 60 year old ,to marry with 12 year old teen.   In Russia kidnapping and rape is legal against women , if they are muslim and both families agree with this.

so you show  just pure ignorance of what Russia really is.  For the only reason people think russia is a democracy is because there are elections every 4 years , but whats the point if they disqualify the opposition from participating?

Russia is not a democracy , not a freedom of expression nation ,neither there is freedom of religion , and the president is the law , he can replace anyone by the finger , whether they were elected legally or not

So putin is just a two steps behind from becoming a tyrant and what makes the difference , between a tyrant and putin , is that until now he is not killing people , it seems , at least , but eventually that idiot will go there .. to hold power if someone radically different to that moron , is about to get power to replace him.  

im not a fan of navalny , but navalny is not popular in russia , never he was and he is not the one destroying the nation , but putin is.  if russia ever collapse it will be 100% to blame on putin and only on him. because that idiot have absolute power over everything in russia , he can replace anyone as easy as 1 2 3 over night ,and put them in jail if they insult him.  


your terribly uneducated.. and brainwashed too , with that idiot .
A  president that can't handle criticism is not a leader . but an insecure and incompetent idiot .
and this is what putin is .  In the west , there was a democracy in the past , for more than 200 years , at least when it comes to freedom of expression , and all this freedoms are being systematically being removed since 2001 inside job terror attacks and now during this new pandemic event.


The west is moving away from freedom and democracy , and russia under putin , never truly had
a real democracy , but more like a cult , to putin .  Russia is becoming another north korea , populist nation ,with midget insecure president ,that can't handle criticism , reason why is illegal in the law and people can face jail ,for insulting putin.

In short , Putin's rule Russia like an entry level tyrant , he by the hand can choose who will government and the budget of the entire nation , he have the last word. The laws in russia are written to accomodate that idiot desires , so just 1 man ,can change the constitution in russia.
and over extend his own powers  and rule forever if he desire, what kind of crap is that ?
is that is not a dictator and tyranny , then no idea what is .  

Russia is a third world nation culture ,with third world economy ,based on gas stations and commodities and with an entry level dictatorship that is become worse and worse by the time he continue holding power. , run by one of the most insecure and incompetent president in russia in history . Only lenin and gorvashev were worse , but eventually he will surpass them , when that moron provoke a war with the west , for being so weak and incompetent , he will sooner or later he will provoke a war , for refusing to draw a clear line to the west.

Russia have no future with that idiot in power , only thing can save russia , is that china becomes the leader of new world business and or europe divorcing from the west and becoming neutral ,effectively not allowing US to continue breaking Russia.

So don't complain for the 5th column in russia . what you need to complain is for the lack of influence and leadership of the president . because everyone can be influenced , and if putin is so incompetent to not understand how to influence a significant number of his young generations of voting age , then is because he is a failure as a leader , a failure as an influencer . leaders job is not to micromanage things and putin does all thetime. leaders job is to influence society , to follow their lead.

this is why putin is losing elections in cities to the liberals , he is very outdated president and highly insecure and doesn't know how to influence them. Russia needs a leader with a true vision for the modernization of the economy of the nation , that understand the new generations .

I give thanks to 'Him' every day that I put vann7 on cosmic ignore. Every six months or so I in a fit of sadomasochism read one of his posts and every time I go to my admin section and make sure he's in death spiral ignore list. This is our new little blue girl Krist'lyanna for Sophia to raise. She is not three months old and already is way more cognizant than our boy vann in most any subject one wants to discuss.

This meeting in but a few days between VVP and the new orcs will decide the next ten years, mark my words. Mother has had enough and come the meeting the red lines may well be crossed. The situation here is not tense, a better term would be determined. Everything and everybody is fluffed, buffed and ready to roll as needed, plain to see even by a blind and deaf amoeba.
Auslander

From a friend, a deeply trusted friend, who has been correct in regards to Mat Rossiya for the last 20 years, every event, every happening he predicted perfectly long or shortly before it happened. Make of it what you wish, I had no input on this, I will simply say that what greenbacks we have will be changed to rubles tomorrow morning, 09:01.

"With VVP there is never coincidence. He gave an interview to NBC, then Russia 1. He was blunt about Red Lines, Nazis in Kiev, he challenges Zelinsky to remember Ze is a Jew, that the creation of two classes of citizens by language is what the Nazis did. And then Surkov appears. Talks about Donbass, taking all by Force. With him is Boradai. Boradai was the face of the special services that worked for Putin in Donbass.

