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Putin Live: Talks US, Nukes, Ukraine, Iran, Hitler, And Cloning In Town Hall Meeting — Full VIdeo
Russian President Vladimir Putin — who TIME readers recently voted as the most influential person in the world — held his annual call-in/ town hall-style Q&A on Thursday, and as one might imagine, there were some memorable moments. Previous sessions included the following classic clips (via RT):
Putin on whether Alaska is “ice crimea” (play on “ice cream”): “What would you need Alaska for? It’s cold there, let’s not get overenthusiastic about it.”
Putin on when he would be willing to retire: “You won’t live to see it.”
Putin on John McCain’s suggestion that the Russian President will go the way of Muammar Gaddafi: “McCain sat in a pit in Vietnam for several years, anyone would go nuts after that.”
Putin on astronomy, the exact time table for the end of the world, and how, if he’s around then, he will most assuredly not be afraid:
Clearly these are tough acts to follow and so, with the bar set, Putin came into Thursday’s event prepared to one-up himself — he did not disappoint. As Bloomberg notes, the Russian President took 'the pot calling the kettle black' to the next level by likening the US to the post-war USSR. Like the Soviet Union, Washington seeks to “impose” its will, Putin said, echoing comments made by his security council last month in a critique of US foreign policy. The US, he continued, wants “vassals” and not “allies.” Putin also employed the tried and true “express willingness to negotiate then make not-so-veiled nuclear threat” strategy before reminding listeners that Stalin was not Hitler. Here’s more:
- U.S. “doesn’t need allies, they need vassals”
- Nothing good came of U.S.S.R.’s attempts to impose will, model on other countries; U.S. also won’t succeed in forcing its position on world, U.S. shouldn’t be only power
- Putin says it wasn’t Russia that ruined relations w/ U.S. its allies
- If U.S., allies was to rebuild ties, they must respect Russia, its interests
- Russia wants cooperation, willing to work w/ those who want to cooperate with Russia
- Anti-Russia sanctions aren’t very effective
- Putin says Russia’s nuclear power is nearly equal to U.S.
- Russia bolstering defense to protect itself, not planning to go to war w/ anyone
- Putin says confrontation isn’t reason for his high public support
- Russia will continue to fight radical nationalism, nationalism is threat to Russia’s unity
- Putin says Stalinism, Nazi regimes shouldn’t be compared as Josef Stalin didn’t try to exterminate entire ethnic groups
Other highlights include the following, via The Guardian:
Iran: Putin insisted lifting a five-year embargo on the delivery of air defence missiles to Iran did not undermine international sanctions since the Russian ban was voluntary. The US and Israel have objected to the move announced this week. Putin said he made the decision since Iran had shown “a desire to reach compromise”.
WW2 commemorations: European nations not coming to Moscow to mark the 70th anniversary of the war’s end had been put under pressure by Washington, Putin claimed.
Ukraine: The Russian president denied Russian military forces were in Ukraine and said Kiev was violating a peace accord by maintaining an economic blockade on eastern regions under the control of pro-Russian rebels.
Economy: Putin was optimistic in his answers, highlighting gains in agriculture and a low unemployment rate. He added that the rouble was getting back on its feet following a sharp devaluation last year, and estimated a full recovery to be “somewhere in the region of two years”.
Here’s the entire spectacle:
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces also invoked the cold war in claiming that Washington has adopted a 'to the winner go the spoils' approach to international politics since the collapse of the Soviet Union. This, the officials claim, is evident in the US approach to the conflict in Ukraine. Here's more, via Reuters:
Top Russian officials accused the United States on Thursday of seeking political and military dominance in the world and sought to put blame on the West for international security crises, including the conflict in east Ukraine.
Evoking Cold War-style rhetoric, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said a drive by the United States and its allies to bring Kiev closer to the West was a threat to Moscow and had forced it to react.
"The United States and its allies have crossed all possible lines in their drive to bring Kiev into their orbit. That could not have failed to trigger our reaction," he told an annual security conference in Moscow.
Echoing his comments, General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, told the meeting: "Considering themselves the winners of the Cold War, the United States decided to reshape the world to fit its needs.
"Aiming at complete dominance, Washington stopped taking into account the interests of other countries and respect international law."
And a bit more color from WSJ:
General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said missile defense systems slated for installation in Poland and Romania represented a threat and Russia had to prepare to respond.
“Nonnuclear powers where missile-defense installations are being installed have become the objects of priority response,” Gen. Gerasimov said, referring to Poland and Romania.
