Still, there's a lot more to Putin than shooting animals with tranquilizer guns while shirtless. Putin tickles the ivories for a crowd at the Theatre of Nations in Moscow. He often plays the patriotic song "From What The Motherland Begins?" and the "Anthem of Saint Petersburg," his hometown jam.
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Sometimes must look at what is happening in its territory, to judge that what happens elsewhere.
I personally do not particularly like poutine, journalists are not free from it, but when I see presstitute in the U.S. and Europe, I find that dictatorship level, poutine has a long way to go.
the power that big corporations and industry have over govt and peoples' lives are direct extensions of the choices that people make with their spending money and so forth... and we merely ask politicians to be the 'bad guys' in that exchange to avoid examining our own choices and lifestyles more closely.
putin is at least somewhat different. he directly and transparently prevents other parties and politicians from taking a turn at the wheel. actually, it's kind of nice that it's all out in the open, but let's just call a spade a spade, shall we?
obama and the european leadership do not commonly have dictatorial control over the election process AFAIK.