I hate to say it but Putin may be the only rational authoritarian with a brain

Thank you.

He was in the KGB. The only way to move up on either the Soviet intelligence service or the Soviet military as an officer was to join the party.

Like Jay said, he’s an economic kleptomaniac. He sees the Russian economy as an engine to fund his objectives. Namely a recreation of the old Russian Tsarist empire. With him as Tsar.

Old Bond. The dude isn’t far off from Blofield.

@Bosun and @FreeAndClear

:+1:

My opinion is an amalgam of the two.

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Putin? ■■■■ that ■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■ . lol

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Of course not. He wants to engulf Ukraine without any interference. That’s what the 100k troops are for.

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Old Bond is dead New Bond is woke. Come on Man. We are living in the woke generation… please live in this place in time

He does not want NATO to take control of the Black Sea. Do you want China to take control of the Caribbean?

I second that.

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Why do we care what Putin wants and why should he find success?

Becuase he is a “real leader” ?

You brought it up. Maybe you may consider to be quiet if you cannot follow the conversation. Merry Christmas :christmas_tree:

Yer funny.

I am funny and one hellofa great guy. It is hard to be humble.

Shows me you have it all figured out. NOT

But that’s the thing. Nobody thinks NATO is in position to take control of the Black Sea. And Ukraine’s application has been slow walked for years.

You didn’t get to be a Colonel in the KGB without being a true member of the party. But he, like most true Human Intelligence players is a realist, who operates in the real world. He doesn’t like, but accepts that the old Soviet Union is gone. But he still plays by its rules and to him, his desired end justifies any means he has to use to achieve it.

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But exactly how the levers of power worked within the Soviet system from Stalin to Andropov.

Of course. The Soviet Union didn’t collapse because of the arms race or the space race or the poverty that permeated society, it collapsed because those who were thieving ran out of things to steal

But it was the Communist Party’s way. Special stores and apartment districts for Party Members. Summer homes, limos with drivers, access to Western goods, while the common non-party member (80% plus) of society made due with their assigned apartment, assigned job, assigned stores and daily ration.

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Well their system still only had so much production capacity. They were already building arms and weapons on a war footing level. Then add in the disparity of obvious wealth (perks) between the party members and the common citizen. The population finally had enough.

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