What Putin “really said” on CBS 60 Minutes
I’m an intellectually curious businessman turned author, who like most native born Americans, carries a ton of Cold War baggage, which has been shaped by the media, by politicians, by Hollywood and our television shows. Did you know almost 35% of tinsel town’s best selling movies of all time feature a Russian as a villain. And, recently, the head of a major TV network called “Russian villains a boom for TV ratings.”
Since I started life as a newspaper reporter out of school, I’ve learned there are two sides to every story. That curiosity led me to write two-critically acclaimed books about Russia, it’s heroes, and a way of life shaped by history, among my first eight books. Because of those efforts, I’ve had the opportunity to present my views at a range of venues including Cultural Centers, Museums, Embassies in Washington and Moscow, the United Nations Book Club, Voice of America, and on Russian TV and Radio.
So while I don’t KNOW how Russians think and feel in the deepest sense, I do understand more than most Americans. To paraphrase Alexander Pope, “A Little learning CAN be a dangerous thing!”
If you’re still reading, you may be interested in what Vladimir Putin actually said during his recent 60 Minutes TV show interview on CBS. Many of the comments come from the 40 minutes of video that CBS choose not to air…ostensibly because of time restraints.
I make no value judgment, I just give you Vladimir Putin, unedited, unvarnished.
- You can’t trust the media.
- You can’t trust politicians.
- America actively supported a coup of convenience in Ukraine.
- America criticizes Russia’s lack of respect for Ukrainian sovereignty as it bombs Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Libya.
- We have no interest in conquering the world. That’s just silly.
- We have nuclear weapons and a powerful military just like America, for the same reason America has such…don’t mess with us!
- We have a terrorism problem, just like America. But we are going to do what it takes to minimize killings in our Homeland.
- Everybody in America knows about the Boston tragedy. Almost none in America’s knows of the hundreds killed in our metro by the terrorists.
- America is a very creative country that always finds a solution to its problems.
- Democracy does not happen over night. Each country evolves in a form that suits its history, and it takes time. You are still wrestling with gun sales and bigotry.
- We are wrestling with our posture towards the gay community, how to make our country more investment friendly, how to better explain ourselves to a world that misunderstands us.
DATE: Dec.03.2015 | CATEGORY: Archived