by I was fascinated by this talk given about Putin by Christopher Caldwell. It's starts off bad with Caldwell saying that Putin doesn't have a lot of respect for the democratic processes and that a number of his opponents have been murdered, but, he adds, there is no evidence that Putin is behind them although that doesn't mean it's not significant.Caldwell then says how progressives around the world tend to dislike Putin as he's not the sort of person who would head a pro feminist NGO, nor do we see him showing slides at the United Nations warning about global warming, and nor is he an avid campaigner for gay rights, but it is for these reasons that many conservatives, especially in the US, like him.After this, though, Caldwell's analysis of Putin gets quite interesting as he is very fair
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Caldwell then says how progressives around the world tend to dislike Putin as he's not the sort of person who would head a pro feminist NGO, nor do we see him showing slides at the United Nations warning about global warming, and nor is he an avid campaigner for gay rights, but it is for these reasons that many conservatives, especially in the US, like him.
After this, though, Caldwell's analysis of Putin gets quite interesting as he is very fair to him saying that he has not done anything much wrong, really.
Crimea? But that has always been part of Russia and the Crimeans wanted to be part of Russia.
Pussy Riot? That was a load of nonsense as any country would have locked them up for their antisocial antics.
And Putin's government passed a law saying that teachers can't promote a gay lifestyle to school children, but Caldwell, adds, this is what the Russian people want, and what right do we have to tell them otherwise?
Then he says that when Russia experimented with western style democracy, the Russians got looted and were driven into poverty while western banks made off with the money, and so the Russians now don't want anything more to do with Western democracy.
[This is what Western democracy and free markets is all about, I might add, that the West can influence elections while their companies can buy up all the resources and infrastructure when countries are made to privatise].
But if Putin has not done much wrong, then why does the West dislike him so much? Well, it's because he won't bow down to the West and he pursues Russia's self interest. Caldwell then adds, that it is for this reason that there are many progressives around the world who really do admire Putin, even though they couldn't care much for his conservative views, but they like the way he stands up to the Western ruling elite. In this way, Caldwell says, he is like Castro, a hero of the third world fighting the imperialists.
A good lecture!