Opinion of Vladimir Putin

[Karpatsky]

LOL at Westerners who probably like Gorby and Yeltsin. No; Freedom Fighter (R) for making Russia great again.

Beet, this is a joke right? Otherwise, this seems like trolling to me. Why would you admire someone making Russia great again (actually he is weakening it and making is sh**t*y again, but I digress) via using execrable means? Why would it seem good to you to have Russia be great again, given who you are?  When was Russia "great" in your view? During the Stalin era?

Would you say it was trolling if I said Gorbachev and Yeltsin were great? Are we only allowed to approve of Russian leaders who presided over dismantlement and economic depression, unemployment, suicide, drug addiction, and oligarchy? Torie, I am trying to look at this from the Russian perspective. When Putin came to power, Russia was on its knees. Now it has even our national security establishment on the run. Reagan and FDR did excretable things yet we consider them good leaders. I don't like him personally but I don't think his high approval ratings are made up.

Frankly on this Beet is absolutely right.

I guess he is in a way. I mean, Gorbachev's 1996 presidential run tells you enough about what the Russian people think about him. And let's not even begin about Yeltsin's record in the 1990s lol. But we can't really ignore the terrible things Putin has been doing, and I guess it's quite ironic for someone from the West to back Putin who's quite frankly really antagonistic towards transatlantic alliances. I'm not sure whether Putin will have been good for Russia in the long-term though. The Crimea stuff obviously was meant to distract people from a stagnating economy. It has worked out well so far, but Russia has some long-term economic problems and I wonder whether Putin can adress them.

Well, there are several things Putin has done or is doing that I don't like (say Russia's influence in Moldova for example), but Russia under him has been in the best shape it's been in probably in its entire history. And for better or worse, I believe Putin is doing what he thinks is best for Russia; while Western leaders have not acted in their countries' best interests in decades. On top of that, while he could do it in a better way (say by not being mean to the LGBT community, as they're doing nothing wrong), he's one of the rare leaders of Christendom who's trying to reverse his country's moral and cultural decline, along with the decline of Christianity, which to the contrary in the West our elites are encouraging, aiding and abetting the decline in the West. So even if I don't like everything he's done, I respect Putin just for that, and will give him a "tilt ff" rating like Bagel did.

This is a stupid take, even from a 'realist Christian nationalist perspective' - which Putin doesn't actually believe in by the way, he just uses it to gain sympathy from paleonationalists. To put it frankly, Russia under Putin is in the weakest state on the world stage it has been in literal centuries. Its economy is smaller than Italy's, its population is small and declining, and it relies completely on an export economy. It is bordered on east and west by powers which are hugely superior to it, militarily and economically - the EU and China. So what does he do in this situation? He deliberately antagonizes the West, suppresses political and economic freedom for personal material gain, and spends what little the country has on a conventional military to bully the few weaker neighbors he still has for cheap shots of domestic jingoism to prop up his leech of a government. Given Russia's position, this can only lead to them becoming either a failed state or a puppet of the Chinese.

He's the sort of HP who is so H that he can be used as a litmus test as to the Hness (or ignorance) of the person being asked.

[DavidB.]

HP; Karpatsky is mostly right. Putin is less bad than Yeltsin and his puppet masters, but still solidly bad, mainly because of the extremely cynical way in which he behaves geopolitically. He's playing his cards smartly, but at the expense of both the sovereignty of neighboring nations and of the living standards of his own people, as the sanctions have hurt Russia greatly. Like Erdogan, he did some good things in the first years upon assuming office, but ultimately I doubt the Russian people really benefit from his international adventures, and a lot of domestic problems could have been tackled but were not. And while I guess I'm slightly more inclined than some here to consider non-democratic leaders' domestic antidemocratic antics to be par for the course, it's difficult to overlook the fact that in this area he has managed to do some pretty HP things too.

Though of course Lechasseur is also right in the sense that for all the bad things we can say about Putin, at least he is not a Western leader cynically destroying his own culture and nation. But that's quite a low bar, and at the end of the day I easily prefer life here over life there anyway, though I'm not completely sure my grandchildren will be able to say the same.

[America Needs R'hllor]

LOL at Westerners who probably like Gorby and Yeltsin. No; Freedom Fighter (R) for making Russia great again.

Beet, this is a joke right? Otherwise, this seems like trolling to me. Why would you admire someone making Russia great again (actually he is weakening it and making is sh**t*y again, but I digress) via using execrable means? Why would it seem good to you to have Russia be great again, given who you are?  When was Russia "great" in your view? During the Stalin era?

