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Putin Is All of Russia
Trump is all of America — I didn’t believe either of these statements, but now I do
A Russian journalist living in Portugal — he is anti-Putin and slowly becoming anti-Russia — reacted with surprise the other day as we polished off a bottle of vinho Verde (a wonderful Portuguese wine best served cold and white) when I declared, waveringly, albeit: Putin does not represent the mindset of Russia and Russians.
He stared at me and blinked repeatedly. He does not know me well as we only met here and not so long ago. His feelings of being “anti” to everything that is his home culture are much stronger than my own, I learned.
“After two years, you really still think that most Russians aren’t comfortable with Putin’s assessment of the world? You really think they don’t support this war?”
Not expecting such a reaction, I began to weave my way through an answer that even I lost interest in hearing. I stopped and did something I seldom do when speaking to Russians, especially regarding their opinions about the war or Putin. I asked him what he thought.
I was pretty convinced that I knew every angle of their opinions, and I was also ever seeking to give them escape pods in which they could jettison themselves away from the Death Star. Not wanting to hear what…
