February 10, 2024

"Do you think if there were a new administration... you would be able to reestablish communication with the US government?"

"Or does it not matter who the president is?"


Putin's answer: "It is not about the leader. It is not about the personality of a particular person. I had a very good relationship with say, Bush. I know that in the United States he was portrayed as some kind of a country boy who does not understand much. I assure you that this is not the case. I think he made a lot of mistakes with regard to Russia, too.... [T]he decision... to open the NATOs doors for Ukraine... happened during his presidency. He actually exercised pressure on the Europeans. But in general, on a personal, human level, I had a very good relationship with him. He was no worse than any other American or Russian or European politician. I assure you he understood what he was doing as well as others. I had such personal relationship with Trump as well. It is not about the personality of the leader. It is about the elite’s mindset. If the idea of domination at any cost based also on forceful actions dominates the American society, nothing will change; it will only get worse...."

Notice that Putin chose which former Presidents to bring up, and he brought up George W. Bush and Trump. Nowhere else in the interview is Trump mentioned by name. Carlson's "if there were a new administration" implies Trump, but Putin's answer refers to Trump in the past. So, Putin, invited to take a position on the American election, chose to distance himself. And yet he did say he had a "personal" and "human level" relationship with Trump.

33 comments:

Howard said...

Plausible deniability lost it's cloaking capability once the Zapruder film was broadcast. This entire interview was a campaign event for Donald Trump because it involves his two biggest supporters.

rehajm said...

He skipped over the lightbringer. Must not have been all that impressed...

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I’d change Clinton’s “It’s the economy stupid” to “It’s the elites stupid”.

tim in vermont said...

Wow Howard, this interview sure has gotten under your skin for some reason. Almost as if your commenting here is more than the pleasant diversion of banging a stick against the monkey cage that you claim. You almost seem way too earnest.

boatbuilder said...

Notice that he carefully didn't say anything at all about the "flexible" guy who was President for 8 years between Bush and Trump.

Data Schlepper said...

If I ever get to ask Tucker Carlsen a question it would be "When you interviewed Putin face to face, were you scared?"

tim in vermont said...

I think he makes a good point that the political system of the United States is so complex that a determined cabal, seeded about in positions of power, can override the will of the voters every time, leading us into wars that we neither want to fight ourselves, or to send our children to fight, because they have seized control of the information space, and completely dominate it. Creating mind-numbed robots like Howard.

It's like that Ukrainian nazi in that interview, the one who said that if it weren't for the nazis there, Maidan would have been a "gay parade," he said that it only takes 8 or 10 percent nazis to control a government. This is especially true if this small cabal is willing to completely override precedent, and even use assassination to further their aims. One of the negotiators, who was involved in the peace settlement back in April of 2022, that the US kiboshed, he was assassinated as a "traitor" for negotiating terms of which the nazis did not approve.

Joe Biden did not want a world in which this war was not going on, and he made the choice, while lying to us incessantly, lying as much as his propagandists accuse Putin of lying, as they accuse Trump of lying. But you never see in either case, them calling out specific lies, because you are not supposed to think about the issue to that level. This is a cult you're in, and thinking too deeply is not allowed!

Maybe Putin is lying. IDK, I don't care. He's not my president, but I do know that the most effective propaganda is that which the target population can see is true, and the government of the target population desperately does not want to to hear about. This is a very handy way to sweep aside true critiques of our government, to say that these criticisms are based on the lies of some bogeyman you have propped up.

I remember, as a child, seeing an image of a Mohawk shaman, and he was dancing in full regalia, and he had a scary mask on a stick, and he would scare his followers with it, as if it were not attached to him, then he would heroically chase the mask on a stick away, proving his power to save them from whatever this frightful thing was. Nothing has changed.

PB said...

Biden has always been a dishonest bloviator prone to fits of anger, who has been wrong on most foreign policy issues in his life, and has been long known as a below average intelligence politician. His selection by Obama as VP was brilliant assassination insurance. Who would risk putting Biden on the Oval Office? In 2020, Democrats said, "hold our beer".

iowan2 said...

Remember when the media was telling us Putin was at deaths door?

