Sunday, June 4, 2017
The Putin Interviews | 'Vladimir Putin on Edward Snowden' Official Clip w/ Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone interviews Putin about Edward Snowdon who says that he did no wrong and did not endanger his country. Does he agree with what Snowdon did, "no", says Putin, " he should have resigned?" Is Putin being diplomatic and doesn't want to upset the US, or is an arch conservative who believe allegiance to your country is more important than right or wrong? I hope the former. Below is the trailer for Oliver Stone's, The Putin Interviews. It looks like it's going to be really good.
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On domestic issues, Putin is a conservative, as are most Russians these days. He is a law-and-order type who believes that everyone should obey the rules.
On foreign policy, Putin is a pragmatist and somewhat nationalistic.
I admire Putin's foreign policy because he is one of the few sane leaders in a crazy world, but he is no progressive hero on domestic issues.
Putin, Conservative Icon
This might be Conservative wishful thinking. In a recent Crosstalk interview I put out here recently a commentator said that Western propaganda painted Russia as a deeply conservative nation and Putin as the saviour of Europe against liberal immorality. But this was said to be false. So more research is needed.
Putin is not much of a nationalist compared to Russian bloggers.
Putin recognizes that the priorities in governing are security, order, and welfare in descending order of importance.
He is center left in US terms and governs center right, since most of the county is traditionalist and therefore conservative. Putin comes from St. Petersburg, which is the very liberal in comparison with the rest of the country. He is a "city boy."
Russia is still pretty much a rural country. This is mirrored in the US with urban areas voting chiefly Democratic and rural and ex-urban voting GOP. The swing vote in the US is suburban. Russia does not have a significant suburban population like the US. Russian demographics are changing, as are China's and most of the emerging world since education and opportunity are in the cities, so the traditional pattern will shift along with this trend.
Putin is a multi-polar realist wrt to International relations (IR). He favors an international order that makes room for national sovereignty and cultural diversity. This implies spheres of influence for the great powers.
Uni-polarists hold that one system must dominate globally. Idealists hold that their ideology is superior and should be the basis for the international order. American unipolar idealism in IR is called Wilsonianism. It is the basis for liberal internationalism and liberal interventionism. It rejects spheres of influence, while American realism in IR admits them as needed for international security.
So Putin is at odds with the Wilsonians wrt international relations and the structure of the world order, but he can work with US realists. Trump is a realist and this why the liberal internationalist US deep state is opposing him so strongly with Russiagate and Trumpgate, which has no evidence to support it so far.
All the key players understand this btw.
This might be Conservative wishful thinking. In a recent Crosstalk interview I put out here recently a commentator said that Western propaganda painted Russia as a deeply conservative nation and Putin as the saviour of Europe against liberal immorality. But this was said to be false. So more research is needed.
That is true to some degree. Russia is traditionalist, which is an aspect of conservatism. Traditionalists, religious ones especially, view liberalism and scientific humanism as misguided and when taken to an extreme promoting a degenerate lifestyle.
Putin is personally a combination of liberal and traditionalist, so he is good pivot point for Russian politics, able to manage the differences. The major cities, which are the most advanced places in Russia from the cultural POV, are much more liberal than the rest of the country.
This is interesting from the historical and sociological POV since the ideology of the USSR was liberal in theory rather than traditionalist. Soviet communism exhibited a paradox of liberalism in that it persecuted traditionalism and everything else that did not conform to its idea of liberalism. But the Russian people remained largely true to their roots anyway, as was revealed when the USSR collapsed. Putin has taken note of that and modified his politics accordingly. The liberal cohort remains string in Russian politics and also in the leadership (PM Medvedev and cb head Nabiullina) , and some of Putin's chief advisers are liberals or socialists (Glaziev), even neoliberals (Kudrin).
Russian politics and governance is nuanced and Westerners usually have only a superficial understanding of it. It is explained by Western Russia experts like Stephen Cohen, Gordon Hahn, and Paul Robinson, who emphasize that anyone who doesn’t speak Russian fluently is not worth listening to.
Gordon Hahn often appears on Russian talk shows and reports on it, saying that the give and take is more varied, open and engaging than much of this fare in the US. Here is Hahn's assessment of Putin:
Putin: A Russian Neo-Traditionalist, Not a Western Conservative
Putin is a realist and a pragmatist, which shows in his approval rating, which is off the charts in comparison with US and other Western leaders, showing that he is hitting the right tone overall, even though there may be differences in specific areas and policies.
I'll have to check that out, Tom. Some people would probably try claiming Putin's numbers are rigged as a means to pivot away from your points. I would also want to trust people who actually know the Russian language over novices and rank amateurs with nothing of value to say.
This examines the polling and concludes the numbers are real.
Politifact, Donald Trump is right about Putin's popularity in Russia
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