Mopping up the trenchline...
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Putin is not just some sales rep for the Oligarchs, he is the head one. He maybe didn't start out that way but he is now. The estimates of his wealth seem to vary between $200 and $400 billion
The $200 billion figure was estimated by financier Bill Browder who, in a testimony to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in 2017, said that Putin amassed most of his wealth after a Moscow court jailed oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky in 2003 for fraud and tax evasion:
"After Khodorkovsky's conviction, the other oligarchs went to Putin and asked him what they needed to do to avoid sitting in the same cage as Khodorkovsky. From what followed, it appeared that Putin's answer was, "50%" He wasn't saying 50% for the Russian government or the presidential administration of Russia, but 50% for Vladimir Putin personally."
On top of all this, the famous Panama Papers revealed a network of secret offshore deals and loans worth $2 billion pointing to Putin in 2016.
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Last part you first.
No the "KGB" didn't take control of Russia since they fractured into at least 2 or 3 different organizations.
The Oligarchs took control, they already had it actually.
WTF does Putin's "German" time have to do with anything? He was the mayor of St. Petersburg when he rose. His demonic deal was that he would root out corruption and destroy the oligarchs. He simply replaced them!Leave a comment:
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Egos are great. More people kill themselves with their own egos than anything else. Learn to exploit egos and you will go far.Leave a comment:
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The KGB took control of post Soviet Russia. Putin is the public face, probably because he was based in East Germany, speaks German very well and some English. He knew Angela Merkel from the old Stasi days. Russia needed the image of a powerful leader. Putin played the part but if you think you are going to change things in Russia by simply getting rid of Putin that’s like trying to destroy a car by breaking off the hood ornament.
Sorry. Americans and Western Europeans are very ignorant as far as Russia is concerned.Leave a comment:
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Putin thought Ukraine would be in the bag by now, along with Moldova, then to the ’Stans that used to be part of the USSR. Putin would not have thought the sanctions would be so quick, severe and targeted. The Russian economy is collapsing. COVID doesn't even come close to what's happening in RuZZia right now.Leave a comment:
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A brief moment of Russian history may have embraced liberal democracy and pluralism happened with the fall of the Soviet Union. With no clear political direction, Putin took advantage using the power of the new oligarchs in turn for favors in looting national resources. Putin's thug friends in the police silenced the opposition, and like Napoleon and Hitler, he had himself made permanent president. His appeal to patriotism, the use of lies about the intention of the West, and the imprisonment and exile of populations are his typical fascist techniques.
Internationally, Putin's actions are condoned by two types of governments. 1. Those who rely on Russian equipment. 2. Those run by autocrats, thugs or military dictators.
I bring this up because this is Trump's vision for America and so many are blindly willingly to accept it without question.Leave a comment:
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