Good times.

Now of Course the media is telling us Biden has the mental agility of NYSE floor trader (do those even exist anymore)?

The MEDIA: ONLY the facts we decide you need.

Drago said...

tim in vermont: "Wow Howard, this interview sure has gotten under your skin for some reason."

Howard has been a long time lunatic pusher of the Russia Collusion lies along with Hillary's hoax dossier lies.

On top of that, Howard's typical schtick is to lie about centuries worth of history to try and blame republicans for everything the democraticals have done.

With the complete exposure that it has always been the dems sucking up to and capitulating to the russkis, Howard has simply continued to double down on his "confessions thru projection" rhetorical activities....which fool no one.

Skeptical Voter said...

Notice one other thing. The interviewee here was entirely in possession of his mental faculties. Compare and contrast Biden's and Putin's performances this week.

rcocean said...

I was extremely impressed by Putin's intelligence, Knowledge and ability to talk. You don't have to like him to see he's a man of great ability. Or at least light-years ahead of Clinton, bush, biden, etc.

The interview went well. Putin was talking to three audiences: Biden/NATO leaders, people worldwide, and the Russian people. I thought he would talk in more detail about the suffering of the Russian minority in the Donbas and Zelensky's refusal to negotiate, but he seems to think that is unneccessary.

His comments on the American leaders was refreshingly adult. Its not a childish game of "Liking or disliking people". Its about countries getting together and working for peace and cooperating for their mutual benefit while looking after their own interests.

The Entire "push to the east" by NATO was/is a needless provocation that hasn't made the USA one bit safer or richer. And if we'd kept our head, and forced Zelensky to negotiate in April 2022, tens of thousands of lives would've been saved and we'd be 160 billion dollars richer. But evidently money and lives are expendable because Biden and his gang want to "kill Russkees".

rcocean said...

I was extremely impressed by Putin's intelligence, Knowledge and ability to talk. You don't have to like him to see he's a man of great ability. Or at least light-years ahead of Clinton, bush, biden, etc.

The interview went well. Putin was talking to three audiences: Biden/NATO leaders, people worldwide, and the Russian people. I thought he would talk in more detail about the suffering of the Russian minority in the Donbas and Zelensky's refusal to negotiate, but he seems to think that is unneccessary.

His comments on the American leaders was refreshingly adult. Its not a childish game of "Liking or disliking people". Its about countries getting together and working for peace and cooperating for their mutual benefit while looking after their own interests.

The Entire "push to the east" by NATO was/is a needless provocation that hasn't made the USA one bit safer or richer. And if we'd kept our head, and forced Zelensky to negotiate in April 2022, tens of thousands of lives would've been saved and we'd be 160 billion dollars richer. But evidently money and lives are expendable because Biden and his gang want to "kill Russkees".

rcocean said...

As for Tucker, he's not a great interviewer, but he seems to only journalist in America. Everyone else in the MSM is just a propagandist who wants us to hate Putin and worship Zelensky.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

I remember Putin laughing in Bush's face when he told W on camera at some athletic event, Olympics?, that Russia had just invaded Georgia. Laughing in Bush's face...

Narayanan said...

If the idea of domination at any cost based also on forceful actions dominates the American society ...
=======
Putin did not mention Obama!?

Dave Begley said...

Of all the crazy thoughts of the Dems (and there's plenty of them), the idea that Trump and Carlson are Putin stooges is the craziest. As the Dems like to say, there's no evidence of that.

tim in vermont said...

Here is a Ukrainian MP saying the same thing that Putin said about how the peace talks were scuttled by the US and the UK, inflicting this war on the world. Boris Johnson, who did the wet work on the peace treaty, says that it's treason to watch Putin call him out for it. Maybe it's not treason to watch a Ukrainian member of parliament say the same thing, so here you go.

https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1756269325416087942

Quaestor said...

Howard writes, "Plausible deniability lost it's [sic] cloaking capability once the Zapruder film was broadcast."

Oh, sweet Lord Jesus, in addition to his other paranoid fantasies, Howard reveals himself as one of those "back and to the left" Grassy Knoll loons. If you're building a Weltanschauung based on willful ignorance, one might as well include gunshot physics, eh Howard?

