Thanks for posting this. I've seen a few longer interviews with Putin and always felt that he is a real intellectual, a real professor. Not surprising, because when he was once asked to name the foreign politicians that he most enjoyed talking to and developed a pleasant relationship with, he named those exact qualities as the ones he liked in the French politician he named as his favorite. I don't doubt he's far from perfect (I assume it would be impossible to make it to his position as a perfect person in Russia, someone else would have seized the job, so being someone who is perfect but has no chance of actually ever winning isn't all that ideal either), but I also see him as very serious and strategic, and unlikely to do what they're claiming as brazenly as they're claiming it. Not saying the guy is great or not or anything else; I don't know enough to make that claim, but I can only judge based on what I've seen, and that's my impression.

After reading the linked threads on Reddit about the massive protests and apparent poisoning attempt, I definitely felt like I was reading propaganda, intended to manipulate public sentiment. I also watched the 2-hour long palace video, without knowing much about Navalny beforehand. To put it lightly, I immediately began to feel like I couldn't trust this guy, and started to doubt the full details regarding poisoning narrative offered by Navalny - at the very least that it was ordered by Putin. I'm not alone, as the majority of the Russian population doesn't believe the full details of the narrative he offered, based on a poll I read on a site linked on here. I don't doubt it happened - when you attempt to assasinate the charachter of the richest, most powerful people in a country like Russia (he doesn't just attack Putin, but a laundry list of the most powerful in Russia) - it's not surprising that someone would attempt that. And overall it seems like the government is mostly following the law with regard to their treatment of him and his family.

That palace video felt dirty to watch, clearly a character-assassination hit job. Filled with half-truths, willing to use any detail unfairly to paint the narrative they want. What do you expect? This guy's is his political opponent. They're both going to do some dirty stuff. Then again, in fairness, if he feels that person put an attempt on his life, you'd expect that type of irrational, unfair anger. Obviously, I don't expect the average person to even be capable of putting this type of thought into the matter, much less wanting to.

With regard to the protests, I was also skeptical about them and felt that the huge Reddit threads 'supporting the Russian people in their quest for freedom' were thinly veiled propaganda - based on what I read on Unz, my feelings were mostly right. Just as I expected: relatively small crowds of useful idiot college students, degenerates, outcasts, and losers. Kind of like the summer protests over here.

I'm glad you posted this. I thought it would be nearly impossible to get some actual insight into the realities of the situation over there. But your post definitely helped.