Would you say it was trolling if I said Gorbachev and Yeltsin were great? Are we only allowed to approve of Russian leaders who presided over dismantlement and economic depression, unemployment, suicide, drug addiction, and oligarchy? Torie, I am trying to look at this from the Russian perspective. When Putin came to power, Russia was on its knees. Now it has even our national security establishment on the run. Reagan and FDR did excretable things yet we consider them good leaders. I don't like him personally but I don't think his high approval ratings are made up.

Frankly on this Beet is absolutely right.

I guess he is in a way. I mean, Gorbachev's 1996 presidential run tells you enough about what the Russian people think about him. And let's not even begin about Yeltsin's record in the 1990s lol. But we can't really ignore the terrible things Putin has been doing, and I guess it's quite ironic for someone from the West to back Putin who's quite frankly really antagonistic towards transatlantic alliances. I'm not sure whether Putin will have been good for Russia in the long-term though. The Crimea stuff obviously was meant to distract people from a stagnating economy. It has worked out well so far, but Russia has some long-term economic problems and I wonder whether Putin can adress them.

Well, there are several things Putin has done or is doing that I don't like (say Russia's influence in Moldova for example), but Russia under him has been in the best shape it's been in probably in its entire history. And for better or worse, I believe Putin is doing what he thinks is best for Russia; while Western leaders have not acted in their countries' best interests in decades. On top of that, while he could do it in a better way (say by not being mean to the LGBT community, as they're doing nothing wrong), he's one of the rare leaders of Christendom who's trying to reverse his country's moral and cultural decline, along with the decline of Christianity, which to the contrary in the West our elites are encouraging, aiding and abetting the decline in the West. So even if I don't like everything he's done, I respect Putin just for that, and will give him a "tilt ff" rating like Bagel did.

This is a stupid take, even from a 'realist Christian nationalist perspective' - which Putin doesn't actually believe in by the way, he just uses it to gain sympathy from paleonationalists. To put it frankly, Russia under Putin is in the weakest state on the world stage it has been in literal centuries. Its economy is smaller than Italy's, its population is small and declining, and it relies completely on an export economy. It is bordered on east and west by powers which are hugely superior to it, militarily and economically - the EU and China. So what does he do in this situation? He deliberately antagonizes the West, suppresses political and economic freedom for personal material gain, and spends what little the country has on a conventional military to bully the few weaker neighbors he still has for cheap shots of domestic jingoism to prop up his leech of a government. Given Russia's position, this can only lead to them becoming either a failed state or a puppet of the Chinese.

He's the sort of HP who is so H that he can be used as a litmus test as to the Hness (or ignorance) of the person being asked.

This exactly.

I just love it when people say that Putin "makes Russia great " or "actually centrist in Russia " or "a good Christian ". Really? Care to tell that to the LGBTQ people who were murdered by his Chechen puppet in literal concentration camps? How about the journalists he murdered? And the political opponents he threw in jail under false charges? How about the thousands of Georgians and Ukrainians who died in his unnecessary wars to show how alpha he is?

I'd go as far as saying that calling Putin a FF because he "makes Russia greater" is as bad and illogical as calling pre-WW2 Hitler a FF for "improving Germany".

BTW, he's not "being mean to the LGBTQ community". That's a ridiculous way to frame it. He's actively and ruthlessly oppressing their most basic human rights, and freely lets his goons perform the beginning of a genocide on them. It's nice to sit on the perch of safe straightness and dismiss that as unimportant because "at least he's being a good Christian".

[smoltchanov]

Putin and FF? Good joke...

[mvd10]

LOL at Westerners who probably like Gorby and Yeltsin. No; Freedom Fighter (R) for making Russia great again.

Beet, this is a joke right? Otherwise, this seems like trolling to me. Why would you admire someone making Russia great again (actually he is weakening it and making is sh**t*y again, but I digress) via using execrable means? Why would it seem good to you to have Russia be great again, given who you are?  When was Russia "great" in your view? During the Stalin era?

Would you say it was trolling if I said Gorbachev and Yeltsin were great? Are we only allowed to approve of Russian leaders who presided over dismantlement and economic depression, unemployment, suicide, drug addiction, and oligarchy? Torie, I am trying to look at this from the Russian perspective. When Putin came to power, Russia was on its knees. Now it has even our national security establishment on the run. Reagan and FDR did excretable things yet we consider them good leaders. I don't like him personally but I don't think his high approval ratings are made up.

