The Putin Thread

[Vicus]

Putin's Calm, Well-Versed Demeanor Steering Russia in Right Direction – Observers 2 hours ago



Russian President Vladimir Putin displayed powerful composure during his recent annual year-end press conference, where he fielded questions from Chinese, American, French and other international and domestic reporters in real-time. This begs the question: what lies at the heart of Putin's solid confidence?

While his American counterpart Joe Biden has been repeatedly spotted reading prepared and vetted responses, the Russian president holds hours-long on-air conferences with ease, Western observers admit.

"Personally, I think it is important for any politician to stay on top of their subject matter, and I prefer the somewhat more informal live format at these press conferences," Dr. Roslyn Fuller, director of the non-profit think tank Solonian Democracy Institute and the author of the book "Beasts and Gods: How Democracy Changed Its Meaning and Lost Its Purpose", told Sputnik.

"American politicians have become very 'produced', and try to avoid any possible downtime, awkwardness or misstep in communication. This was an issue even with Obama, who was often criticized for 'speaking from a teleprompter', despite his great charisma. So that 'overproduction' that aims at a really slick output is peculiarly American. It is also what their audience expects," she continued.

The Canadian-Irish author pointed out that from a Western point of view, Putin is "almost always very calm and somewhat dry." She noted that this time, Putin also "seemed fairly relaxed" and in control of the situation.
For his part, Angelo Giuliano, a Hong Kong-based political and financial analyst, spotlighted the fact that Putin picked a Xinhua reporter's question prior to that of the New York Times journalist.
"It is indeed very symbolic that Putin took Xinhua to ask the first question, he probably wanted to show that the US doesn’t play the first role anymore," Giuliano told Sputnik.
The political analyst highlighted that China has become Russia’s most important strategic partner, as both countries "offering each other complementary strengths".
"In the meantime, the World is changing and the shift of gravity is in eastward and in the Global South. While the West talks and talks, the rest of the World is acting," the political analyst underscored.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20231214/pu...115585501.html

[Bill Ryan]

Alexander Mercouris commenting on Putin and his current major press conference, which was 4 hours long and still ongoing before he had to break off watching to start his own livestream. He was answering a question, after about 1:45:00 (very approx), inviting him to compare Putin and Biden. And everything Mercouris observes is correct.

~~

Well, the one can conduct a 4 hour press conference — or at least, it was 4 hours and still going on! — and taking incredibly complex questions. And in the other case, it's a huge success if the press conference continues for 5 minutes without some great mistake.

I find comparing Putin to any other political leader incredibly difficult. To me, he's unique, to be honest. In my lifetime, I've never come across a phenomenon like this.

The other thing is, together with his self-discipline, and his intelligence, and his erudition, the work ethic the man has is astonishing. Just go to his website and see the number of things he does in a day. It's just off the scale. The number of people he talks to, the number of world leaders he engages with, I've ever known anything like this.

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/MaimunkaNews/status/1735221356180959428

https://x.com/MaimunkaNews/status/1735222269973033441

During the conference,

https://x.com/MaimunkaNews/status/1735273797458997568

https://x.com/MaimunkaNews/status/1735286538353709460

Text:

“Only one person can be like me. It's me. I have no doubles"

Putin answered a question from his “digital twin” - a St. Petersburg State University student from St. Petersburg, who used the image of the president.

📝 “You look like me and speak in my voice. But only one person can be like me. It's me. By the way, I don’t have any doubles,” the president said.

❗️ Putin added that it is impossible to stop the development of artificial intelligence, but this process must be led and directed for good.

📝 “When they realized that nuclear weapons were a threat, they began to negotiate. The same will happen with artificial intelligence. It’s worth thinking about this today,” the head of the Russian Federation noted.

https://x.com/djuric_zlatko/status/1735302943983780231

[Ravenlocke]

Text:

Putin apologized for raising prices for chicken eggs, calling it a failure in the government's work

The Russian authorities did not open the import of eggs in time, now the decision has been made, the situation with egg prices in Russia will improve, the president said.

