John McCain makes vague threat on Vladimir Putin's life

"I think dictators all over the world, including Bashar al-Assad, maybe even Mr. Putin, maybe some Chinese, maybe all of them, may be a little bit more nervous," McCain said

Wait, seriously? Did you just insinuate that the leader of a nuclear state should be nervous that NATO will do the same to him as it did to Qaddafi?

This man could have been President. facepalm

Lol, wut?

He's probably (hopefully?) talking about the whole Arab Spring and OWS and whatnot and how populist movements could be deposing quite a few dictators, if we're lucky. Given what's going on in Syria, it isn't exactly out of the blue to make that connection.

It's patently absurd for him to include Putin, though, since he's insanely popular, as I understand it, but maybe it's wishful thinking on McCain's part since oo, evil Russians, can't trust them!

~eyeroll~

Man, Putin could judo-chop the shit outta Mc Cain in his sleep.

Even if some view Putin as evil, the man has insane popularity. For good reason, he's like a Russian Teddy Roosevelt.

edited 22nd Oct '11 6:32:00 PM by MarkVonLewis

@OP: Yeah, that's somewhat irresponsible of him to say.

I approve of Mc Cain's statement while acknowledging that it's largely bluster. An overthrow of the Chinese government in a few years is unlikely but conceivable, but Russia will probably be the last country in the world to become a democracy.

Russia is a democracy. An authoritarian and corrupt democracy, but a democracy, no less.

Hell, the article even says, Putin stepped down when his term limit was up. He did take a different, also powerful position, but honestly, I think he'd step down if he was voted out.

His replacement might not be so nice, too. Better the devil you know, right? At least he actively tries to make things better. Russia has had far worse leaders in its time...

USAF@I blame Cold War mentality on John Mc Cain because he grew up during that era plus if you remember he has some very dark memories of being captured in the Vietnam War so I think he still sees Russia as an enemy.

A country where the government controls the media and assassinates its political opponents can't really be called a democracy.

edited 22nd Oct '11 6:43:29 PM by silver2195

Well, joy, that would be par for the course. Not that the Cold War isn't starting up again, unfortunately. It's just a completely different beast this time around, and the Old Guard hasn't gotten its fat collective head out of its fat collective ass yet and realized this.

Assassinations and media control have nothing to do with governmental system. The people of Russia, to my knowledge, get to vote, and the leaders change peacefully in accordance with this.

Nobody ever said that democracy automatically confers moral superiority.

Oh that's an easy question to answer.

No.

Lol, its mostly a joke. But, hes a staunch repbulican, and a Veitnam Vet, who can blame him for his veiw?

And the Russians are like, "We LIKE Putin...."

Well, granted, according to the article, Putin's popularity rating is down from 70% in 2008 to 49% today, but it's better than Obama's 42%, and hell, he's not even President anymore.

Another reason why not to run for president,you get all the power but always be hated by a big amount of the populace.

On topic:Johnny Boy,really should keep his mouth shut more often.

edited 22nd Oct '11 7:25:30 PM by joyflower

When I read that, I liberally applied palm to my face.

Mc Cain, Y U VAGUELY THREATEN ALLIES. I haven't studied enough Russian to survive in a Russian-controlled Alaska! You know that'll be the first thing they do :P

The title of this thread would make a perfect headline in The Onion.

edited 22nd Oct '11 11:08:32 PM by ForlornDreamer

When real news starts consistently sounding stupider than fake news designed to sound stupid, we're in trouble.

Ugh. I just changed my signature, but I really want to quote that.

Hmm, I was recently told in my Comparative Governments class that the Russians practically worship Putin (exaggeration, but you get the picture). It's surprising to see what his approval rating is.

Regardless, Mc Cain is obviously trapped in the Red Scare. Yeah, Russia has so many civil rights violations and internal conflicts, but Mc Cain's position is definitely extreme.

I think the drop in his approval rating is more due to Medvedev also being popular rather than anything Putin might have done to earn any less admiration.

Reason I didn't vote for Mc Cain is this. I could tell that he was like my grandfather - also a Po W, also insane when it comes to anything that reminds him of his experience. Mention the fact that you like sushi, and he would go on a huge racist rant about how the Japanese are just acting nice to catch us with our pants down, and then tell me all about how they would play baseball with live prisoners as the ball. Mc Cain's the same way - he will never, ever let go of the Cold War, period.

But Russia wasn't even involved in Vietnam.

Communists were, though, and at the time Russia and China were still seen as ideological allies. That's why Mc Cain was lumping the Russians in with the Chinese in that statement - to him its still 1965.

No, but their Mi G-21s were, along with a lot of other weaponry supporting the other side. Oh, and that whole Cold War business.

And "advisors".