Frankly on this Beet is absolutely right.

I guess he is in a way. I mean, Gorbachev's 1996 presidential run tells you enough about what the Russian people think about him. And let's not even begin about Yeltsin's record in the 1990s lol. But we can't really ignore the terrible things Putin has been doing, and I guess it's quite ironic for someone from the West to back Putin who's quite frankly really antagonistic towards transatlantic alliances. I'm not sure whether Putin will have been good for Russia in the long-term though. The Crimea stuff obviously was meant to distract people from a stagnating economy. It has worked out well so far, but Russia has some long-term economic problems and I wonder whether Putin can adress them.

Well, there are several things Putin has done or is doing that I don't like (say Russia's influence in Moldova for example), but Russia under him has been in the best shape it's been in probably in its entire history. And for better or worse, I believe Putin is doing what he thinks is best for Russia; while Western leaders have not acted in their countries' best interests in decades. On top of that, while he could do it in a better way (say by not being mean to the LGBT community, as they're doing nothing wrong), he's one of the rare leaders of Christendom who's trying to reverse his country's moral and cultural decline, along with the decline of Christianity, which to the contrary in the West our elites are encouraging, aiding and abetting the decline in the West. So even if I don't like everything he's done, I respect Putin just for that, and will give him a "tilt ff" rating like Bagel did.

I'm not sure what you see as fighting moral and cultural decline but I'd argue things like the law decriminalizing domestic violence far outweigh that.

[Sirius_]

Is this even a question?

[Lechasseur]

LOL at Westerners who probably like Gorby and Yeltsin. No; Freedom Fighter (R) for making Russia great again.

Beet, this is a joke right? Otherwise, this seems like trolling to me. Why would you admire someone making Russia great again (actually he is weakening it and making is sh**t*y again, but I digress) via using execrable means? Why would it seem good to you to have Russia be great again, given who you are?  When was Russia "great" in your view? During the Stalin era?

Would you say it was trolling if I said Gorbachev and Yeltsin were great? Are we only allowed to approve of Russian leaders who presided over dismantlement and economic depression, unemployment, suicide, drug addiction, and oligarchy? Torie, I am trying to look at this from the Russian perspective. When Putin came to power, Russia was on its knees. Now it has even our national security establishment on the run. Reagan and FDR did excretable things yet we consider them good leaders. I don't like him personally but I don't think his high approval ratings are made up.

Frankly on this Beet is absolutely right.

I guess he is in a way. I mean, Gorbachev's 1996 presidential run tells you enough about what the Russian people think about him. And let's not even begin about Yeltsin's record in the 1990s lol. But we can't really ignore the terrible things Putin has been doing, and I guess it's quite ironic for someone from the West to back Putin who's quite frankly really antagonistic towards transatlantic alliances. I'm not sure whether Putin will have been good for Russia in the long-term though. The Crimea stuff obviously was meant to distract people from a stagnating economy. It has worked out well so far, but Russia has some long-term economic problems and I wonder whether Putin can adress them.

Well, there are several things Putin has done or is doing that I don't like (say Russia's influence in Moldova for example), but Russia under him has been in the best shape it's been in probably in its entire history. And for better or worse, I believe Putin is doing what he thinks is best for Russia; while Western leaders have not acted in their countries' best interests in decades. On top of that, while he could do it in a better way (say by not being mean to the LGBT community, as they're doing nothing wrong), he's one of the rare leaders of Christendom who's trying to reverse his country's moral and cultural decline, along with the decline of Christianity, which to the contrary in the West our elites are encouraging, aiding and abetting the decline in the West. So even if I don't like everything he's done, I respect Putin just for that, and will give him a "tilt ff" rating like Bagel did.

This is a stupid take, even from a 'realist Christian nationalist perspective' - which Putin doesn't actually believe in by the way, he just uses it to gain sympathy from paleonationalists. To put it frankly, Russia under Putin is in the weakest state on the world stage it has been in literal centuries. Its economy is smaller than Italy's, its population is small and declining, and it relies completely on an export economy. It is bordered on east and west by powers which are hugely superior to it, militarily and economically - the EU and China. So what does he do in this situation? He deliberately antagonizes the West, suppresses political and economic freedom for personal material gain, and spends what little the country has on a conventional military to bully the few weaker neighbors he still has for cheap shots of domestic jingoism to prop up his leech of a government. Given Russia's position, this can only lead to them becoming either a failed state or a puppet of the Chinese.

He's the sort of HP who is so H that he can be used as a litmus test as to the Hness (or ignorance) of the person being asked.

