It's pretty hard to imagine someone worse, that's for sure.

If I had to chose between Hillary anyone or anything else at all. I would not chose Hillary.

Hello, Dobrien,
I think that the "original sin" of misguided US foreign policy toward Russia belongs squarely to the first Bush and James Baker. They had an opportunity, but totally misunderstood the basic fact that the Russians, in their collective memories, have been deeply impressed by the murderous invasions of Hitler and Napoleon (the 19th century version of Hitler).

Not sure what this has to do with Putin. Rand left Russia in 1926 - before the second World War. She died when Putin was still in the KGB under Gorbachev.

all comes back to "rational self-interst"...thank Rand i am an objectivist...

Temlakos.. You've been reading my mail. I was impressed with the insight the author has and the close similarity of President Trump and President Putin. They are both survivors and LEADERS.. Both probably have warts and black marks on their past but most politicians are very suspect...they live in dangerous environments and probably have very few people they can trust. I would rather have Putin in charge of America than Clinton, Obama, Gore, Kerry , Sanders or any other socialist idiot and traitor. I came to the surprise conclusion also...the leader of Russia is NOT a communist..weird but refreshing.I am naieve to hope that somehow Trump and Putin can through their gruff and tough background become a sane, stabilizing adult example and force to start putting the world back on a sane direction and stop the destructive terrorisam that will kill us all. It will never be done by snowflake weaklings.with one worlder pipe dreams. The world started falling apart when the U S S R lost domination over the stan countries and U S A became pacifists. God help us and protect us from failure to act on what has the potential to unite the old and common interests of America and Russia in stopping the madness that has ensued when both countries lost our senses.

putin does not think of the population at all, only putin and how he can preserve his position. capitalism is not part of his word list. the country will continue to flounder as it has for decades. he probably believes he will live forever. if he were to allow these resources to be exploited others might have money and he would be threatened by the competition since he is a looter not a producer!

why did Ayn Rand leave Russia?

A patriot is merely someone who believes in one's national identity. As you point out, it can be misguided if that national identity is not built upon solid principles.

I see this post about Putin highly relative to Herbs post about the unibomber...smart, self interested in the health of one's country and countrymen but no respect for the property of others, not to mention, no Conscience connection to a subconscious nor a mind.
His guiding adviser, Alexander Dugan, is not much different than trumpets "Bannon"; both, ideologues to beat all ideologues with no conscience and a penitence for fascistic goals.
I don't see these fascistic goals a tenant of Trumps desires for the country or countrymen but by the same time he needs to be a tough leader against an unruly cast of characters in our kakistocracy.

It's a very fine line to walk without tripping over one's good intentions.

i understand the russian mind...russian history...sponsored a russian couple who are now american citizens...speak the language...was back-up for Brezhnev's airplane pilots when he was here in the u.s. (in the air force as a pilot)...patriot is a kind word...maybe too kind

I'd become Robbie the Robot from "Forbidden Planet." He was asked to destroy the thing he was programmed never to harm that was harming itself. He burnt his poor AI out. Let's hope such a scenario never happens to us soft computers.

Regards the "Russian hacking," consider this: the intelligence agencies are not the neutral, non-political entities they claim to be. Their secrecy makes their political motives easier to hide. As one who spent some time dealing with the DIA, CIA, and NSA, I can inform the Gulch that Machiavellian games are constantly in play within the agencies. and are used to influence, exploit, and sabotage other agencies, the White House, and Congress.

The CIA, as one example, has a program called UMBRAGE, which enables them to leave an encrypted digital trail they can tie to any source. It has been used in international dealings to make it appear that Russia and China have attempted to interfere in financial markets. The question is whether or not the agency decided to use that tool against the incoming Trump administration by making it look like he gained his office via an unsavory connection to Putin.

Attempting to understand a foreign culture or a point of view other than the officially approved "Yay, Yay, USA" will undoubtedly put you on some sort of US government list. I salute your effort, it's quite necessary, but the mind reels at how the overwhelming majority of Americans won't even question government propaganda, much less explore other points of view. And then they ask questions like: Why do they hate us so much?

YUP! Tolerable allies who would gladly crush us if not for the strength of our military.

While reading the article, I imagined Godfather Putin including "Let's make Russia great again" in a speech.
Stating she would carry on with the ruinous globalist and econazi policies of the now O That Bad Penny, $hillary aka the Evil Hag, as I prefer to call Hitlery, I'm certain such policies had much to do with bloated bribes disguised as international donations eagerly accepted by the Clinton Crime Cartel~oops~I meant the Clinton Foundation where I read that 6% of such funds actually helped somebody in a bad way.
Yeah, like the disaster support money that went poof in Haiti.
Whoa! Proofreading. What did I just write? "--such funds actually helped somebody in a bad way?"
Is that a Freudian slip? Me dino gonna leave that just the way I originally wrote it. It's interesting.

If you read the article, it contends that Putin's actions were actually to protect the resources (especially oil) from foreign manipulation. I do agree that they have the natural resources to become an economic force in the world equal to the United States. I think that they can only do that, however, if the people themselves embrace true market capitalism. Right now their country is virtually run by the black markets.

Almost every other nation in the world is at odds with us in some manner. The EU competes with us for business and wants to install a one-world government with socialism at its base. Russia competes with us militarily and philosophically for world power. China competes with us for manufacturing and wants to take our place as world leader. North Korea and Iran seek to push themselves on the rest of the world by pursuing nuclear weapons. The Saudis back religious terrorists. I'm looking down the list and at most what we have with other countries are tolerable allies!

One's principles should always be under consideration, absolutely. Self-interest that involves attempting to assert power over others is not a sustainable principles and invariably ends up in violation of individual rights.

Yeah, love that interview with Friedman. I've probably watched it a dozen times. Friedman had the uncanny ability to see through the obfuscation and get to the heart of the matter while being charming at the same time.

"Putin was more selfish that the rest."

Oh, I agree that we absolutely should call into question his motives. I seriously doubt he is being driven by a morality which values individual rights. A more accurate description may be that he is a Russian patriot.

that is...rational self-interest...

the real question is the justification for the self-interst...Rand's and mine is justified, as it yours...the rest should go to hell...

Putin does for his country what his country wants of him. I don't much like the man but I do respect him in many instances, certainly not all. I can think of many other leaders and many right here in our own political environment who are a great deal more ruthless and way less trustworthy. As a country we need not like or trust another countries leaders in order to get along with them in numerous dealings. For some strange reason we are able to get along with the Saudis however if it were not for oil they would be an equally distrusted enemy. Those who are without sin are welcome to cast the first stones but keep the stones away from US!

other factors were smokescreen...milton friedman silenced Phil Donahue when interviewed...Donahue argued that capitalists are selfish, Milton countered with :...show me a politician that is not selfish..."

Putin was more selfish that the rest...as was Obama...as was Lenin...as was Hitler and Stalin...they acted in their self-interest..

some of you might recall what Ayn Rand said of the Russians and that today pertains to putin as well. They are a paper tiger and not to be feared, all you will hear from putting are potential threats or simple bombast. Russia has I believe more natural resource in its land mass than any other country on earth. IF the people were free to exploit these resources they would become an economic power house. But that is not to be because putin is an idiot, hence what I think of him!