He explained that prices for chicken eggs have increased due to the fact that demand has increased, but production has not.



Text:

🇷🇺 “Vladimir Vladimirovich, restore order, take pity on the pensioners”

A pensioner from Krasnodar asked the president a question about high prices for eggs.

📝 “We have a dozen eggs from 180 to 220 rubles. Where and when were these prices? Vladimir Vladimirovich, restore order, take pity on the pensioners,” the woman complained.

❗️ Putin promised to correct the situation and apologized for the price increases.

📝 “I just recently spoke with the Minister of Agriculture and asked how things were going with his eggs. He said everything is fine,” the president said about the conversation with the Minister of Agriculture about the cost of chicken eggs, and that he himself really likes scrambled eggs.

https://x.com/djuric_zlatko/status/1735266552436445402

[Ravenlocke]

[url]https://x.com/djuric_zlatko/status/1735306016164618468

Text:
“Why are they talking about bacchanalia and the ban on abortion? This is not the case. Women’s rights and freedoms in our country must be respected” - Putin

The President paid special attention to a topic that has been widely discussed by the public in recent weeks, and took the side of protecting women's rights on the issue of banning abortion.

📝 “We need to act carefully with abortion bans, the anti-alcohol campaign at one time led to the use of surrogate, we need to keep this in mind when having abortions,” Putin said.

❗️ The President rightly noted that society, like the state, must remember the existence of traditional values. It must be kept in mind that a child is a gift. But at the same time, it is necessary to work towards improving the material well-being of citizens and putting antenatal clinics and hospitals in order.

https://x.com/djuric_zlatko/status/1735303643576812008

[Ravenlocke]

Text:

🇺🇸 Putin about the possible exchange of Gershkovich: a journalist from The New York Times accused Russia in detaining The Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich without due process and any trial and proposed to just set him free for
improving relations with the US. "Why not return him to his homeland?" she said.

The President corrected the New York Times journalist "You said that his arrest was recently extended which means there was a trial."

He also added "You say, why not return him to his homeland. Why not commit crimes on the territory of the Russian Federation?"

The head of state said that Russia does not refuse possible exchanges with the United States and similar conversations are underway. This is a complex dialogue and the Americans must also take into account Russian conditions so that the deal is beneficial to us.

🇷🇺✖️ Putin: “Russophobia is one of the vectors of the fight against Russia”

The President noted that there is indeed a rise in nationalism in the world. Putin associated the growth of Islamophobia, Judeophobia and Russophobia with the fact that people feel a lack of justice.

📝 “We will not allow interfaith and ethnic hatred to rock society,” the president said.

❗️ Putin promised to nip in the bud any attempts to rock Russian society from the inside.

https://x.com/djuric_zlatko/status/1735267133502718384

[Ravenlocke]

Text:
🇷🇺 🇺🇸We are ready to build relations with the USA, it is an important country in the international arena - Putin

However, there are no fundamental conditions for building these relationships yet. The US imperial policy hinders them, not even us, the president noted.

📝 “Elites are forced to behave this way because US failures in the international arena are perceived as failures,” he said.

https://x.com/djuric_zlatko/status/1735235327831265563

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/djuric_zlatko/status/1735278036109386138

[Ravenlocke]

Here is the whole 4 hour session with English interpreter speaking over Russian.

https://x.com/mfa_russia/status/1735225398437302627

[Bruce G Charlton]

"I find comparing Putin to any other political leader incredibly difficult. To me, he's unique, to be honest. In my lifetime, I've never come across a phenomenon like this."

A giant compared with pygmies.

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bruce G Charlton (here)
"I find comparing Putin to any other political leader incredibly difficult. To me, he's unique, to be honest. In my lifetime, I've never come across a phenomenon like this."

A giant compared with pygmies.

