Pah-utin!
I know that I only write to myself as some form of catharsis and that I have always striven to find some humour in the life around me. But it seems the world around me is becoming less and less funny, even when trying to find parody, sarcasm, irony or others to balance the horrendous state of the world.
And then Putin does an interview with the FT!
If ever people that enjoy freedom and the right to complain and protest and the right to be who they want to be with those rights enshrined in laws that protect them from the small minorities that wish them harm for no better reason than their own deficiencies and sad lives. That interview would be the one.
When I consider his words I have to consider what this man is. A man who lives to excess on the backs of his people. Who extorts through laws that he makes and abuses with his cadres. He is a multi billionaire with massive palaces dotted around Russia and the world and where does this fortune come from? Industry? Invention? Extreme well salaried employment? No, it is all graft, bribes, illicit money taken from the country he claims to love. When one of his pet oligarchs gets a little too 'off message' he finds himself charged with a crime and relieved of part or even all of his fortune and potentially a prison term as well. That's at the extreme, normally he simply has to pay a 'fine' to his Tsar and promise to behave then allowed to go on his way. Is he any worse than countless other extremely wealthy individuals around the world, probably not. He differs because he is an authoritarian ruler who rules absolutely. Nobody can seriously challenge him, not without finding themselves locked up in prison, or worse.
His comments on liberalism is a taunt but worse than that, it is an invitation to every right wing and/or religious extremist group and individual to fight liberalism. And the joy of liberal society is that we give them the right to speak their mind and to protest and distribute their negative agendas. And we must always do so, because that's what makes us better than Putin and his like.
Liberal societies are not perfect. They are not fair. They have huge differences in wealth. But the positives they offer and the opportunities they allow for people to better their lives are far better than offered by authoritarians like Putin.
And then Putin does an interview with the FT!
If ever people that enjoy freedom and the right to complain and protest and the right to be who they want to be with those rights enshrined in laws that protect them from the small minorities that wish them harm for no better reason than their own deficiencies and sad lives. That interview would be the one.
When I consider his words I have to consider what this man is. A man who lives to excess on the backs of his people. Who extorts through laws that he makes and abuses with his cadres. He is a multi billionaire with massive palaces dotted around Russia and the world and where does this fortune come from? Industry? Invention? Extreme well salaried employment? No, it is all graft, bribes, illicit money taken from the country he claims to love. When one of his pet oligarchs gets a little too 'off message' he finds himself charged with a crime and relieved of part or even all of his fortune and potentially a prison term as well. That's at the extreme, normally he simply has to pay a 'fine' to his Tsar and promise to behave then allowed to go on his way. Is he any worse than countless other extremely wealthy individuals around the world, probably not. He differs because he is an authoritarian ruler who rules absolutely. Nobody can seriously challenge him, not without finding themselves locked up in prison, or worse.
His comments on liberalism is a taunt but worse than that, it is an invitation to every right wing and/or religious extremist group and individual to fight liberalism. And the joy of liberal society is that we give them the right to speak their mind and to protest and distribute their negative agendas. And we must always do so, because that's what makes us better than Putin and his like.
Liberal societies are not perfect. They are not fair. They have huge differences in wealth. But the positives they offer and the opportunities they allow for people to better their lives are far better than offered by authoritarians like Putin.
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