Member of Russian Duma speaks out - Ilya Ponomarev

family has its black sheep, but the Russian Duma has not yet need to take an oath of loyalty to Israel

So a member of an opposition political party speaks out against the leader of the government. What's so heroic and special about it, that some people see? Happens in every single country out there!

And since when Putin is ordering assasinations and poisonings of opposition, Cold War style?

Seems to me that some people here see a 2nd Cold War, while Putin sees none.

a reply to: Unbent

Well, he did order some assassinations, Politowska or Litwinienko being the well known ones.

I was trying to point out that Putin, being schooled in the basics of appearances, maintains an opposition within the government, a sock-puppet opposition that is allowed to voice their concerns or oppose him for the sake of appearances. He does that to save the facade of Russian government being a democratic one. It's as democratic as under Stalin's rule, but with a new modern flavor

On the contrary to what you wrote, Putin is very Cold War-ish. Both in his career history and his motives/political views. And it's that Cold War boldness that works for him quite well in international relationships.

I lived in Russia and Ukraine for 6 years combined. Russians long for their country being a superpower again. Putin capitalizes on that. He's the master of unpredictability and knows how to rock the boat of international relationships and diplomacy to get what he wants.

I don't blame Russia or Russians nor judge them, having known them and their people well. I blame USA and EU for sticking their noses where they don't belong. When Putin performed a complete and utter removal of Georgian US-backed government, Sakaszwili was so sad that the Americans who invested considerable resources into Georgian military and politics didnt come to his rescue. And they didn't, as Georgia was a cheap shot at getting American presence closer to Russia. Didn't work. The same happened with Ukraine. Putin just tries to stabilize his ближнее зарубежье, nothing more, nothing less.

I usually invite anyone who criticizes Putin to apply his/her scrutiny to U.S. in the same matter per analogiam and see how US would react if the Russians tried to make Mexico or Canada pro-Russian or tried to meddle with internal affairs of these countries with a clear intent of undermining U.S influence. Is Washington that close to Kiev? No, it isn't.