Here's more. This is Col. Douglas Macgregor, talking to Judge Napolitamo yesterday.

~~~

I'd ask you whether or not there's any leader in the western world who, after delivering some prepared remarks for 20-30 minutes, could then sit for almost 4 hours and answer questions and demonstrate his command of all of the issues and the details, economic, military, political, without notes, without pausing for a second to look at anything ... impossible.

The man is exceptionally intelligent, very competent, and I think from the very beginning has been straightforward and truthful. But of course, that's not what people want to hear.

[Bruce G Charlton]

@Bill - "The man is exceptionally intelligent, very competent, and I think from the very beginning has been straightforward and truthful. But of course, that's not what people want to hear."

It is quite something to observe one of those extraordinary leaders we read about in history, someone who towers above and shapes their age.

But, unlike many of these (who were often great generals, primarily, and - like Napoleon - were in the end a disaster for their countries); here is someone who not only saved his nation from near-certain annihilation, but will (probably, unless there is some coming reverse) leave the world overall a better place; or at least a more hopeful place.

These are indeed "interesting times"; because the Western Civilization, dominant since the Middle Ages, is destroying-itself so rapidly and thoroughly that - if I live an average lifespan - I am almost certain to see its end (and will, almost certainly, go down with it!).

Indeed the decline could begin to accelerate towards a positive-feedback collapse at almost any time. Life now is a bit like having a ringside seat in Rome c400AD; although in that case the Roman centre and capital had long since moved to Constantinople, where it survived another millennium.

The West is now so interlinked and motivationally-degraded that it is hard to imagine any outpost surviving long.

The big question is whether The West will pull everything else down with it (I'm pretty sure this will be attempted) - but (with multipolarity emerging so quickly) the prospects do not seem quite so bleak now, as they did in 2020.

[Ewan]

Posted by Bruce G Charlton (here)

The big question is whether The West will pull everything else down with it (I'm pretty sure this will be attempted) - but (with multipolarity emerging so quickly) the prospects do not seem quite so bleak now, as they did in 2020.

That is something I have often asked myself. Like a child throwing a tantrum when things keep going against them, one feels there are a lot of 'children' in American politics right now who would not hesitate to kill their parents and burn the house down just because they didn't get the latest console game or similar.

Your comment re multipolarity I also agree with, leading me to hope that everything actually collapses so swiftly and, for them in their arrogance, completely unexpectedly. Even though that likely hastens our own demise we may well have seen exactly what we came here to witness this time around in the carnival of madness.

[Tintin]

Posted by Bruce G Charlton (here)
@Bill - "The man is exceptionally intelligent, very competent, and I think from the very beginning has been straightforward and truthful. But of course, that's not what people want to hear."

It is quite something to observe one of those extraordinary leaders we read about in history, someone who towers above and shapes their age.

But, unlike many of these (who were often great generals, primarily, and - like Napoleon - were in the end a disaster for their countries); here is someone who not only saved his nation from near-certain annihilation, but will (probably, unless there is some coming reverse) leave the world overall a better place; or at least a more hopeful place.

Great comments and worthy of more than just a tweet share here

Here's a fabulous candid admission of naivete expressed by Vladimir Putin here. Blinking flip. Compare that to the arrogant posturing of Western leaders and we do indeed have an exceptional individual in our midst.

***

Text:

Putin says he was a naive man 20 years ago, thinking the West would have realized Russia no longer posed ideological threat like the USSR, so he underestimated the West's capacity to continue trying to destroy Russia at all costs.
Well, his realization is better late than never.

Source: SIMPLICIUS The Thinker Ѱ

[Tintin]

Results of the Year - Vladimir Putin - December 14th, 2023

The full Results of the Year interview session from December 14th, with English audio, obtained directly from the Russian President's website.

Now in the Avalon Library



There's also an entire transcript available via his website but also here in the library as a 94 page PDF

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/MedvedevRussiaE/status...79368459792518

[Ravenlocke]

Text:
