I'm at work listening to a podcast of the 60 minutes interview with Vladimir Putin and I must admit, despite all the stuff that is wrong with that country and it's leadership I feel a little tinge of jealousy. At least, despite all his faults, they have a leader that is smart and has some balls...

And we haven't been able to say that about our country in quite a while.

any time you (myself included), as an American, agree with what the Russian leader says above your own president you KNOW that our country is in a mess.
that being said, do not trust ol Vlad for one second. he wants to rule the world just like obama does.

Interesting today watching him bomb targets of the Syrian rebels who hate Assad while saying they're going after ISIS, and the US says ISIS isn't anywhere around the targeted areas.

Putin is just helping his pal Assad and giving the big finger to Obama again.

I watched it Sunday night. Putin believes Obama and the United States are the laughing stock of the world and(even as a proud American)it is hard to disagree. He acts as if it would be a waste of his valuable time to "worry" about what Obama and America have going on because we are crumbling on our own.

Vlad's plan is simple. Help Assad take back Syria from the rebels and ISIS. Then after the dust settles he has a port city right on the Mediterranean, Assad in his ass-pocket, and we won't be able to say anything about it because he put an end to ISIS and ended the refugee crisis in Europe.
Vlad will have the job done before election day...bank on it.

Yep, I'd say you're exactly right. Vlad will get what he wants and play rough to get it.

I'm betting he's going in the oil business in a BIG way. Be easy when he controls the middle east.

Agree 100%

Putin has played Obama for a fool at every turn every chance he gas gotten and Obama is to Naive or stupid to know or see it coming everytime!

I want to clarify for those who perhaps misread my original statement: I don't agree with or condone Putin or his actions, however, I did say he is a smart man. Much smarter than our recent past presidents.

I will go on to say that I think a lot of other countries look at our foreign policy and see that we think we can pretty much go into any country and do anything we want and leave those countries devastated in our wake. [I could make a list of all the countries we have royally screwed up, but I don't have time.] However, the way I'm sure the Russians see it, as soon as they try to take similar types of actions, we as American get all indignant and say, "How dare you!"

Does anyone else ever try to see things that America does from the other side? I mean seriously... I'm a former Marine and I love this country, but how long did we spend in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the end what have we really accomplished? We went in there ostensibly to eliminate terrorism and what we have now is a group that makes al qaeda look like a boys choir...

Name me one place, other than Europe and Japan in WWII, that we have made better with our foreign intervention, yet we get all freaked out when Russia wants to step in and do anything. I'm not saying what they are doing is going to be good, but what gives us the moral high ground to say a damn thing? At least Putin is smart enough to realize that once you take out a strong man dictator in a mid-east country the place falls into chaos and the radicals are quick to step in and try to fill the power vacuum. Our leaders still haven't figured that out! Morons!

Obama is the nerd at the varsity lunch table.

I listened to the interview again and he didn't say any of that. They tried to bait him into saying stuff like that, but he was too smart to do that. Again... Not defending him, but he simply didn't say any of those things in the interview.

Here's a link:

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/president-putin-part-one/

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Why do you think that is? That was the last time we went in to a war with the intent of winning. All these other "conflicts" we've entered into we do so without unleashing the full force and might of the U.S. Military. We don't want to be seen as mean or a bully. We tie the hands of our service men and women with neutered rules of engagement and no plan of how to get out. This is why it takes twice as long and nothing gets accomplished. And our enemies know we can't stomach a real war. I hate war and think it should be avoided at all costs, but when you've done all you can to avoid it and can't then you go in with teeth bared and ears pinned back. Peace only follows all out victory. And if you look at some of our best allies today, they're the countries we anhilated in war.

He's the real JV player.

Big ears is Putins biatch

I tend to agree

At the rate we're going if I were the Brits I'd tag along with Ivan...I imagine the Turks will be BFFs also soon...

Obamas love affair with Iran and its Nuke program is beyond 'friendly'...

It has been said that the military should be like a vicious dog in a cage sitting beside the diplomat. Once the diplomat has exhausted all means possible to resolve an issue to no avail, he simply unleashes the dog from the cage and turns him loose.

We don't do that. We let the dog loose with a leash and let him bite the heels of our adversaries...

Can I ask an even more basic question? Why the heck are we even concerned with what goes on in Syria?

OIL! Having Assad in your pocket will get you in good with the other countries. Putin is smart enough to know that with the history of tribal warfare in the middle east, it is right to become controlled by another super power. In fact the only time there is been peace in that region is when it is controlled by an empire (Persians, Romans, Ottoman Turk, WW I British allies). He wants to be the next to control that region and have the rest of the world depend on him for oil.

Because us and Europe are taking in millions of refugees from there. Had our screwed up foreign policy not hosed everything up, maybe they would still be living there instead.

When Mohammar Qaddafi, Saddam Hussein, etc... were all in power we didn't have a Mideast refugee problem and there was no ISIS.