The comments came at a Moscow defense conference where a series of high-level Russian leaders repeatedly warned of the serious threats that the U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization posed to modern Russia. Together, the speeches formed a fiery rebuke to the U.S. that comes as the conflict in Ukraine has brought the worst relations between Moscow and Washington since the days of the Cold War...
In the past, Western leaders have said NATO’s long-running project to build a missile defense shield in Europe aimed to deter an attack from Iran rather than from Russia. On Thursday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said such assertions were a lie.
“Today it is clear that the missile threat from Tehran that the U.S. and other countries of the alliance invented was a bluff,” Mr. Shoigu said...
Gen. Gerasimov also warned of Islamist extremism. He said al Qaeda had arisen from the Mujahideen that fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan with U.S. money and support and suggested history had begun to repeat itself.
“Not so long ago participants in ISIL also were ‘good’ fighters, widely paid off by the West as ‘fighters for democracy in Syria,’” Gen. Gerasimov said. “Now they’ve gotten out of control,” he added, saying they posed a threat to their “former employers.”
* * *
As funny as it is to listen to the Russian President field random questions on subjects as diverse as cloning, astronomy, and annexing Alaska, and while there's certainly a degree to which the Kremlin employs a bit of sophistry in an effort to paint Russia as the tragic protagonist in a story about an evil hegemon bent on spreading Russophobia (so pretty much the exact same thing the US did during the cold war, only in reverse), the tension between Moscow and the West is palpable and with NATO now conducting its own snap drills in Eastern Europe and with the very same militants to which Gen. Gerasimov is referring just a few kilometers away from the palace of the Russian-backed Bashar al-Assad, we wonder if and when the war of words will turn into one of bullets.
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Putin's a pretty damn sharp liar - he uses deception extremely well.
But I didn't see hardly any lies or deception in this call-in session - "he's just a straight shooter with upper management written all over him....." [a rather oblique reference to the movie Office Space]
"Putin's a pretty damn sharp liar "
how about a few examples?
Obama lies every time he opens his mouth. His persona is a lie. I don't know how Putin could possibly come even close.
The paranoia relating to an invasion of Alaska by Russia still blows me away.... meanwhile... US invades Ukraine.
obama is a fictitious persona created to enable an agenda. He couldn't carry putin's ballsack. Obama is merely a cunt
A cunt is something useful!
Until they get old. Then look the fuck out!
You can't trust people whose eyes are that close together. It's a well-known indication of a deviant brain with megalomaniacal tendencies.
Could be nothing more nefarious than a familial trait.
Not quite sure why he is defending Stalin. Stalin was responsible for the famine that killed 10-20 million Ukrainians. In addition, he then prevented other countries from sending food to Ukraine while 25,000 people a day died. So he is saying it is wrong to compare Hitler to Stalin because Hitler was committing genocide against a race and Stalin wasn't, that is kind of a distinction without difference. In many ways, I'd say Stalin was even worse than Hitler.
I've spent years researching the subject and I still can't find anything that Hitler said about exterminating Jews. I always believed the official story but dig into it and it comes apart at the seams like a $100 suit.
Stalin (an ethnic Georgian) was trying to destroy the collective farmers that in his paranoia were stealing from him. It wasn't only Ukrainians that starved but Russian farmers as well.
Khrushchev (an ethnic Ukrainian) was a Ukrainian Communist party boss who participated in Stalin’s murder of 6-7 million farmers.
It is only in modern Ukrainian revisionist history as taught today in Kiev that this was some sort of Russian genocidal plan to exterminate Ukrainians when in fact it was ordered by a paranoid Georgian (Stalin) and carried out by a Ukrainian kiss ass. (Khruschev).
Stalin did't single out Ukrainians as he was an equal opportunity murderer!
Good point. Correct, he wasn't singling out Ukrainians. However, they were disproportionately targeted because there was so much farming in Ukraine because of the quality of the farmland. I've read roughly 1/4 of the entire country's population died as a result of Stalin.
Anyway, point is that Stalin was one evil SOB. So was Hitler, but I don't understand why Putin was defending Stalin. This seems like it would end up just antagonizing the Ukrainians, as if there isn't enough problems between those two countries right now.
Yes, I agree Swass. I am an American of Kuban Cossack ancestry. I carry a Ukie surname and identify myself as only Russian. Stalin did a number on my people as well. He was one evil SOB and worse than Hitler. Some modest estimates say Stalin killed almost 70 million people during his reign of paranoia and terror. And this number does not include the 27 million that died fighting Nazi Germany. There were only two Russians in communist history, Lenin and at the end, Boris Yeltsin. Every leader between them was a non-Russian.