Coincidences?? Of course, this is all over Biden’s head, and all the heads of the West. But they are not missed by the military of Russia (and Belarus). And the special services. We’ve heard a lot from Naryshikin (SVR) of late. And Patrushev (Security Council). And Shoigu (MOD).

The almost instant response in Syria to the IED bombing that killed one soldier and wounded 4-5 others. A UAV decapitation of al Nusra leadership. Shows Mil Intel and SOF excellence to pinpoint the target and blast them all. I suspect the colons of Kiev got very tight looking at the photos.

Putin is going to war. Where? The Fools themselves will decide where they want to die and will cross the red line. And there is no bargaining to change this eventuality. Russia has nothing to give in a “bargain”. Russia stands at its borders and its spheres of interest. That’s all they want to protect. And they won’t change that. The US and West wants to destroy Russia. They will either back off, back down, change or they will be destroyed. Their armies in the field and their decision centers will go the way of al Nusra. But in larger scale.

Ukraine—some say all the bridges will be taken out in minutes, trapping the Ukies and Nato between the Russian border and the River. A Cauldron of enormous scale rendered by salvos of thousands of missiles and rockets 10x the Southern Boiler, Debaltsevo and Ilovaisk put together. It will be the shortest war in modern history. 6-10 hours and abject surrender. I think this is what Putin will tell Biden. Cross the red line, Joe, and you will lose NATO and the EU, and Kiev is gone, too. And if Russia takes a missile hit, Camp David and the Pentagon will burn. Leave Ukraine, leave Syria and leave Russia alone. Don’t test us in the Arctic.

Now let’s talk cyber crime, climate change and shutting down the head choppers on your payrolls."

It is clear that NATzO is pathetically dismissive of Russia's military and industrial strength. Obummer's claim that "Russia does not make anything"
really is NATzO's epitaph. These hubris-filled, half-educated exceptionalists who, like little children, think that they can create reality do not
know what they are getting into. Watch the video by Mercouris I posted in the Russia-US thread, whom you do not like, who makes interesting
observations about the demands that Uncle Swine-shit will expect Russia to bend to at the summit. That is some terminal delusion and that is what
makes the US dangerous. It thinks it can pull off anything it wants and does not have self-preservation awareness that would limit such behaviour
if sanity prevailed.

Russia needs to take its red lines to white hot response. No bending over backwards. No appeasement. No wishy washy peacenik self-delusion
that rational minds will prevail in the insane NATzO hyena pack. Hit so hard and so fast that they will not have time to blink. The severing of
key bridges you describe in the course of half an hour would be a good move. MLRSing the Kiev regime paramilitaries posing as an army in the
next few hours would fill in the response nicely. Let's see the NATzO turds blow their propaganda wad. They are like the boy who cried wolf
and already demonized Russia. More of the same will get them nothing. They are going to have to expend blood and treasure to attempt to
"create" the reality they crave. But they will fail. Russia is not Iraq or any of the easy targets they had in the past. Uncle Swine-shit was
not capable of facing of against the Soviet army in 1945 and is not cable of facing off against the Russian army today.

Netanyahu says his “close and personal relationship with the Russian President Vladimir Putin", allowed Israel to have a free hand to operate on its northern border.

US will hope that they can get real concessions from Russia in exchange for them temporarily loosening a bit their extortion, pretty much like mafia bosses would do, but they have actually quite little to buy Russia with

LMFS wrote:US will hope that they can get real concessions from Russia in exchange for them temporarily loosening a bit their extortion, pretty much like mafia bosses would do, but they have actually quite little to buy Russia with

They prove their true intentions with such tactics. Its 2021 and after 7 years of failed sanctions the expect to blackmail Russia with more
sanctions. Washington deciders appear to be more than just in denial, they exhibit evidence of mental deficiency.

jhelb wrote:Netanyahu says his “close and personal relationship with the Russian President Vladimir Putin", allowed Israel to have a free hand to operate on its northern border.

That filthy sack of nazi-shaped worm-ridden dogshit is just trying to sow discord while he collects his crap and vacates the PMs office.

I hope that evil fucker dies in a fire.  

No, scratch that. I hope he survives the fire and languishes in screaming agony for months before the infection takes him.  Old Hob has a fire pit with Bibis name on it, and has set his minions to lay on more coal...  

