What a remarkable piece of writing in Putin's Editorial at the NYT

[Number23]

111. I have lived in four countries and spent copious amounts of time in a half dozen more

And your "full confidence assertion" that everyone abroad sees the US as a brutish empire is not based on anything more than your fevered wishes.

Every measure that counts says that the US is still admired and respected in large parts of the world, particularly since Obama's election in 2008. I also have a large group of expat/frequent traveler friends and none of us have come across this sentiment that you appear to believe is so rampant. But then, we don't wallow in it ourselves so that may explain why we don't come across it often.

As for this piece of writing, how anyone even moderately intelligent can confuse this with anything other than a blatant piece of self-serving propaganda is beyond me. Putin is a master all right, of getting simpletons to become even simpler.