[quote=“heretolog, post:3808, topic:218984, full:true”]
Attacking someone based on religious grounds bothers me, for a number of reasons but it wasn’t the vast conspiracy theory many had assumed. I still find it highly disconcerting that DWS resigned, in part, because of increasing pressure from the progressive wing of the party and then was immediately hired by HRC. [/quote]
That’s fine. My issue is with the notion that the underwhelming content of the leaks is more concerning than the fact that they are the product of a Kremlin influence op employed to the political benefit of the stupidest and most disastrous presidential candidate in American history – because it isn’t.
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Putin being a relentless thief we can agree on, the rest I am not entirely sure. Is the Russian economy struggling? Sure. Would it be doing better in a scenario where Putin wasn’t in charge? I don’t know, as antagonistic as he may be, he has put his country in the forefront again, which has some value.[/quote]
The Russian economy is struggling and Putin’s policies are directly to blame.
As for “he has put his country in the forefront again”: this is one of those stock lines people repeat without explaining or knowing what information it is supposed to convey. Putin’s fundamental statistics and numbers in the last couple of years have been atrocious. Again, if you want to fancy yourself a great power, you cannot pursue policies that allow the West to legally exert downward pressure on your economy. Otherwise, how will you ever be GDP-competitive with the state of Texas!? A military modernization project is futile – and destined to fail – if your economy is rolling backwards down a hill of your own manufacture.
Beyond the numbers, the story is just as simple. The RF has succeeded in restoring to itself some of its Imperial instincts and proclivities: this isn’t some kind of impressive feat. It really isn’t all that grandmaster-chessy to bomb the living shit out of a Syrian suburb when you’ve inherited a nuclear arsenal from your predecessor-state and are therefore pretty damn free to do bad shit up to a certain point and to a certain powerless segment of people. This is particularly so when the bombing campaign isn’t going to serve Russian interests in the long term.
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Every time I watch his interviews or read transcripts I am entirely convinced Putin is as smart as they say. He is diabolical. Even if you don’t concede he is the mastermind the right makes him out to be, you should be able to realize that he can process a political environ well enough to know he isn’t appreciated.
That New Yorker article is bizarre, the guy sounds like a genuine nutcase but with that being said I wouldn’t put too much weight into this Vayno because after all, “The state of permanent instability, in turn, was the ultimate instrument of control, which sapped the energies and attention of all.” [/quote]
The question is how long a man can stand at the center of permanent instability before his own egg starts to crack. There have been numerous indications in recent years that Putin is increasingly surrounding himself with babbling loons. Let’s hope he’s the fortress of calculating reason the Right fantasizes him to be.