A Ukrainian journalist got up to ask Putin how he could explain waging a war against the mostly Russian-speaking population of Eastern Ukraine. He also asked Putin finally to say how many Russian soldiers had died in Russia’s war on Ukraine and when Putin was going to release the Ukrainian prisoners of war. [One of the prisoners of war is the famous Ukrainian fighter pilot Nadiya Savchenko.]
Putin responded that prisoners of war were not prisoners of war but terrorists. He also said that all of the Russian soldiers fighting in Russia were volunteers who had followed their hearts (sic) into Ukraine. He gave no indication as to when the hearts of these freaks were going to lead them back home.
Putin got angry, jerky, and in the end quite hysterical when talking about Ukraine. But in the end of his snot-slurping speech [he seems to have a cold] he said he was ready to hand the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions back to Ukraine. [Putin’s newly acquired neo-Nazi supporters have all suffered apoplectic fits.]
Then Putin declared that he is still extremely upset about the lack of respect his Olympic Games got from the West. These Olympics are somewhat of an obsession with Putinoids. In response to the question as to whether annexing the Crimea was really worth it, Putin went on and on about how much his feelings had been hurt by the lack of admiration Westerners had shown to his Olympics. He also said that Americans couldn’t blame him for annexing the Crimea after stealing Texas from Mexicans.
“It’s not about the Crimea,”” he kept repeating.
Clarissa's Blog 
So…it’s not about the Crimea, it’s about Texas?
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Yes, who cares about the stupid Crimea when you can care about Texas instead? 🙂 One of Putin’s favorite subjects is how repressive the US federal government is in its refusal to grant sovereignty to Texan separatists.
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It seems to me that Putin likes to deflect attention away from himself and his actions in very petty ways. How does annexing the Crimea make Putin any better than the US?
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The Crimea has a sacred meaning to Russia because 1,000 years ago, the Prince of Kiev got baptized there. These are Putin’s words, not mine. Please don’t ask me to explain because I find this argument puzzling, as well.
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Pen, being “better than the US” is at best the 12th point on Putin’s list.
Numbers one to ten are about being as great and as powerful as the US. With greatness and power measured by the ability to stand for what is perceived as “national interests”. The US once decided that invading Mexico was in the US national interests, Russia once decided that invading Ukraine is in its national interests. You got the idea…
Number eleven is about making the point that with US track record the US is not in a position to teach Russia.
And being better than the US is achieved by other means. Not by not invading anybody, but by invading for better, more moral reasons. While the US invades to exploit others and create chaos, Russia brings stability, prosperity, education, eternal conservative Christian values, and saves everybody from Nazism, tolerance, Americans, political correctness and homosexuality.
(in case it is still not clear after the last sentence – I am being sarcastic. But a lot of people sincerely believe exactly what I described above.)
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“And being better than the US is achieved by other means. Not by not invading anybody, but by invading for better, more moral reasons. While the US invades to exploit others and create chaos, Russia brings stability, prosperity, education, eternal conservative Christian values, and saves everybody from Nazism, tolerance, Americans, political correctness and homosexuality.”
“The US once decided that invading Mexico was in the US national interests, Russia once decided that invading Ukraine is in its national interests.”
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“That sums it up perfectly. As deranged as it sounds.”
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Don’t worry, I understand what you meant…
—Today Putin still adamantly rejected the idea that there is anything like the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. I could actually respect it on some level if he said, “Yes, we invaded because that’s what we want to do.”
Yes, he is not the most consistent fellow… It is actually good that Russian elites are too dependent on the West to hide their money there. A bunch of true nationalists for whom wealth were secondary to ideology would be much more dangerous.
On the other hand – the US invaded Mexico against the will of the people of Mexico. While the people of Crimea and Novorossia asked their Russian brothers for help. And thousands of Russian people, kind and unselfish as they are could not just sit passively and watch the crimes of the American-backed junta. Private Russian citizens invested millions of dollars of their hard-earned savings into black market arms, including tanks and artillery systems… More importantly, they invested their lives. What other proof of Russian moral superiority do you need???
On a less sarcastic note – this is how I troll Russian Patriots (TM) – I like to ask why their leaders are not behaving as if they truly and proudly believe in their moral superiority…
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It seems to me that if Putin is as emotional and vain as you describe, it should be an easy thing for the West to manipulate him.
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Putin is a representative of an organization, not a loner cowboy. He’s a puppet. Let’s forget about personalities and talk about global trends.
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“But in the end of his snot-slurping speech …”
Ah, that explains his lack of control over unwittingly providing “visual tells”. 🙂
A conspiratorially-minded man might wonder if the CIA had surreptitiously improved Mr Putin’s cough and cold medicine.
A Russian reader of this comment who works for intelligence services might be choking on his own snot around now …
Such great fun.
HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW
(again, that laugh’s not fake, it’s real 🙂 )
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“Ah, that explains his lack of control over unwittingly providing “visual tells”. 🙂 A conspiratorially-minded man might wonder if the CIA had surreptitiously improved Mr Putin’s cough and cold medicine.”
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\ Then Putin declared that he is still extremely upset about the lack of respect his Olympic Games got from the West.
Which lack of respect? That Obama and probably a few other Western head of state haven’t visited the Olympic Games, or something else too?
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“Which lack of respect? That Obama and probably a few other Western head of state haven’t visited the Olympic Games, or something else too?”
These jokes about toilets rankle with the Russians like you wouldn’t believe. I don’t mean just Putin. Regular Russian people lead a regular conversation about the war in Ukraine back to a pouty discussion of the toilet jokes back in winter. I actually had a conversation that went like this:
Me: I really hope the situation stabilizes soon because this war is hurting everybody.
Interlocutor (completely seriously): Ahh, now you know how we felt when the whole world was making fun of us because of those toilets!!! We did all we could to organize great Olympics. Do you know how much the Olympic cost? But it mattered to us to do things right. And then everybody just made jokes about the toilets.
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