Joe Smith said...

Unlike our politicians, who are mostly low-IQ grifters, Putin is very bright and incredibly strategic.

You don't rise through the ranks of the KGB by being a fool.

He actually won the real-life Game of Thrones.

Trump successfully built massive real estate projects in the most competitive place on the planet and all over the world. He's not all things to all people, but he is also not a fool.

On the other hand, Joe likes pudding.

Michael K said...

Blogger Howard said...

Plausible deniability lost it's cloaking capability once the Zapruder film was broadcast. This entire interview was a campaign event for Donald Trump because it involves his two biggest supporters.


Howard it's time for you to start on some sort of anxiety drug. You are getting loonier even than Cook.

Howard said...

Q: So your point is that the release of the Zapruder film resulted in greater trust in government bullshit stories, not less? I didn't say anything about who killed Kennedy. Maybe if you didn't focus on your superior secretarial skilz, you wouldn't have to bulldoze little straw Barbie Dolls you invent to impress your posse.

Dr Weevil said...

Hahaha! 'tim in vermont' links to an 8-second clip on Twitter, and claims that a 'peace deal' was scuttled by Boris Johnson. If you're wondering about what was said before or after those 8 seconds, you're out of luck.

Also, was it an actual peace deal, or just a possible temporary cease-fire that was discussed but not agreed on? Because the Russians have more than once agreed to a cease-fire (in Chechnya and in their first invasion of Ukraine), used it to rearm, and then broken it to slaughter their opponents. Has Putin ever honored any agreement (treaty or cease-fire) he's signed? Even once?

The Godfather said...

Do you remember "the Fulda Gap"? That was where NATO feared that a Soviet attack on western Europe would break through (it's in Germany, if you want to look it up). We (the US and free western Europe) weren't confident that we could stop a Soviet attack. Now we know that a country with a third-rate military and aid from NATO can stop a Russian attack. We have learned that Russia isn't the Soviet Union. That's a BIG FORKING DEAL!

So let's make peace now. On terms that no one can misinterpret as being a Russian victory.

Smerdyakov said...

Your observations, once again, remind me why I look forward to reading your posts.

Oligonicella said...

Michael K:
You are getting loonier even than Cook.

Not the historic fabricator he reminded me of.

Candide said...

Apparently, it wasn’t Molotov Ribbentrop Pact. It was Molotov Ribbon Shop Pact. Thanks, AI translator!

Drago said...

Weevil: "Hahaha! 'tim in vermont' links to an 8-second clip on Twitter, and claims that a 'peace deal' was scuttled by Boris Johnson. If you're wondering about what was said before or after those 8 seconds, you're out of luck."

Gerhard Schroder of Germany and Naftali Bennett of Israel have also stated publicly a peace deal was at hand and was scuttled by the US, in this case with Boris as the bearer of scuttling news.

It doesnt make much sense to die on this rhetorical hill.

stlcdr said...

Trump knows how to play people at the top.

When these elites are playing footsie, the rest of us in the world can get on with our lives. Contrary to popular (sic) belief, this results in less hostilities between countries.

Narr said...

Gerhard Schroder and Naftali Bennett. Seriously?

I don't pretend to know the truth of the matter, but why take those clowns' word about anything?

Drago said...

Narr: "9I don't pretend to know the truth of the matter, but why take those clowns' word about anything?"

And the goalposts move again.

The assertion was it was just some lowly Ukrainian type or whatever making the claim. Its not.

Not that it changes the decisions before us today.

Narr said...

I'm not moving goalposts, Drago, I'm not even trying to be on a team. I'm just expressing a reasonable skepticism about the truth value of statements from Schroder and Bennett.

You are entirely correct about our choices remaining the same. Irregardless, as we say around here.

Drago said...

Narr: "You are entirely correct about our choices remaining the same. Irregardless, as we say around here."

Your skepticism regarding claims made by all these cats is perfectly acceptable. There are always competing and self-serving agendas in play.

We are on the same page per todays predicament.