I doubt that Putin got vaccinated, since all the journalists who met him recently had to be quarantined for 2 weeks.
Even if he was, the vaccine he got isn't being trusted by him/his own doctors.
It's ironic that the US financed the Wuhan lab research to avoid the outbreak at home, but China successfully handled it while the created virus boomeranged & will continue to mutate & hit the West, its allies in Asia, & L. America for years to come.

Putin's Best Yachts - A Place of Secret Meetings and Negotiations
The next meeting between Putin and Lukashenko was remembered not so much by the political statements of the leaders of the two countries as by the so-called “informal part”. Vladimir Putin hosted Old Man on his luxury yacht "The Seagull". Let's make a reservation right away that the word "our", from a formal point of view, is not entirely correct. Officially, the yacht "Chaika" does not belong to Vladimir Putin. As well as the yacht "Olympia". However, despite the records in the documents, no one has the slightest doubt who actually owns this, without exaggeration, luxurious flotilla. On our channel, we have already done comparisons of aircraft and limousines of the presidents of the United States and Russia. You can find links to them under this video. Unfortunately, it is impossible to compare their yachts. The fact is that since Jimmy Carter sold the USS Sequoia presidential ship in 1977, US presidents were left without the commander-in-chief's yacht. The reason for this was mainly PR considerations. So our today's material will be devoted exclusively to the ships of the Russian leader. So, Putin's yachts. And we want to start our review with the Chaika yacht, on which Vladimir Vladimirovich rode the Belarusian Batka. The yacht "Leo Fan", or "Sirius", or "The Seagull" was launched in 2009, and in 2011 was bought by the Government of the Russian Federation. The yacht was built in Turkey. After the sale to Russia, it was renamed Sirius, but now the more Soviet version of the Seagull was chosen for the name of the country's main ship. According to official figures, the presidential office bought it for 30 million euros. Although, when compared with the cost of similar ships, this figure seems to be clearly underestimated. The yacht is 54 meters long and 9.5 meters wide. The cruising range is five thousand nautical miles, which allows for transatlantic travel. The maximum speed is 18 knots or 33 kilometers per hour.
Surely the poor folks in Russia will enjoy watching them on TV/online & be proud that Putin has at least 2 yachts while the US President has none!

"It's a shame to watch such performances": Sobol about Putin's words about Navalny and "Molotov cocktails"

Contradictory US and Russian Messaging on the Biden-Putin Geneva Summit

The vaccine does not take effect immediately on the first dose. You need two take two doses widely spaced apart and wait a couple weeks after the second dose for it to have full effect.
It can take well over a month for this.

lancelot wrote:The vaccine does not take effect immediately on the first dose. You need two take two doses widely spaced apart and wait a couple weeks after the second dose for it to have full effect.
It can take well over a month for this.

The immune system does not have a perfect memory. The second dose is designed to make the immune system retain a better memory of the antibodies it
produces. The first dose already generates an immune system response that can fight off an infection. But assuming you do not get infected in the weeks
following the first dose, the immune system drops the priority on the production of antibodies. An infection before the second dose acts as the second dose.
But the procedure is to give people two doses because the vast majority will not be infected before the second dose.

There is a difference between having a real infection and having some virus proteins in the blood stream. The mRNA vaccines really need the second dose.
The adenovirus vector vaccines are not the equivalent of a Covid-19 infection since these vectors produce soft infections that are easy for the immune
system to fight and the viral proteins that are distributed by these vectors are subject to the same response as with the mRNA vaccine via blood stream
loading after the killing of the modified adenovirus and any infested cells. Really, the best thing for Covid-19 is to get the infection and have the immune
system learn how to deal with it since that is how our immune systems evolved to function. Vaccines serve as a cheat where the immune system has
a priori information about the disease and it takes much less time to generate the antibodies than without the vaccine. This does not mean that everyone
needs a vaccine as people have different levels of effectiveness when it comes to immune system operation.

They said at the start one of the reasons Sputnik V is so effective is that each dose is different... if they were the same then the second dose would be rather less effective in creating a response from the body.

There is no evidence at all that being vaccinated prevents you carrying and spreading Covid even when it does not effect you, so even those with full vaccinations should still wash their hands regularly and be careful who they cough on...

It's ironic that the US financed the Wuhan lab research to avoid the outbreak at home, but China successfully handled it while the created virus boomeranged & will continue to mutate & hit the West, its allies in Asia, & L. America for years to come.

I would say hahahahahaha regarding all the money the US is spending on bio weapons in other countries how this bit them in the ass... geez they know how to piss away money like no other country on the planet.

