01-23-2017, 12:02 PM
(01-23-2017, 11:18 AM)Warren Dew Wrote:(01-23-2017, 01:01 AM)taramarie Wrote: Put the interest of ALL of his nation or just certain people that he approves of? Can you sit and tell me honestly that he puts the interests of all of his people first? I could say the same towards Trump and his clan too.
For me personally I could not sit there and say he was a good guy for various reasons and it is CERTAINLY not because he supposedly puts his own first.
Putin puts the interests of his nation as a collective first. In foreign policy, he works to increase Russia's power and influence beyond its borders. This has little to do with his repressive domestic policies.
Obama puts the interests of his nation as a collective first. In foreign policy, he works to protect America's power and influence beyond its borders. He needs no repressive domestic policies. (At that I consider Obama a stronger leader. Just contrast Churchill to Hitler -- Churchill did not find anyone under his rule who needed to be 'rubbed out' to enhance his power. Hitler had many real and imagined enemies to murder).
Quote:I don't see Putin as a good guy either; I don't like to sacrifice individual liberty for the collective, and in fact I generally dislike viewing people as collectives. I'm explaining the point of view you asked about; that doesn't mean I agree with it.
I see Donald Trump as neither good, strong, or effective. One can be effective at getting a simple thing done by giving simple orders in a bossy manner. For something more complex, like securing reforms of the economic order one needs persuasion. Donald Trump can order politicians, academics, media, and government bureaucrats as a hotel manager can order housekeepers and front-desk clerks about, but it will not work.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.