I can't say why Putin defended Stalin. The name (Staln) means "steel" in Russian. Maybe he equates himself with the strength exuded by him. Just a guess. Otherwise I have admiration for Vladimir Putin.
Generally, I appreciate/admire Putin's tenacity and I think he is a very savvy leader for Russia. What I think confuses some people when they say they support Putin is in the ancient proverb "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." The US epitomizes this all the time by supporting groups (as Putin even pointed out) that later turn against us, just because they happened to be against the same person/group/country as we were. So often people support him simply because they (as Americans), like me, think our country's government has gotten out of control and presents a danger to it's own people and people around the world, and Putin represents someone who willfully opposes what we oppose. That is where my admiration of Putin ends though -- he may be appropriate for Russia but I would not want his brand of politics and power in the US any more than I like Obama or Bush's.
The USSA has been sh*t since The Civil War. It was the start of banksters wars. The USSA leadership is vile NWO neocon criminal scum.
The USSA elections are joke. The borders are wide open. You are delusional if you think the USA is not so bad.
True, and Russia is not America and they don't ever want to be like us. For Russia, Vladimir Putin is the strong leader they want and need. In land area they are more than 3X our size. As an ethnic Russian and Russian Orthodox Christian I am very happy that Russia has him.
Agreed, Mike. I wish all people would realize, as we do, that other countries have different values and that liberty dictates that they be able to live their lives in the way they see most fitting, regardless of whether that political/social system agrees with another person/country or not. Putin is an ideal leader for Russia, and I think generally has Russia's best interests at heart. I do not believe Putin ever needed to be an enemy of the US and I think it's a mistake to make him (and Russia) one. We should be focused on making business friendships with everyone and promosting free commerce.
Lenin was not exactly Russian.
only nationality.
controversial, but does he look Russian? or something else?
I believe something else..
who financed and who were his accomplices?
Stalin main was build industry, mostly for offensive war. Look number of tanks, airplanes of Soviet at war beginning.
He decided industry plan with cities, factories priority to achive that power....
demanded terrible quotas, when not fulfilled
Life mean nothing was not personal at all
The Kulak resisted steal their work product, and recieved normal Soviet inhumane death and depradation.
Was not only Ukraine, but Russia especially Volga, southern regions and Kazakhastan
Excellent, and truthfull post!
Stalin and his cronies, most non-Russian, felt a terrible threat from pesant farmers. This class of people was refusing to take part in collectivization, the very foundation of the Soviet State. He killed and starved all ethinc groups of farmers. More Russians were killed outright, or sent to camps to die. The worst crime to Stalin was Russian Nationalism. He killed anyone who might be considerd a Russian nationalist, just like all the others.
Ukraine, West Ukraine, using this as some excuse for their Nazism.
Putin recently had a meeting with Tsirpas and Tsirpas chewed his ear off with boring talk of reparations from Germany. Then Putin realized that someday perhaps, some idiot in Ukraine or at the UN could come after Russia for reparations. What Putin does here is just being proactive.
Reparations from several generations ago with a totally different government is BS. However, don't think that, just as with the Greeks over Germany's Hitler, the deep feelings of the atrocities committed against them generations ago will go away. Many of these countries that were subject to the hardships of Communism, as a result of the Soviet Union, have trans-generational grievances and anger at Russia.
As Russia is hardly the same country it was back in the Soviet Union, I don't think it's government has any responsibility for what happened back then. Defending Stalin is just wrong though.
I dont think that Putin defends Stalin, he is just trying to make a point that Hitler was far worse than Stalin and from the Russian point of view he was. More than 26 millions of Russians died in WWII, half of them civilians. They said in a Russian war documentary that almost all Russian families have someone dead in WWII. Can the USA people even imagine something like that? WWII is still an open wound for Russians. In their eyes, there is no comparison, Hitler wanted to EXTERMINATE ALL Russians completely, Stalin was just "one of the long line of their own dictators." Now you got it?
And not even mentioning the fact that Putin's two little brothers died during the Siege of Leningrad. That must make it very personal for him, he grew up with this tragedy of war looming. You can see it on him every time he lays down the wreaths for soldiers fallen in WWII. One of the few times you will see him very emotional. So, in his eyes, understandably, Stalin was nothing compared to Hitler. Unfortunately, people often do not understand this. I am not a Russian, but I am a Slav as well and I can tell you that Nazi Germans HATED Slavs as much as Jews and called us subhumans. I know it from my grandparents. So, for me, Hitler also represents much greater evil than Stalin. My grandparents lived through WWII and under communism and although communism was not good, you just cant compare it with a world war. Any war is just much more terrible than anything. Lets hope we wont see any such war again.