All these US funded bio labs all round the planet... had zero effect protecting the US from this shit, but nobody questions it at all... in fact they rush to blame the Chinese for it with a US funded lab... brilliant... they are not interested in the truth and that is why more than half a million of them suffocated to death in a painful way.

But you are not interested in the truth are you Tsavo...

More quotes from Jamestown... were the KKK not available for comment?

Putin laid out his vision for Russia at a recent Q&A session.   Here is my own summary and not
translation of Putin's words, I am sure there is a transcript on the official website.

1) It is sad that the USSR disintegrated but things have changed a lot since 1990.

2) In the various limitrophe states nationalist elites have rooted themselves that act to prove
how much they do not like Russia since they are typical ethno-nationalist chauvinists.  

3) Russia has no interest in reassembling these post-Soviet states since this means enormous
support costs and militant resentment.   Why should Russia expend blood and treasure to
force "goodness" onto people who do not want it.   Killary and other American haters can rest
easy, there is not going to be any revival of the USSR.

4) Russia has enormous potential without "colonies".   This potential has to be supported and leveraged
for the benefit of Russians.   No, this is not resources, but the people themselves.   Most Russian parents
want to see their children excel in math and science.   Grubbing for money is not the number one objective.
The resources that would be wasted on rebuilding some pointless neo-USSR must be spent on Russia itself and
this is a long term project.

5) Russia is a multi-ethnic state and everyone is contributing to make Russia better.   There is no ethno-chauvinist
undertone in Putin's statements.   Russia is an aggregate identity like the USA and Canada.   There is no special,
privileged tribe.   This mentality helps keep Russia from going down the same terminal road like the limitrophes
who can't think strait and shoot themselves in the head with hate.   Russia does not think in us vs. them terms
and is not insecure about its identity.   Contrast to Banderastan, which rests on a virulent nationalism that attempts
to steal Russian history and is fixated on hate of Russia.   The same degeneracy could be found in Nazi Germany.
Bunker mentality depravity that only creates misery in the long term.

But the so-called former soviet states weren´t colonies but part of "classic" Russia. It wouldn´t be bad if Russia puts up a policy to encourage the people of this areas (mostly in central asia) to come back.

Hole wrote:But the so-called former soviet states weren´t colonies but part of "classic" Russia. It wouldn´t be bad if Russia puts up a policy to encourage the people of this areas (mostly in central asia) to come back.

Putin appears to think that Ukraine will at some stage get a rational government and that historical ties with Russia are not truly dead.
But he may be a bit too optimistic. The longer the separation, the less memory of those ties. It is better, in my view, for Ukraine
to fall apart in the short to medium term and for the roughly 50% of the population to re-align with Russia. The western Ukrs can
form their pure ethnic state if they can avoid assimilation into Poland.

The problem is that the people of those former parts of the USSR and the Russian Empire are not in control. Russia does not have
the resources to waste on them to fix their problems. The only thing I see having a long term impact is economics. Russia will
keep getting richer, while the limitrophe toilets will continue declining. This is a clearly established pattern. Eventually, people in
these countries may wake up or activate to fix their own problems. But I am not sure that Russia should be a welfare provider
for them. It sucks, but they are on their own (under western control).

They have every right to vote to return as part of the Russian federation... but Russia also has the right to decline the offer and keep the borders where they are.

Think of it in terms of the USA... would the US be made better if Mexico was made part of the US of A?

Would it be better if Canada joined, or the Phillipines joined or even if Cuba joined?

Russia does not have
the resources to waste on them to fix their problems.

If a pro Russia chunk of the Ukraine wants to join the Russian Federation I think the first step should be autonomy or independence.... let them try being their own country for a bit... with open trade with Russia... NOTE I mean open free and fair trade... not charity... not Russia spending billions to fix everything... but you come up with a good business idea and I will invest in that idea and we can both make money type situation where they work hard and drag themselves up out of where they are then in a decade or so if they still want to join and it is the peoples decision... not some trick propaganda BS thing, then why not let them join...

But Russia is huge and does not need to expand... some like minded people with similar culture and the same language and shared religion etc would certainly be a good addition... but as long as they don't think they will get a free ride and everything will be paid for and everything fixed.

The Crimea is a holiday resort and naval base and has value to Russia for both of those things and of course the people there are essentially Russian, or no longer American enough to be considered American...

Russia is not obliged to save the world or be the world police or fix every boo boo, but Russia does not benefit from crushing countries and pushing countries down so that Russia can climb higher by putting its boots on their heads as they sink into the mud.

