Stephen Cohen makes some very good points, like the fact that Russia has become less corrupt, journalists and dissidents are less likely to be murdered, his elections are fairer, etc.

Of course, better and more democratic than Yeltsin is not a tough act to follow.

Yeltsin and his cronies looted the country, splitting the proceeds with western banksters, murdered journalists as a fairly brisk clip, impoverished the nation, literally prostituting many of its citizens, and shelled the parliament when they did not do his bidding.

What he misses though is why the west hates Putin so much. It all comes down to the, “Splitting the proceeds with the western banksters,” bit.

One of the rules of the modern neocolonial finance regime is that finance’s masters of the world get to steal other people’s stuff, and those people never get it back.