Datura, Good point and I agree!
I think it's better to leave history alone and try and forget who hated who and for what reasons. Germans weren't exactly loved anywhere in Europe prior to WW1 and especially not prior to WW2. There was injustice and abuse toward native Germans all across Eastern Europe going back a couple centuries. It's just too sad when people rely on their forefathers to promote sentiment against other groups of people. What it comes down to is the issue of money and compensation. Many Germans lost everything after two major wars and nobody is defending their claims. I know we lost not one but two wars but c'mon, that can't be the last excuse for eternity? Especially when the circumstances of each war are very nebulous and the origin of guilt is hard to establish - unofficially.
Unless we truly let bygones be bygones and focus on the future without running in circles and accusing each other of whatever our grandfathers did or may have had involvement in. That can never be compensated and those that were victims are dead and frankly, they don't care anymore.
No one should be responsible for any atrocities committed by their ancestors. 100% agree. Although I know at the same time that memories of such atrocities are often passed down many generations and evoke a lot of emotion. You're right that it is to the benefit of everyone to recognize the distinction between something that happened a long time ago and that it doesn't make it true today. Some blacks still feel that America somehow owes them reparations for slavery that happened more than 150 years ago. I don't think slavery was ever right, and I don't believe that any of my ancestors ever owned slaves (that were here in the US). Yet they still hate whitey and demand reparations from all Americans, despite the fact this happened so long ago, and that no one alive here in the US has ever lived in slavery. They need to learn that the past is the past, just like may others throughout the world.
swass, agreed. one day us Americans may be judged for failing to live up to our constitutional reponsibility of stopping an out of control tyrannical government. Our political correctness, so cleverly imprinted in our minds all but insures that the American coup and World takeover attempt would happen in front of our eyes as we bicker about who is wearing the aluminum foil hat.
Well, it si quite difficult to let bygones be bygones, when another WWIII is on the horizon. Why do you think Russians are now so sensitive about Hitler and WWII??? Just think! They simply do NOT want any other world war, but they know they are being pushed to such a war right now by the USA neocons and banksters. Russians will now have a huge WWII Victory Day celebrations and Western leaders will not come to see it, although it is so much important for Russians, because they wanted to remind the world of WWII to make them understand that we must do anything to prevent any such war. But Western leaders are puppets and do not seem to care if we all die or not. So, instead, Putin will have China, India, Vietnam etc. in these celebrations and the world is once again divided into blocks. Interestingly, the Chinese president seems to make a fuss over WWII as well, because the Chinese have suffered in WWII as well - in the hands of Japan and now the USA seems to be arming up Japan. And the Nazis in Ukraine. It seems that both for Russia and China all this just opens old wounds and they take it very seriously.
"Chinese President Xi Jinping will reach Moscow on May 8 for the celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of Russia’s defeat of Nazi Germany and 70 years since the end of World War II.. Heads of 26 countries have confirmed their attendance at the May 9 celebrations in Moscow. Putin and Xi have both, in recent months, warned against “distorting history”. Chinese President Xi Jinping said at a war commemoration event in December that “forgetting history means betrayal and denying the crime means committing it once again.” Last month, Putin ordered the organizing committee, established for the 70th anniversary celebration of the victory of the Anti-Fascist War on May 9 in Moscow, to effectively counter worrying attempts to “rewrite history”. “This is a very important work to involve the young people in preserving historical memory about the events of the Great Patriotic War, about the key role of the Soviet Union in the victory over Nazism,” a Kremlin statement quoted Putin.
Mother lost older brother as infant Leningrad.
Germany and Russia never should have fought
But Russians were not in control
Soviet was not Russians, from 1917 thru Stalin
I have Swabian, Bohemian and Russ heritage.
I have met former SS Officers. They never hated ordinary Russians, but those who ruled over Russians.
They told of the system Russians were under, commissars, barrier squads and much more.
They resisted bolshevic marxism, knew what it had done to Russia, wholesale slaughter and depradations.
knew many Germans in Russia had suffered under.
Germany had already resisted revolution attempts.
Germany was rising economic and was to be taken down. Russian from 1917 was already controlled.
Control and keep Germany and Russia apart is present day being repeat.
Actually, I don't think that is really true. At least not something anyone can make a sweeping generalization about. While I think the hatred of Hitler is universal in Russia (and many countries like Ukraine), Hitler wasn't trying to exterminate all Russians. That is completely false. If that were true, Germans would have done so as they took control of villages and cities. Nazi's did, as Putin said, target Jews and attempt to exterminate them, but not Russians in general. In any case, everyone knows that WWII was very costly for Russia in terms of casualties. I have family in Russia and Ukraine. I'm well aware. "USA people" are well aware. WWI was very bad for the US also. Not sure what you think your arguing exactly.