In terms of commerce and trade countries work better together than in competition... competition causes awful waste and stupidity.

Two enormously expensive programmes to go to the moon but only one makes it... what could have been achieved if they could just work together... but they can only do that when there appears to be an even bigger threat that scares them more than each other... ie Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany... Terrorism isn't scary enough because most of the terrorists are on US payrolls, and Covid isn't scary enough for cooperation as shown by delays in the EU clearing Sputnik V for use because it only kills the old and the weak... we need an alien invasion or a much more dangerous virus that kills everyone eventually.

Russia's history has been in expansion through absorption (not assimilation) of its periphery which was always unstable and staging ground for
invasions. Crimea is one such example. Russia never quite got into the colonialism racket so I do not think it will now develop this mode
of development. As can also be seen from the last century, Russia (ex USSR) can build itself up from internal resources.

If this regions deceide to come back it wouldn´t be welfare but investing in the development of Russia. The stupid thing was done in the 90´s and up to 2014, spending billions in subsidizing cheap energy for this "countries" and giving weapons for free (even to Kazakhstan!) without getting something back.

I suspect Putin is smart enough to understand that there are underlying, invariable elements joining certain regions and peoples to Russia. They allow Lukashenko to do his thing, but events keep forcing the integration of the country with Russia. They don't fight against those in Ukraine destroying their common bonds and history with Russia, but the Russophobia is killing the country and will end up with those nazis hanging from a tree, without Russia moving a finger. They know time will put everyone in its right place, and it will be much much easier and cheaper in the future for Russia to talk about integration with those regions that are Russian at its core, than trying to buy their acceptance with favours as it was the case in the past. Russia does not need now more land or more buffer space, those that want to make part of the common project will have their places, but there will be no more free lunches anymore. I think this is the right approach, respectful and smart.

LMFS wrote:I suspect Putin is smart enough to understand that there are underlying, invariable elements joining certain regions and peoples to Russia. They allow Lukashenko to do his thing, but events keep forcing the integration of the country with Russia. They don't fight against those in Ukraine destroying their common bonds and history with Russia, but the Russophobia is killing the country and will end up with those nazis hanging from a tree, without Russia moving a finger. They know time will put everyone in its right place, and it will be much much easier and cheaper in the future for Russia to talk about integration with those regions that are Russian at its core, than trying to buy their acceptance with favours as it was the case in the past. Russia does not need now more land or more buffer space, those that want to make part of the common project will have their places, but there will be no more free lunches anymore. I think this is the right approach, respectful and smart.

Russia does not need now more land or more buffer space

Russia does not need more land , but they need something else that they now don't have.
Russia needs INFLUENCE , that you can only get it for real , with Leadership
and not the putin's ways ,with gas discounts..

And this is the core , the root of ALL biggest problems Russia face today , and that can be summarized in this list..

What holds back Russia.

1) Is run by  idiots that live in the past, in the "russian/soviet old glorious days" , that lack of ambitions for their country future. Contrary to what putin told ,Russia is a nation with identity problems. they don't know who they want to be. Putin's and his cronies are promoting a "pivot to china" and the russian population are pivoting to the west , to western europe , canada , US or latin america.  Russia is a nation with identity crisis , and this is all consequence of a bad government ,that is run by idiots attached to the past.   Nations who live in the past , and stay there ,and all they talk is about how great they were 50 years ago ,or 100 or 200 , are people very insecure about their nation future.

2) Russia lack of ambitions , and identity crisis , with a government with a highly insecure president ,makes him ,to become very scared of doing new things , or taking any risk , and this is why he develops Russia in the most laziest , way possible, as a gas stations ,commodities banana economy.
a nation that its "development strategy" is exactly the same of Africa and poorest nations in the world, that only produce , the things that the land give for free. mining , agriculture , oil and natural gas. a commodities lame economy.   this is the same economic model that russia empire had , and still today continue with it. They do sale a few rockets and taxi to the iss,  and weapons here or there ,but this is less than 10% of nation economy.

3) Russia face a leadership crisis.  Russia lacks of leadership. You can't start a major post industrial revolution , something that russia desperately needs ,with a weak and insecure soft speaking president in power.
that praise other nations as "Greater than russia".  a president that begs , the west for friendship does not deserve to be president of russia.  Putin needs to stop begging the west for friendship , you don't make friends by begging for it. neither show weakness when those that you ask friendship slap your face.  Putin weakness and insecurity , and awful leadership skills , have done a monumental damage to Russian population morale . you will never convince anyone to be a better person ,a better worker, a better student ,scientist , a better engineer, by showing insecurity and weakness . and politely saying please.   Putin will neither encourage people to study , true game changing carreers, by promoting stupid epenis medals sports.. or judo. or hockey..

