How long does Putin have left in office?

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by ikalugin

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Interesting claim. Define "dangerous". Were the journalists that you have described dangerous to Putin (or his regime) rather than some people well below him in the order of things?

One word: yes. Journalists and the media are much more dangerous for any dictator, statesman or president, than a mere rival. You can discredit a rival or competitor before killing (like spreading word he's a homosexual, a pedophile, or a traitor), so no one will shed a tear, maybe even with the media's help; but media gone wild against you as a leader is a multi-headed beast and not that easy to kill.

From Anna Politovskaya to Pussy riot, anyone who openly or hidden, seriously or making fun dared to criticize, has been forbidden or is dead. Maybe it's not even Putin himself everytime, but you know this obedience hurrying ahead with all those subordinate thugs thinking their boss expects it is a very common occurrence, especially with "one-man-governments" (to put it more pleasantly). Whether it was (or is) chekists, FSE or KGB, or the russian Mafia – who cares.

We have also seen this with South America and the US secret services involved, of course. Usually those presidents who were not on the right side (in all possible contexts) had inexplainable plane accidents, back then. It was not always as obvious as with Allende.


The russian political climate in which all this takes place ... the once-promising reluctant start of a civilian society in Russia, has come to a grinding halt. And yes, we can also blame the West for that. NATO-eastward expansion, violating treaties, the same western attitude towards Russia since 1989 like during the cold war.. all not very nice.