Good point. I have family in St. Petersburg that lived through the nazi siege. I think Americans who also gave lives to defeat nazism understand only to a degree. They had no nazi invasion and most here cannot comprehend 27 million lost to fighting this evil. So yes most Americans are aware, but don't understand or comprehend the price our people paid.
This is why the war is known is the West as World War II and in Russia as "The Great Patriotic War".
Sure, I agree with what you said Mike. I also agree that it's hard for most people to conceptualize that size of a loss. My wife is helping to host Victory Day celebrations for Russians/Ukrainians/etc here in Minnesota and especially for elderly that lived through WWII and it's aftermath there.
Soviet was never a Russian construct
From 1917 thru Stalin was never Russians in control
Stalin was not Russian, he was a Georgian criminal from youth
Even Krushchev and Breznev were Ukraine nationals
and Gorby 1/2 Ukrainian
Could you imagine our spineless leader barry in a conference like this without a teleprompter? I don't even think he would make it 30 minutes. Forget 4 hours!!!
No American president has talked unscripted to the Americna people since Carter, even Reagan gave up the idea of talking directly and taking unscreened questions. Bush refused all contact with unscreened Americans, and Obama is the same. Cowards, and idiots.
Well, the "Next President" doesn't want ANY contact with "potentially troublesome individuals" - http://waittilyouhearthis.com/hillarys-visit-to-community-college-locks-down-school/.
When it comes to "Meeting and Greeting" those who will be imporant for the planned $2.5 Billion "war chest" funding, she has no problems at all. http://nypost.com/2015/04/14/hillarys-2-5-billion-obscene-fundraising-goal/
Government "Of The People, by The People"?? Better renamed "Oppression of The People by the Better-Connected" . . . . . .
“Nonnuclear powers where missile-defense installations are being installed have become the objects of priority response,” Gen. Gerasimov
This is a sad fact. Anti Missile systems sound defensive in nature. But they are part of a First Stike Capability. One side launches a mass attack on the others nuclear weapons systems, then sits back and counts on it's anti missile shield to destroy many of the surviving response missiles. Thus, the anti missile systems are MORE IMPORTANT a first strike target than the USA's nuclear forces themselves. So Poland and others who host a vast anti ballistic missile system for America, hoping this is all part of defense, are being lured into becoming the VERY most threatening force in the world to Russia.
Russia then, if they seek survival, whould absolutely HAVE to hit Poland first and as hard as possible at the very first hint of an American Nuclear missile launch. This is very basic Nuclear War Fighting Strategy! Poland and others would be Russia's priority target when the first US ICBM appear on a Russian radar screen. The Polish sites would be hit long before Russia even launched it's response missiles. A lighting fast hair trigger will be set on Russian missiles set right on Polands borders. Why? Because only a fool would not see the need to eliminate the anti missile systems first and foremost.
By trying to please Washington, Poland is taking a nuclear war timing from 15 minutes to an 1 hour, down to 5 minutes. Russia would have 5 - 10 minutes to launch on Poland to get the anti missiles out of the way first. Then consider the larger defensive launch on the West.
Poland is fucking insane to push the nuclear trigger this tightly. They have nothing to gain, and everything to lose. Idiots!
JB
Actually, the Russians have satellites that will pick up ICBM launches within seconds and notify the Russian military exactly where and when they were fired.
ooops
Won't the military and intelligence satellites of the West be as important a first strike target as NATO's ABM systems?
Jack....
Was the kool aide good? By the sounds of it you've enjoyed at least a gallon.
Squid
there isn't a single politician in the entire usa who would do this, let alone the president.
watching putin and comparing him to any usa leadership, public or private, makes me cry for the usa.
Putin sounds pretty cool, and truthful, most liars tend to avoid questions from the media like Hitler Yee. Who would you rather spend your final days with if the nukes were crossing paths at 30K feet?
1. Being served top-shelf Russian vodka from Putin's best nude Russian playmates dressed in nothing but leather boots and whips while practicing Judo moves with Putin on Russian dissidents and spies.
2. Doing lines of DEA grade A, pure cocaine direct from columbia off the nips of Hitler Yee and Fine Stein and getting blown by neocon transgenders and playing whack a terrorist with Obamba on his killer RV drone game.
Russia Impinges on Israeli ‘Right’ to Bomb Iran
https://consortiumnews.com/2015/04/14/russia-impinges-on-israeli-right-t...