[andreypopp]

> Putin is a man of his word

:-)

[mjolk]

Can you provide proof to otherwise? I'd imagine you've done proper research on the topic of Putin's honesty due to the flippant response.

[Mc_Big_G]

He's a politician.

[andreypopp]

Basically, he's a politician ;-)

[7s]

I'm always amazed how the public opinion of putin ranges from "evil dictator" to "clever politician".

[JamesArgo]

To become an evil dictator, it's often necessary to be a clever politician.

[7s]

I had trouble putting this in words. By "clever politician" I mean people seeing Putin on TV or something and saying, "Ah, thats very clever" or even "Pretty amusing how he dealt with/did x". Media coverage in Central Europe is always very critical towards Putin, and while their stories may be distorted in some respects, I still believe them about many civilian rights beeing violated under his influence.

[1qaz2wsx3edc]

Isn't it the same for every politician?

[rfctr]

Any reasons to believe otherwise?

The only thing I hold against him is his failure, as promised, to hang Georgian president by his balls. Eating necktie is a weak substitute.

[jbooth]

Being president of a large country pretty much guarantees you've had to lie and cheat at least a little bit to get there.

For one random example (not being a huge student of 21st century Russia), he promised Bush that he wasn't arming Saddam's troops. Turned out they were outfitted with a lot of Russian anti-tank and night vision gear when we got there.

[andreypopp]

> For one random example (not being a huge student of 21st century Russia), he promised Bush that he wasn't arming Saddam's troops. Turned out they were outfitted with a lot of Russian anti-tank and night vision gear when we got there.

That doesn't say anything about Russia arming Saddam's troops. I'm sure there are a lot of cases U.S. arming their "allies" and then these weapons in some way became available to terrorists...

I simply don't think it is possible to know and predict how and by whom weapons will be used.

[rfctr]

Proof, please? Soviet-designed doesn't mean Russian. Soviet designs are in manufacturing all over the world, including countries much closer to Iraq.

[jbooth]

http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/01/10/evidenc...

It's a he said, she said, of course.

[ivan_gammel]

That could be done via 3rd party like Ukraine without direct involvement or even awareness of Russian government.

[greenburger]

He's well known to fake publicity stunts, such as:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2045848/Vladimir-Put...

Remember, he comes from the KGB, eventually rising to be the FSB director (the KGB successor).

[andreypopp]

Reason? He's politician.