re: #330 Ming

…while millions of Eastern Europeans understand these intentions quite well.

Living as I do in the Czech Republic, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my almost 13 years here is that the Russians are almost universally despised by the Czechs. For them, the Russians are “gangsters” “thieves” “tyrants” “occupiers” “dogs” and other assorted epithets.

The Czechs certainly don’t buy Putin’s “religiosity”, seeing it for what it is; a cynical attempt to project a positive image of himself, while using the Russian Orthodox Church - itself an authoritarian institution - as a lever of social control.

There is no love lost on the Russians here, and when I hear Americans saying how “dreamy” Putin is, I laugh mockingly at their stupefying ignorance.