Putin Is Making a Historic Mistake. By Madeleine Albright

[elleng]

In early 2000, I became the first senior U.S. official to meet with Vladimir Putin in his new capacity as acting president of Russia. We in the Clinton administration did not know much about him at the time — just that he had started his career in the K.G.B. I hoped the meeting would help me take the measure of the man and assess what his sudden elevation might mean for U.S.-Russia relations, which had deteriorated amid the war in Chechnya. Sitting across a small table from him in the Kremlin, I was immediately struck by the contrast between Mr. Putin and his bombastic predecessor, Boris Yeltsin.

Whereas Mr. Yeltsin had cajoled, blustered and flattered, Mr. Putin spoke unemotionally and without notes about his determination to resurrect Russia’s economy and quash Chechen rebels. Flying home, I recorded my impressions. “Putin is small and pale,” I wrote, “so cold as to be almost reptilian.” He claimed to understand why the Berlin Wall had to fall but had not expected the whole Soviet Union to collapse. “Putin is embarrassed by what happened to his country and determined to restore its greatness.”

I have been reminded in recent months of that nearly three-hour session with Mr. Putin as he has massed troops on the border with neighboring Ukraine. After calling Ukrainian statehood a fiction in a bizarre televised address, he issued a decree recognizing the independence of two separatist-held regions in Ukraine and sending troops there.

Mr. Putin’s revisionist and absurd assertion that Ukraine was “entirely created by Russia” and effectively robbed from the Russian empire is fully in keeping with his warped worldview. Most disturbing to me: It was his attempt to establish the pretext for a full-scale invasion.

Should he do so, it will be a historic error.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/23/opinion/putin-ukraine.html

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Agree. the bureaucrat's kleptocrat has bought his own bullshit.

Stuffed in Ukraine, the social reality in Moscow/St. Pete's sinks in. Putin in poison. They know about his rank stealing of Russia's assets. I bet no tears are shed when the world headslams the Oligarchs that created this dystopia.

[DENVERPOPS]

4. I fear

Putin far more than I ever did Trump.

[pazzyanne]

7. Same. nt

[RestoreAmerica2020]

9. Joe Biden Once Looked Into Putin's Eyes And Said, 'I Don't Think You Have A Soul'

My reaction when I read this..f@#$! 😱

Excerpt
Joe Biden Once Looked Into Putin's Eyes And Said, 'I Don't Think You Have A Soul'
[Colin Campbell Jul 21, 2014, 9:07 AM; Business Insider ]

The profile, published Monday, features Biden illustrating "his emphasis on personality as a factor in foreign affairs" by recalling a visit to Putin at the Kremlin in 2011, when Putin was Russia's prime minister.

"I had an interpreter, and when he was showing me his office I said, 'It’s amazing what capitalism will do, won’t it? A magnificent office!' And he laughed. As I turned, I was this close to him," Biden said, holding his hand close to his face. "I said, 'Mr. Prime Minister, I’m looking into your eyes, and I don’t think you have a soul.'"

The profiler, Evan Osnos, described being taken back.

"You said that?" Osnos asked.
Absolutely, positively," Biden replied. "And he looked back at me, and he smiled, and he said, 'We understand one another.'"

Biden sat back and exclaimed, "This is who this guy is!"

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-putin-soul-2014-7%3Famp&ved=2ahUKEwjipKHX04z2AhXMIUQIHXh1DcIQFnoECBYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0Y6LPepbf7B2-puMOoB8Qv

[Raster]

6. Putin* and his oligarchs are bleeding Russia* dry...

...and people are starting to realize it and equate it to the hardships in their every day life. The World, the US included, has allowed this swagging bunch of Russian miscreants to assume power and steal Russia* blind.

The prime offenders in the United States have been the GOP*, Republican* Presidents, Republican* Congresspersons, and former military and intelligence personnel like Traitor-for-hire Mike Flynn, and his boot-licking family.

[DENVERPOPS]

19. Another four years

and Trump would have allowed Putin to "annex" the U.S........

[Raster]

20. Without a doubt!

[DENVERPOPS]

22. WASF

with all that has been accomplished by Putin/Trump already...............

I don't really see any way that this whole giant shit storm is going to end well............Especially since Putin has upped the ante with this crap in the Ukraine. Putin is not stupid, and I think that Ukraine is just the beginning of his diabolical aggression.........

[NBachers]

2. Thank you- I was hoping to read what Madeline Albright has to say about Putin's behavior.

[Alpeduez21]

13. Same.

[monkeyman1]

3. just like TDFG is going down with trump.org ! tried to take over the U.S. ! didn't work !

republican's are going to pay the price ! he pissed on the wrong people ! his family will live out their live's as a national shame forever !! that includes grand-children ! all will be un-employable ! that includes all of congressional gop representatives for generations !

[BigmanPigman]

5. There was a special on MSNBC about Putin a few years ago

and it showed his life, etc. He was exactly as Albright says he seemed to her. His eyes are like a doll's eyes.

[Hekate]

10. KnRnThx. If anyone can get past the paywall I'd love to read the rest.

[Sherman A1]

11. Check through your local library

They probably have it available online through their system.

[Hekate]

15. I think that's where I'm going to end up. My husband uses his library account intensively...

… and to great effect.

Some of my irritation with NYT is my sis in NY state gave me access to sign up thru her own online paid subscription (free, allowed) and we reciprocated with the LA Times. Mostly what I’ve gotten out of it is multiple emails per day, every day, offering (paid) options for newsletters and cooking essays and you name it — all of which they would like me to pay for. It’s the spam!

I think my only recourse is to have him help me get rid of the cookies and the “access” and start over at the public library.

[DENVERPOPS]

21. I am so sick of articles that

lead you to a news group and you get hit with a pay wall. Why do websites do teaser articles and then send you to these paywall groups?????????

I don't mind paying WaPo their four dollars a month, but the Denver Post that has succeeded in establishing themselves as a Print Paper Monopoly in Denver has a paywall fee, on their internet website, of FIFTEEN DOLLARS A MONTH if you can believe it..............And the worst part is that their Monopoly is that other than local news, it allows them a total Right/Corporate interpretation of the factual on everything except the local stuff................

[Wednesdays]

23. Lies are free nowadays. To get truth, you have to pay for it. nt

[DENVERPOPS]

24. I guess so

but the Denver Post gets to lie, and charge everyone through the nose.

[reACTIONary]

26. LINK, No Paywall...

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/23/opinion/putin-ukraine.html?smid=url-share

Anyone with a NYT subscription can 'gift' a link, up to a limit per month.

[DENVERPOPS]

28. Well thank you React.....nc

[mitch96]

14. If I go into my cookies and history and delete anything New York times they see you as

a new reader and it's free.. If you go back the cookies tell them you are a repeat customer and throw up a pay wall...YMMV. At least that's how it works on my mac...
m

[Hekate]

16. TY for the reminder

[reACTIONary]

25. LINK, No Paywall...

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/23/opinion/putin-ukraine.html?smid=url-share

Anyone with a NYT subscription can 'gift' a free link.

[Hekate]

27. Many, many thanks!

I even made it load into Safari so I could download a pdf to read a bit later.

I really rely on the kindness of DU friends.

[2naSalit]

12. K&R

[Martin68]

17. Excellent account and analysis.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

18. K&R