Sirota: Vladimir Putin is typically portrayed as an authoritarian thug in the American media. Is that the accurate way to view him?
Tolokonnikova: You see him exactly how he wants you to see him, and I think that's a mistake. Because you just don't want to really play his games. This image of being a thug is an interesting thing because if you read Masha Gessen's book about Putin, “The Man Without a Face” it shows you how he constructed this image of being a thug, though he never been really was a thug… He was that person who been beaten on the schoolyard all the time, so he just decided to make his little revenge. So he's literally man without a face when he came to power. He did know a little about politics, but he was bred by oligarchs and appointed just by chance. So he's not as powerful as you think he is. It's important. And don't treat him as a strong man or thug or whatever you want to call him, cause he's really a little insecure person. He's even more anxious than I am, and he's just trying to hide it under hyper-masculine bravado.
So much for "this is the man who controls our destiny". It's never just one person anyway.
Thanks for posting this, JC.
most interesting to me is this exchange
Sirota: Should the world be scared of Putin?
Tolokonnikova: I'm not terrified of him at all. I don't think that you have to be terrified of him. He's just a guy who claims that he has power, but I claim that I have power too and you have power… If you talk here about mainstream liberal media in America, which speak a lot about Putin, I think it's just a trick, which is not easy to see... They don't really want to talk about internal American problems.
Sirota: Do you believe the American political class and media exaggerate the threat of Putin for its own ends?
Tolokonnikova: Yeah. They're just looking for a scapegoat and, you know, for Trump it's Muslims and Mexican workers. And for liberal media in America it is Putin.
Yeah, I think so. And I'm no Trump fan. NOT AT ALL! But I think this fits in with the thread I posted about distractions. America is not facing it's biggest issues very well. Not at all.
I can't help but feeling alittle deja all over again with Putin. maybe it's repeated cry wolf, not sure but it certainly has all the characteristics of making a boogeyman, like Bin Laden, Saddam, Gadaffi. build up the big bad boogeyman, then take him down.
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brianlux
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maybe it's repeated cry wolf, not sure but it certainly has all the characteristics of making a boogeyman, like Bin Laden, Saddam, Gadaffi.
build up the big bad boogeyman, then take him down.
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"