
Why Many Young Russians See a Hero in Putin - bootload
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/12/putin-generation-russia-soviet-union/
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coldtea
He did wonders for the GDP and unemployment, has stopped the wholesale sale of
Russia to foreign interests (like under Yeltsin), he has brought relative
stability and he is not a lackey or yes-man like the West wants. And he plays
to the moral values and spirit of the majority.

That's enough for people there to like him. Of course you can't get everybody
to like you, especially in a still poor country with tons of problems and such
a legacy. The western media of course portray him as a kind of evil incarnate
for doing 1/10th of the things the US itself has been doing in the last 30
years (wars, invasions, drones, mass surveillance, etc -- and not in their
borders/immediate area, like Russia does, but all over the globe).

As for the "journalists thrown in jail" etc, most countries pointing the
finger were not much better when they felt threatened by the "reds" (McCarthy
anyone?). Only the idea they had back then that USSR will use some Hollywood
actors and NY lefties to overthrow the US was laughable, but the idea that
foreign powers today can use whatever opposition they find to overthrow a
government in today's (much smaller potato) Russia is not that laughable.
They've been doing the same shit, an sponsoring since the colonial years...

[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/nov/26/ukraine.usa](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/nov/26/ukraine.usa)