This exactly.

I just love it when people say that Putin "makes Russia great " or "actually centrist in Russia " or "a good Christian ". Really? Care to tell that to the LGBTQ people who were murdered by his Chechen puppet in literal concentration camps? How about the journalists he murdered? And the political opponents he threw in jail under false charges? How about the thousands of Georgians and Ukrainians who died in his unnecessary wars to show how alpha he is?

I'd go as far as saying that calling Putin a FF because he "makes Russia greater" is as bad and illogical as calling pre-WW2 Hitler a FF for "improving Germany".

BTW, he's not "being mean to the LGBTQ community". That's a ridiculous way to frame it. He's actively and ruthlessly oppressing their most basic human rights, and freely lets his goons perform the beginning of a genocide on them. It's nice to sit on the perch of safe straightness and dismiss that as unimportant because "at least he's being a good Christian".

Isn't his government investigating what's going on in Chechnya? I agree what the Chechnyan Government is doing is disgusting and is a crime against humanity. Someone has to do something to stop it.

[RINO Tom]

Complete and utter HP.

He's a thug that threatens the stability of the world and denies full freedom to the Russian people.

[Santander]

Massive FF. I'll give a cookie to anyone who can dig up the "mild FF, defender of Christianity, etc." post I usually use for these threads so I can empty quote it again here.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Isn't his government investigating what's going on in Chechnya? I agree what the Chechnyan Government is doing is disgusting and is a crime against humanity. Someone has to do something to stop it.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-chechnya-gay-men-killing-torture-vladimir-putin-dmitry-peskov-chechen-leader-ramzan-kadyrov-a7693291.html

You must be logged in to read this quote.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/world/europe/un-chechnya-gay-men-killing-abuse.html

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Yes, Putin "backed an investigation" after Macron and Merkel (not "pro-LGBT Trump", btw) pushed him to do it. But an investigation by Putin is laughable and weak- if he doesn't throw his Chechen monster into a cell or give him to the Hague High Court, I'm not excusing him. Putin himself has been directly legitimizing these terrible actions by passing his own anti-gay laws in all of Russia, such as the "propaganda" law. Anyone thinking this didn't empower the Chechens is turning a blind eye to a monstrous regime's actions. I hope Putin suffers for his actions.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Is this even a question?

He's popular with some Republicans. See poll results and the replies.

[Santander]

Is this even a question?

He's popular with some Republicans. See poll results and the replies.

I bet Tulsi likes him, too.

[Beet]

LOL at Westerners who probably like Gorby and Yeltsin. No; Freedom Fighter (R) for making Russia great again.

Beet, this is a joke right? Otherwise, this seems like trolling to me. Why would you admire someone making Russia great again (actually he is weakening it and making is sh**t*y again, but I digress) via using execrable means? Why would it seem good to you to have Russia be great again, given who you are?  When was Russia "great" in your view? During the Stalin era?

Would you say it was trolling if I said Gorbachev and Yeltsin were great? Are we only allowed to approve of Russian leaders who presided over dismantlement and economic depression, unemployment, suicide, drug addiction, and oligarchy? Torie, I am trying to look at this from the Russian perspective. When Putin came to power, Russia was on its knees. Now it has even our national security establishment on the run. Reagan and FDR did excretable things yet we consider them good leaders. I don't like him personally but I don't think his high approval ratings are made up.

Frankly on this Beet is absolutely right.

I guess he is in a way. I mean, Gorbachev's 1996 presidential run tells you enough about what the Russian people think about him. And let's not even begin about Yeltsin's record in the 1990s lol. But we can't really ignore the terrible things Putin has been doing, and I guess it's quite ironic for someone from the West to back Putin who's quite frankly really antagonistic towards transatlantic alliances. I'm not sure whether Putin will have been good for Russia in the long-term though. The Crimea stuff obviously was meant to distract people from a stagnating economy. It has worked out well so far, but Russia has some long-term economic problems and I wonder whether Putin can adress them.

Well, there are several things Putin has done or is doing that I don't like (say Russia's influence in Moldova for example), but Russia under him has been in the best shape it's been in probably in its entire history. And for better or worse, I believe Putin is doing what he thinks is best for Russia; while Western leaders have not acted in their countries' best interests in decades. On top of that, while he could do it in a better way (say by not being mean to the LGBT community, as they're doing nothing wrong), he's one of the rare leaders of Christendom who's trying to reverse his country's moral and cultural decline, along with the decline of Christianity, which to the contrary in the West our elites are encouraging, aiding and abetting the decline in the West. So even if I don't like everything he's done, I respect Putin just for that, and will give him a "tilt ff" rating like Bagel did.

