Russia is pathetic it's like evolution backwards. They get dumber and dumber. Vladamir Putin is an assclown.
Putin is cool though, as a person.
Might be cool as person. As a leader, he's a despot. Nearly all leaders are hugely charismatic. That's why people follow them.
I figured people liked him because we was not a corrupt lard-ass boozer who carved up his country and gave it to his crony oligarch friends who then turned around and sold it to the Western corporations. The Russian proles are made out to be as being dumb as rocks in the West, but I'll bet that a good number of them are not completely blind.
Not corrupt? lol. He's crushed every opponent he can get his hands on. Crushed all free press. Learn some recent Russian history, please.
Being a tyrant and being corrupt are two subtly different things.
I don't doubt that Putin is a real bastard and I'm goddamn glad he isn't my leader and that I'm not a Rooshin, but if I were I would bet I would feel a at least a tinge of pride that my country was not a total ass-bitch to the U.S. as is most of the rest of Europe and a great many other countries besides.
OK, he's a real bastard, a tyrant, but you think an average Russian is proud of him? Russia has never been an "ass-bitch" of the US, that we all know. I don't think its a reason to feel any tinge of pride for Putin.