Do you trust President Putin?

[ECH1969]

The press keeps ragging on Putin for so many different things, what do you think, do you trust him?

[SmokingJacket]

1. Fock no.

Why should I?

[Cocoa]

2. let me look into his soul first

then I'll let you know.

[Kagemusha]

8. He doesn't have one.

That's my view anyway..

[sweetheart]

3. i'd like to teach the world to sing...

... in perfect harmony...
... i'd like to hold it in my arms,
and keep it company.

... those are my own individual thoughts...

really... ;-)

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. I don't trust politicians of any stripe.

[newscott]

5. Just a smidge less than I trust *.

[Redstone]

6. I'd trust the fucking Devil before I'd trust a Russian.

Redstone

[Kelly Rupert]

9. How about a Jew?

Or is it only cool to say that about Russians?

[Redstone]

12. Jews, I trust. Russians, I don't. So shoot me.

Redstone

[Virginia Dare]

13. How quaint and cold war-ish of you...n/t

[Redstone]

20. And how condescending of you.

I have my reasons.

Redstone

[Virginia Dare]

33. I trust that you do...

just a smart-ass joke, didn't mean to insult.

[damntexdem]

7. Oh, yes, of course, but .if he invites me to eat, ...

I may have a prior commitment that will unfortunately prevent my acceptance of his kind offer. ;-)

[Kelly Rupert]

10. Yes.

I also think Stalin was a fine man.

[Virginia Dare]

11. In a word, No.

Actually two words HELL NO.

[everythingsxen]

14. Putin?

You mean the ex-KGB and mobster who runs Russia....

Sure you can trust him. As much as you can trust any other ex-KGB mobster....

[patricia92243]

22. Yep!

[htuttle]

15. Trust him with what?

Would there be any reason for me to need to have an opinion on this matter?

[Raine]

16. Yeah, sure

as much as I trust Chimp.x(

[Imagevision]

17. Putin last week provided stinger missles to Iran's pain in the ass, --> The USA

but, business is business...

[Warpy]

18. After he got Stupid drinking just before the G-8?

Not as far as I can throw a grand piano by one leg.

[ECH1969]

19. huh

What about the G8?

[Warpy]

21. Here is the classic picture with Putin

The G-8 was infamous for Bush using vulgar language with his mouth full and giving the German Chancellor an unsolicited back rub.

Anybody who's ever lived with an alcoholic recognized it.

[Redstone]

24. Whoa. I'd not seen that before. Are those two pie-faced, or what?

Putin is just BARELY able to stay upright. I've seen that "lean" in bars.

Redstone

[Warpy]

32. Putin looks like he's all there

but looking at Stupid, the lights are on but nobody's home.

Putin looks like he's pointing to where Stupid pissed on the floor.

[dflprincess]

31. I doubt that getting Bush to take a drink took much effort

n/t

[AspenRose]

23. Nope.

:scared:

[NNadir]

25. Absolutely not.

But I think he's better for his country than Bush is for ours.

[nrnowlin]

26. Do I trust Putin?

Very few Americans can sufficiently relate to the economic
dilemma that was, and is faced, by the Russian people on the
dissolution of the USSR.  The specific perils that were cast
upon a vast population of people, which has never, in 700
years, experienced the liberty, and with it the terrible
hazards, of Western society, haven't yet been understood and
accepted by the Russian poor.  And there are many, many more
poor people in Russia than in the United States.  And while
personally believing in the efficacy of democratic socialism
more than free market capitalism, I think that Vladimir Putin
is thinking along the same line.  He does not want the Russian
federation to take on the likeness of the United States, in
terms of the awful poison offered by a people addicted to
instant gratification, waste, and pollution.  He does not want
Moscow to become like New York City, where one out of every
five people, in a population of nine million, doesn't know
where his next meal is coming from.  

Putin lived in the United States for several decades as a KGB
agent, and saw the effect of greed, graft, and deceit in the
political business of American industry.  He was privy to the
crimes in the suites, such as was committed by Ken Lay and
other such capricious CEOs.  That's why he is clamping down on
oil men, in the likeness of George W. Bush, who have become
wealthy off of a natural resource that should be nationalized
for the public good.  No, I'm not a raving lunatic when I say
that everyone should be able to afford the basic costs of
ecoclogically-sound transportation, health care, education,
and the costs of living from day-to-day.

While Putin might be clamping down on the individual liberties
of the very wealthy in Russia, he might be attempting to
create a system where everyone, especially the poor, will
receive the basic requirements for living, such as food,
shelter, and security from deceitful Machiavellian
entrepreneurs who would take advantage of them.  There is a
book that Putin has read that has made a difference in the way
he looks at the ravages of Western Society, which was written
by a prominent American psychologist, B.F. Skinner.  Its title
is "Walden Two."  I think every American should read
the book and, then, ask himself if the profit motive in
capitalism, fueled by greed, is going to create ultimate peace
and tranquility in our society.

Putin is in a volatile position.  I think that he is realizing
that Mother Russia is feeling the toxic effect of Western
society.  No, I don't think that he ordered anyone to be
killed, especially that former KGB agent that died.  Now,
there are old communist elements in Russia over which Putin
has no real control.  When a system like the Soviet Union
falls, the vestiges of communist totalitarianism will remain
indefinitely.  There are still old generals and politicians
around in Russia who had great sway in the old KGB.  A lot of
people are still loyal to these old communists.  One of these
old hard-liners might have ordered the death of the recently
dead agent.  

Unless you have studied the history of Russia and the Soviet
Union, which I have attempted to do over the years, you will
not understand what Putin in attempting to do.  Do I trust
him?  I know I would tend to trust him more than I would
George W. Bush. For I believe, like most of the literate and
educated Pakistinis, that Bush and his cohorts in the
Executive Branch, and not Bin Laden, were responsible for
9/11.  There's a lot of evidence out there to substantiate
this, that most Americans haven't examined, for they think
that no American President would ever stoop to such deceit.  I
think that they have forgotten about James Polk and the
Mexican War, Theodore Roosevelt and the Philippines, Franklin
Roosevelt and Pearl Harbor, Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam,
Richard Nixon and Watergate, and Ronald Reagon and
Iran-Contra. It seems that as long as mainstream Americans are
able to conduct business and yield a profit or a paycheck, and
buy what they want, they don't really care about how the
government is operated and how many people die from unnecesary
wars created from the political whims of Presidents.  And if
they do remember from time-to-time, they conveniently forget
sad history.

                   

[citizen snips]

27. No

with russia's history I think no one can trust him.

[proud patriot]

28. not particularly

[Gwerlain]

29. Not particularly...

unless you mean, "trust him to act in his own best interest, and to give at least a nod to the interests of Russia and Russians." OTOH, I think he's a pretty good leader for them. By that I mean, he seems to be doing right by them, by and large. But trust him in terms of trust him not to screw the US if he sees a chance? Don't bet your sweet patootie.

And never, ever, ever forget that he was high in the leadership of an intelligence apparatus that was noted for being one of the most devious and paranoid in the world. I don't think anyone can be involved with something like that if they are not already pretty damn devious, and pretty damn paranoid. Not to even speak of be successful at it, which he was by all accounts; and he did, after all, live, which is better than you can say about some predecessors.

[dflprincess]

30. What I find interesting is that even the U.S. mainstream media

has speculated that Pooty-Poo might have had something to do with the spy's death. Yet, if someone speculates that elements of the U.S. government might have had something to do with JFK's or Wellstone's deaths or 9/11 you're treated like a nut.

[shadowknows69]

34. At this point in my life

I wouldn't trust the President of a Student Council.