This is a stupid take, even from a 'realist Christian nationalist perspective' - which Putin doesn't actually believe in by the way, he just uses it to gain sympathy from paleonationalists. To put it frankly, Russia under Putin is in the weakest state on the world stage it has been in literal centuries. Its economy is smaller than Italy's, its population is small and declining, and it relies completely on an export economy. It is bordered on east and west by powers which are hugely superior to it, militarily and economically - the EU and China. So what does he do in this situation? He deliberately antagonizes the West, suppresses political and economic freedom for personal material gain, and spends what little the country has on a conventional military to bully the few weaker neighbors he still has for cheap shots of domestic jingoism to prop up his leech of a government. Given Russia's position, this can only lead to them becoming either a failed state or a puppet of the Chinese.

He's the sort of HP who is so H that he can be used as a litmus test as to the Hness (or ignorance) of the person being asked.

First of all Putin doesn't antagonize the West, the West antagonizes Putin. Remember, it was Victoria 'F the EU' Nuland who incited an illegal and anti-democratic coup in Ukraine, removing the duly elected president by a vote in the Ukrainian parliament without sufficient quorum. The rebels, who by the way, are backed by fascists, then seized Kiev's institutions by force.

Second of all, Russia-China relations have been steadily improving since Gorbachev's visit to Beijing in 1989. It would be more accurate to say Russia's Far East flank is more secure than it has ever been in Russian history. It is a far cry from the border clashes of 1969 which Richard Nixon took advantage of to drive a wedge between the two partners. If this was the 1960's or 70's, China would have been mad at the Russians for aiding the election of a US President who implemented heavy tariffs on them, but they have not done any protest, why? Because the relationship is so deep. In any case; similar to Stalin in 1941, Putin is free to focus on his Western front since he has covered his other one quite well.

Third of all, the EU is not a real power, as it is not sufficiently unified for any decisive action. While it is not Poland circa 1760, it does have many of the same weaknesses. Decisions often require unanimous agreement of 27 members, including very small states with volatile politics. It has no unified foreign policy and no unified military certainly; and even what little unity it does have is constantly threatened by a growing anti-EU movement. For defense it still relies on the United States. The EU is basically a non-power, or a vacuum. Therefore, why Putin should worry about the EU is anyone's guess. If anything, with Nordstream coming online, the EU's dependence on Russian oil, already strong enough to protect Russia from stronger sanctions after MH-17, is about to grow even stronger. Further, Russia's ties with far-right parties in Europe, extend its influence into every EU country.

In sum, Russia's geo-strategic position is very excellent, the best it has been in centuries. There is no power in the whole world which one can say is definitely hostile to it at the moment. Those who say the population is shrinking is out of date; it is now growing again. Those who say the economy is 'smaller than Italy' are not looking at GDP (PPP), by the latter measure, which adjusts for price differences, the economy is nearly equal to that of Germany, Europe's strongest economy. It is for all these reasons that Putin feels confident to intervene in places like Syria.

[America Needs R'hllor]

First of all Putin doesn't antagonize the West, the West antagonizes Putin. Remember, it was Victoria 'F the EU' Nuland who incited an illegal and anti-democratic coup in Ukraine, removing the duly elected president by a vote in the Ukrainian parliament without sufficient quorum. The rebels, who by the way, are backed by fascists, then seized Kiev's institutions by force.

>Sit in a safe home in Washington, D.C.
>Decide that you're bored and want to troll.
>Insult the people of Estonia, Georgia, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine that sit on a dangerous border with a powerful, bloodthirsty regime constantly making threatening moves against their sovereignity and freedom.
>Keep sitting in a safe home in Washington, D.C. and trolling while heroic Estonians prepare to defend their homes from the dictator you now pretend to like.

[Beet]

First of all Putin doesn't antagonize the West, the West antagonizes Putin. Remember, it was Victoria 'F the EU' Nuland who incited an illegal and anti-democratic coup in Ukraine, removing the duly elected president by a vote in the Ukrainian parliament without sufficient quorum. The rebels, who by the way, are backed by fascists, then seized Kiev's institutions by force.

>Sit in a safe home in Washington, D.C.
>Decide that you're bored and want to troll.
>Insult the people of Estonia, Georgia, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine that sit on a dangerous border with a powerful, bloodthirsty regime constantly making threatening moves against their sovereignity and freedom.
>Keep sitting in a safe home in Washington, D.C. and trolling while heroic Estonians prepare to defend their homes from the dictator you now pretend to like.

