I would love to hear the thoughts of this leftist community, not least any comrade in Russia. In the US it's so hard to get any serious Russia news/analysis because of the propaganda here- you have red guys that love Russia & Putin to own the libs, and you have blue guys that hate Russia & Putin because it's their favorite boogeyman. I ask because I personally don't like Putin for his war on gayness (wake me up when we get to war of gayness) but I understand that countries in the US's crosshairs are those that make their history under the least self-selected circumstances. I was looking at some stats when this question came to mind:
UA
RU
So material conditions have definitely improved under Putin, which is a miracle considering the fall of the USSR and the disgrace of Yeltsin, which makes me think there are probably people out there who like Putin for rational reasons, besides owning the libs. I would love to hear your thoughts either way.
He's better than Yeltsin, I think that's the reason why people would like him (as you said yourself).
He's little more than any other politician under capital, he's just a little more savvy than most western politicians and a little less short sighted. He's ultimately an opportunist who is only really looked upon favorably by the left because the west couldn't put aside their Orientalism long enough to fully destroy Russia, and turned their biggest ally in the country into their enemy. At this point he does seem a little too burned by the west to ever trust them again, but it is entirely possible he would just side with the west if the west could put their bloodlust aside for just a few moments to wine and dine him. He is an "ally" of convenience to the left I suppose, since Russia is currently the biggest threat to western imperialist hegemony.
Thank you for this answer!
What is this in reference to?
In the 90s, the west had Russia in their pocket, Putin was almost hand-picked by the west as the perfect successor to Yeltsin, but despite Putin's efforts at diplomacy, even trying to join NATO, the west constantly rejected him and treated Russia as a threat, systematically surrounding them with NATO countries, they had destroyed the Soviet Union, but Russia was still too independent for their liking, so even though Putin and the Russian people in general wanted to work with the west, the west refused to work with them. The west never trusted Russia because of their own personal dislike of countries outside of the "garden" of Western Europe and the casual racism and white supremacism that is the undercurrent of western society.
Aaahh ok, thanks. That's an important piece of info.