To say that putin is a terrible as a leader will be an understatement.  As a leader , is one of the worse ones i have seen .he is not a leader , he is a mediocre manager with some diplomatic skills , he doesn't look to be very corrupt person , but a leader without question, he is not. and this is a tragedy . when population lose their faith on their nation future and their leaders ability to improve things , they leave the country in the millions ,oh wait this is what is happening in russia right now. massive exodus of the population and you bet , if you ask any russian , of the millions abandoning their land to live in another place ,in the west ,for a better future , he will have not very nice things to say about his government or putin.


So right now , the chance i see for russia breaking in parts , as soviet union did it, under an idiot
like putin in power ,is 50% . and the only chance , russia will have to survive and not disband ,is that
either Europe don't join forces with US to completely break russia economy ,through nord stream sanctions , and stop all trade with russia , and allow US to provoke a big endless war between ukraine and russia ,with nato arming ukraine.  and or that china comes to the rescue of russia ,with loans , and with major economic trade.

But if the future of Russia depended on putin's abilities as a president , and "his vision" of what russia future should be ,then russia will be doomed to disband permanently in many more pieces, because there is no way , in a million of years , That Russia on its own could survive the western cold war and sanctions and proxy wars ,with a fool as their president.  Caucasus and siberia and st peterburg split from moscow, and kazan too.   the only positive thing of such event , will be to laugh at everyone in this forum , that defended that idiot and tell them, i told you so , he is terrible... as a leader , he is a disaster. Without a good leader , it will be very hard for Russia to ever take off . And all this 5th column in russia will only multiply ,the more than idiot stays in power.

This is not saying that there aren't worse presidents, for sure there were worse ones ,
Gorvashev and lening was way worse . But this should not be seen as "being better" because putin
is very bad too,, just not as bad as those others.. but still very bad.

A leader is very very important.. if you have a mediocre and incompetent captain in control of a ship , he will drive it through shallow waters, and crash the boat on the rocks or to the middle of biggest storms , or directly towards a giant wave and not avoid it, and put in very real danger the people on board of the ship and never get the boat into a safe port.. bad leadership disbanded the soviet union ,never forget that. And what happened to the more powerful soviet union , can happen to russia federation too.

Why does Russia need more influence, and influence over who?

The West?

Those idiots think they are the pinnacle of human civilisation, there is no room for any alternative narratives there... it is the west or it is wrong.

Demanding a Russian leader that will make the west admire or even just treat Russia and its history with respect is delusional.

The wests future and moral and ethical course is not Russias problem, Russia should decide on its own course and its own future... certainly trade with the west but expect sanctions eventually in any area the west thinks might hurt Russia... a Russia wanting better relations with the west is like a victim of domestic violence protecting and defending the abuser... Russia has a future without the west... there is an entire world out there that does not include the west that Russia can trade and develop and grow with and they will be interested in trading with Russia because Russia wont be trying to hold them down the way the west is currently doing to Russia and China and any other country it deals with.

But like a victim of domestic violence, Russia needs a variety of tools and equipment to keep them safe from the west so when the west starts drinking, the gun can come out and can be used when needed.

My my Vann you are a fool.

The people in power aren't attached to the past, Hell Putin sided Yeltsin to bring down the USSR.

Russia like any major country has ambitions, the problem is they are boxed in and left with few options. Hence the pivot to China is really the only major country willing to play ball with them to any significant degree. They cannot act on those ambitions.

This is how I know you're dumb as a rock, you think Putin believes for a SECOND the west will ever greet his Russia in friendship? No, he knows it will never happen. On the surface, he smiles and waves but it's all for show nothing more. It's just political BS, behind the scenes he does what he must, if Russia was so interested in friendship with the west, why build NS2? Why get involved in Syria etc there are plenty of examples.

Putin is in a hard hard spot, he cannot freely do what he wants because Russia cannot oppose us. So he has to act carefully because he knows a single misstep will be capitalized on by the west.

Once more you are a blind fool ignorant of the realities a leader like Putin faces, I am not saying the guy is perfect he has made mistakes but he is far from the incompetent fool you make it out to be. Because you think you are smarter than you really are.