12 Comments
Mar 14Liked by Karl Sanchez

most fascinating karl.. thank you!!

“the vampire ball is ending”…. putin is like a character in a doestovsky novel and doestovsky makes such fascinating characters! putin walked out of one of his books and onto the world stage, to the shock of the rest of the world! no wonder that biden asked him not to do it in 2011…

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There's that eerie connection between Russian culture and the Russian soul.

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That's my favourite interview with Putin in many years. It's both unexpected and refreshing to see a national (and world) leader being so detailed, humble, optimistic, wise and clearly humane.

For many centuries the notion that Russia is somehow alien to the West has echoed in the cathedral of European psyche; how ironic that only in Russia is the true spirit of Western civilization now seemingly to be found.

Thank you for providing this.

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Mar 14Liked by Karl Sanchez

I also agree with you. He was even more careful than usual, seeking to ensure everything was crystal clear, as much as possible without ambiguities.

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Mar 14Liked by Karl Sanchez

i agree with you.. a most fascinating interview where one gets a much closer look at putin..

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And as we go forward and more gets presented, the closer we become to defining Putin. What I just finished posting is also revelatory in its own way.

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I wouldn't set too much store by any politician's pronouncements in the run-up to a re-election, whether a puerile, venal Biden and Trump scenario or an admirable grandee Putin scenario. Let's revisit these gransiose visions in a year or two for a more sober-minded reflection.

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Putin IMO has exchanged politics for development, something that's reflected in all the initiatives he's put into motion to build that path and attain that goal.

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Thanks for your reply. This is true. (Of relevance to the question of where VVP's energies are best directed, I think we're in for a pleasant surprise soon, with Mr Putin (and Mr Lukashenko) stepping into tweaked roles and Belarus and RF (and in time rump Ukraine) moving into a tweaked union-state arrangement. If you recall, something like this was imminent in 2019 and was mysteriously suddenly put on hold. I also think these two will no longer want to wait until after the `smo` to put changes in place.)

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All "new" Russian lands become part of the Union State, which is something Lukashenko lollygagged on playing both sides for too long and finally learned his lesson. There appears to be enough budget room to accommodate those new lands rather easily; they'll need lots of attention not just because war-torn but rundown due to lack of funding while part of Ukieland.

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An interesting interview. Several points have been taken out by commentators I’ve seen. He moves from statistical numbers on the birth rate and policies for large family support that we’ve seen before all the way to the latest U.S. election rumors. I noticed that when he was asked about policies for external countries such as Africa, he always delivered his answers in the context of Russia first. It’s been a minute since we’ve had anything like that here. All in all an enjoyable read even though much of the information we’ve gotten before in other interviews.

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It does tend to become repetitive when you stay on top of what's being said, but there always is a gem or two, and there were several. The reason for all this is that's the only way dialog can be conducted with the West. And making things overtly public means BigLie Media and politicos can't skew anything. The guesswork about Macron was one of the gems.

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