I’ll admit it, I have come to enjoy defending Russian President Vladimir Putin to readers. It’s the easiest job in the world, you know? One thing that makes deriding Putin opponents so easy is the fact that after four years of constant mudslinging, the ultimate villain remains unscathed. Yes, Putin makes political analysis of the current geo-political mess easy work. It’s too bad more people in the west don’t pay attention. Here’s the latest light work from my desktop.
The New York Times headline read, “Russians Brave Icy Temperatures to Protest Putin and Election.” And I thought out loud, “Hell, Russians brave icy temperatures to walk their dogs every morning. What’s so brave about that?” But the headline is catchy, I’ll hand it to the Putin hating dynamic duo of Neil MacFarquhar and Ivan Nechepurenko. Once again, the sellout western press refuses to surrender its stupendous assault on logic and our senses. And the criminal and blogger, who shall henceforth go unnamed by me, called on his throng of disciples (blog readers and Pussy Riot fans) to rise up like the Bolsheviks, to take back Russia for the Rothschilds. Like I said, my job gets easier and easier. According to the mighty NYTs, the blogger who would be Russia’s salvation recorded a message for his heroic horde of dissenters. It went something like this:
“Every additional year of Putin staying in power is one more year of decay.”
Really? As if every Russian on Earth does not realize where their country’s economic problems emanated from! Russians with Putin are 1,000 times better off than if they were just another Eastern European “democracy” feeding fat Germans and Hollanders. Like bad pennies, MacFarquhar and Nechepurenko keep turning up like an uninvited gay couple at a heterosexual wedding. If I did not know better I’d say they both possess a double dose of Putin envy, this based on their continual missed steps in reporting on what the world’s most famous Russian is up to. But I am not here to discuss MacFarquhar playing the man-part, or his colleague riding a big-green toy choo-choo train in his Twitter pic. It seems to me though, that a disproportionate number of anti-Putin people are gay, aren’t they? The blogger in question, Putin’s toughest foe according to everybody from Bloomberg to the Wall Street Journal, he’s got some real winners on his side. But let’s move on to other headlines, just to reveal how my job of debunking idiots has become child’s play.
CBS Sports has even been called up by the western oligarchs, to do their political duty and hammer on Putin. Yes, you guessed it, “Remembering the time Vladimir Putin stole Robert Kraft’s Super Bowl ring,” it recollects the claims the Russian president took the Patriots owner’s 2005 Super Bowl ring. The story tells of the NFL New England Patriots very own oligarch, Robert Kraft whining about Putin “stealing” his ring, when in reality he gave it to the Russian president then went “Indian giver” on account of the new Russophobia. I recall Kraft standing with Vladimir Putin and the world’s crookedest media mogul, Rupert Murdoch. Oh, and how can believe a man whose team cheated in the Super Bowl, anyhow. The image is here, see for yourself. And just to show how stupid Kraft is, his retailing of the story reflects Russia as still being the Soviet Union. One has to wonder how such nincompoops become billionaires. Again, proving author Pete Blackburn should stick to reporting touchdown dances in the end zone instead of trying to drive traffic to his column using Putin – it’s easy pickings for me.
Last, but not least, every bit of storyline you read about Russia’s famous president bears the stench of vested interest, one way or another. Take this Houston Chronicle story about a Russian natural gas shipment arriving in Boston last week. Why would a Houston newspaper be interested in an LNG shipment to Boston? First, the Houston Chronicle needs more Texas pipeline and ports authority readers and fans. Secondly, the newspaper is owned by Hearst Corporation, which makes most of its money, not from the sale of newspapers, movies, or TV shows, but from business information systems like; First Databank, Homecare Homebase, MOTOR Information Systems, and Fitch Ratings. “How?” you ask, does a Houston Chronicle story affect profits for Hearst Corporation endeavors in financial information business? I’ll leave you to figure out how such levers are pulled. Suffice it to say there’s money in bashing Putin at every turn. Here’s a Fitch Ratings report on sanctions and Russian LNG from December, just to get your started.
Yes, defenders of those pesky Ruskies, and of their pragmatist leader Vladimir Putin, we’ve grown accustomed to the easy analytical life. The other side of the narrative has made it just too easy with the unrelenting bullshit – sensational claim after unsubstantiated sensational lie – the Panama Papers and Baltic invasions… And all Putin has to do is sail a rusty tub of an antique aircraft carrier past the cliffs of Dover to set his populace laughing until they can’t stop coughing. This is what westerners don’t quite get. Russia seems all hurt and pissed off, but in reality, Putin supporters are laughing themselves to death over western lunacy. Maybe somebody should try and poll this reaction across wide Russia, instead of attempting to pull the wool over the world’s eyes.
Hey, Neil MacFarquhar, Putin and the Russians beat ISIS. Putin and the Russians think the New York Times is funny. And the rest of the world is catching on.
Phil Butler, is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, he’s an author of the recent bestseller “Putin’s Praetorians” and other books. He writes exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”