> Doesn't reply to the points I made.

Most importantly, the duly elected leader of Ukraine was removed by an unconstitutional process. Then, people accuse Putin of being the hostile one.

> Launches on an unrelated personal attack.

Somehow, I doubt Putin is going to attack Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, or any of those other countries. Well, maybe he will if the West orchestrates an unconstitutional coup d'etat.

[America Needs R'hllor]

First of all Putin doesn't antagonize the West, the West antagonizes Putin. Remember, it was Victoria 'F the EU' Nuland who incited an illegal and anti-democratic coup in Ukraine, removing the duly elected president by a vote in the Ukrainian parliament without sufficient quorum. The rebels, who by the way, are backed by fascists, then seized Kiev's institutions by force.

>Sit in a safe home in Washington, D.C.
>Decide that you're bored and want to troll.
>Insult the people of Estonia, Georgia, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine that sit on a dangerous border with a powerful, bloodthirsty regime constantly making threatening moves against their sovereignity and freedom.
>Keep sitting in a safe home in Washington, D.C. and trolling while heroic Estonians prepare to defend their homes from the dictator you now pretend to like.

> Doesn't reply to the points I made.

Most importantly, the duly elected leader of Ukraine was removed by an unconstitutional process. Then, people accuse Putin of being the hostile one.

> Launches on an unrelated personal attack.

Somehow, I doubt Putin is going to attack Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, or any of those other countries. Well, maybe he will if the West orchestrates an unconstitutional coup d'etat.

Because your point is moot- the Ukrainian people wanted a President who establishes good relations with the healthy Western economies rather than the weak Russian one. And in any case, whatever the rebels did in Ukraine to remove the President pales in comparison to what Putin does to his political opponents and to innocent Russian citizens. Putin is and has always been the aggressor, and the reason I pointed out your own residence is that, knowing people from these countries, I find it infuriating that someone would insult their danger from his safe perch on another continent.

But I feel like I'm engaging someone's second personality and it feels odd so I shall stop now.

[All Along The Watchtower]

I'm tempted to report some of the posters in here to the appropriate federal authorities, but then I realize that this is The Internet and trolls are gonna troll - and from their POV, the more deplorable the trolling, the better.

What sad little lives they must lead.

[Santander]

I'm tempted to report some of the posters in here to the appropriate federal authorities, but then I realize that this is The Internet and trolls are gonna troll - and from their POV, the more deplorable the trolling, the better.

What sad little lives they must lead.

I don't even pretend my life isn't sad.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

I have the sudden urge to write-in Beet for many elections. Please run for something so I can endorse you.

[Beet]

I have the sudden urge to write-in Beet for many elections. Please run for something so I can endorse you.

Thanks, Smilo!

Parrotguy, your disregard of procedural democracy and rule of law is noted-- you lack the authority to speak on behalf of "the Ukrainian people". Only 338 members of the Ukrainian parliament were authorized for that, and not that many voted for Yanukovych's removal.

[Karpatsky]

I wish you people would stop engaging obvious low-effort trolls. It's only so popular here because so many people are willing to take them up as if they are serious. It is much easier to crank out a few lines of nonsense than it is to refute it, and doing so isn't worth your time. The ignore button is there for a reason.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I wish you people would stop engaging obvious low-effort trolls. It's only so popular here because so many people are willing to take them up as if they are serious. It is much easier to crank out a few lines of nonsense than it is to refute it, and doing so isn't worth your time. The ignore button is there for a reason.

Yep as I posted a poll about in FC I have Beet on ignore.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Tremendous leader. FF.

[RINO Tom]

I'm tempted to report some of the posters in here to the appropriate federal authorities, but then I realize that this is The Internet and trolls are gonna troll - and from their POV, the more deplorable the trolling, the better.

What sad little lives they must lead.

I don't even pretend my life isn't sad.

I spend about 85% of my life thinking it's not sad; I spend the other 15% completely aware that I'm posting on/checking Atlas.

[All Along The Watchtower]

I'm tempted to report some of the posters in here to the appropriate federal authorities, but then I realize that this is The Internet and trolls are gonna troll - and from their POV, the more deplorable the trolling, the better.

What sad little lives they must lead.

I don't even pretend my life isn't sad.

I spend about 85% of my life thinking it's not sad; I spend the other 15% completely aware that I'm posting on/checking Atlas.

You and me both, man.