🇷🇺 Putin holds back tears (01:08) reminiscing his late mother's selfless act, letting him drive modest car she won when he was student (1:27) instead of selling it and using money to buy apartment bigger than one-room house they lived in (00:54).

"Let's take the car, let our son drive", I memorized this phrase word for word. It's amazing to me today, but that's what moms are like - Putin.

Boost us here for more Putin First
@IntelRepublic
https://x.com/djuric_zlatko/status/1736462426688590295

[Eva2]

Vladimir Putin's Letter to the World

https://twitter.com/peacemaket71/sta...67383439917230

'Vladimir Putin's letter to the world:*

Dear inhabitants of our beautiful planet Earth,
I, the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, decided to address all of you directly, bypassing diplomats, your leaders and journalists. In Russia, there is a so-called "Ural exchange", where it is forbidden to lie, deceive and exaggerate. Therefore, I will speak very honestly so that everyone will be convinced of the truth of my words.
Russia is a big and rich country, its most important value is more than 150 million people who live in a territory where justice is above all. We don't need new territories.
We have energy and all other resources are abundant.
Since the time of the Great Tartar and the Great Mughals, the peoples of Northern Eurasia have not developed because of the onslaught of the Crusades and the colonization of America, Africa, India, or the drug addiction of China, but because of their hard work and pacifism.
Anyone who knows Russian understands that "Russian" is an adjective that refers to all the peoples of our country. Russian Slavs, Russian Tatars, Russian Jews, Russian Evans, etc. All Russian at heart, even if their culture, language and way of life differ. We honor this diversity of unity.
The Russian people are once again forced to sacrifice their lives to protect the world from Nazism and fascism. We exchanged 50 of our prisoners of war for 50 Ukrainian soldiers. Ukrainian soldiers were treated in our hospitals, given three full meals a day and returned home.
We received Russian soldiers who had their fingers and genitals cut off. Not even the Nazis did that in the last war.
We will present this evidence in a future process. Shame on everyone who supports these scumbags now.
Your leaders in the US, Europe, Japan, Australia and elsewhere have sided with these subhumans who put civilians, pregnant women and children above themselves in combat and deliberately want POWs. I can't imagine any sane person supporting these monsters. * And your Bidens, Scholz, Macron and other dark democrats * not only protect criminals, but actively arm them, provide them with money that is not enough to lower prices in your countries. Prices are rising, the world is collapsing, but not because the Russians are cleansing Europe of Nazi evil spirits, but because you are silent and even support the new wave of Nazism. This time we will not go to Berlin, we will stop at our historical borders, and all the Nazi evil spirits that your leaders open the door to will give you a new "crystal" life, as the Nazis did, adding circumcision of the reproductive organs to it. I appeal to all who want to live and work in the world, raise children and socialize with people all over the world. Help Russia fight the new cancer - Ukrainian Nazism. Not Ukraine, where peaceful and hard working people live, but Nazism, fueled by your US taxes and NATO hawks. If your leaders support Nazism, push them over the edge, take power into your hands. Ukrainian Nazis are protected from bullets by civilians, your rulers also decided to transfer the burden of high prices and future troubles to the population under the pretext of terrible Russia. In Ukraine, just like you, the Nazis live well behind the backs of ordinary citizens, and ordinary citizens have to suffer - these are the same crimes in Ukraine as in the West. We have not broken any of our promises and your leaders have stolen 300 billion dollars and Euros from the Russian people. They steal the property of our country's citizens all over the world, you deliberately want our soldiers, ban the Russian language, attack the Church of God. I see that in countries where leaders are tightening sanctions against Russia, there is a growing awareness of what is happening and a wave of protests is spreading.
https://tiktok.com/@presidentputinfa..._t=8iQNu85HCuP (To spread this letter around the world, please share it on networks around the world.'

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Eva2 (here)
Vladimir Putin's Letter to the World
...
Shame on everyone who supports these scumbags now.

I'll need a LOT of persuading to believe that Putin ever said or wrote that.

[ExomatrixTV]

• Putin Answers Questions In Annual Televised Press Conference (Unedited!):

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Yy3QpLv0YZw

Russian president Vladimir Putin holds a press conference and will answer questions from citizens in a televised event. Putin confirmed on Friday that he would stand for another six-year term.