Russian election is Putin's power play

[toki1221]

Russia is still controlled by the commi party. It's boring everybody knows who wins before an election. It's a proof of communism.

[WifeOfAGayHusband]

Russia is not communist, Putin is the farthest thing from it. I think you mean Facist.

[WifeOfAGayHusband]

Excuse me, Fascist**

[dushenko]

All you Putin haters are a bunch of brainwashed Republican nutjobs...good luck fixing your own countries...and keep your dirty noses out of ours.

[CTAKAHH]

непонял, кто разрешил русским интернетом пользоваться??

[zamerzz]

Guys, watch TV less. Your television shows you only shit about surrounding world and particularly about Russia. It's going on for make you blind. You don't see your own problems! By the way America is in shit too.

[Bosazoku]

and declared that "What Nikita Khrushchev tried to do with nuclear weapons during the Cold War almost half a century ago, Vladimir Putin is doing with oil and gas today."

[Bosazoku]

Robert Amsterdam, an attorney for jailed Yukos executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has republished excerpts from Prof. Economides' article in The Energy Tribune on his blog. Mr. Amsterdam cites the report as further evidence that Russia cannot be trusted as a reliable supplier of energy to the world. Prof. Economides apparently shares this view. In a September 2006 Energy Tribune article, he condemned Russian foreign policy in recent years as "energy imperialism"

[Bosazoku]

Robert Amsterdam, an attorney for jailed Yukos executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has republished excerpts from Prof. Economides' article in The Energy Tribune on his blog. Mr. Amsterdam cites the report as further evidence that Russia cannot be trusted as a reliable supplier of energy to the world. Prof. Economides apparently shares this view. In a September 2006 Energy Tribune article, he condemned Russian foreign policy in recent years as "energy imperialism"

[Bosazoku]

On Tuesday February 13, University of Houston Professor Michael J. Economides released a report claiming that Russia faces a huge shortfall between natural gas supply and demand in the next three years. Prof. Economides certainly timed the release of his report well, as hundreds of the world's most influential energy executives (including Gazprom Deputy Chairman Alexander Medvedev) are in Houston this week for the annual Cambridge Energy Research Associates conference.

[Bosazoku]

That was well said. Being to young to goto University yet, I can only hope your correct. But how will Russia create the transparency to give entree to international markets ie: NYSE. some people on here (shoorik1987) talk tough but when you call them out on their bs, they cry foul, ask you to stop bothering them and basically run away. Thats the same kind of attitude that holds Russia back. Stability is in the infrastructure a population builds through progress. Democracy the guiding principle.

[lukyanovka]

Democracy,democracy thats all that I hear people say when it comes to duscussing russia,did it not occur to anyone that prior to having democracy you must have stability and democracy can only occur when the former has been achieved!

The stark truth about putin is that under him russia has achieved both economic and political stability their debts to the paris clubhave been payed off,and they are one the worlds fastest growing economies-I think the west could do with a leader of such sorts!!!

[Bosazoku]

Soft eggs. Look this is our world. That is that. Things might change but not in this lifetime. You want freedom ex: Iraq, bad choice, bad war. Bush is an idiot. I didn't vote for him. He will be gone soon. But our elections might as well be an exact science next to yours. Fact is I can call Bush a dumb ass to his face. Liberty. Even if I don't agree with what you say and vice versa, I would give my life to defend your right to your opinion. Your free to disagree. You won't tread on me. Feel me

[Bosazoku]

oi shoorik1987, this is pure corruption and cleptocracy as only Ruskies can do it. You let the gangsters take your wealth, you sold out your own people, you feed propaganda to your masses. Sure AMERICA has a lot of problems. But this is still a land of the free. No one, no body is scrambling to get into Russia except to steal and take something out. You betrayed your own Tsar's, let communism spread, infect and poison you society, you have the lowest life span, most aids, should I keep going?

[Bosazoku]

Well done reds, you showed the world that collective corruption of a nation is possible, people can have nothing and own all the nothing they want. putin "i say he is new presidensky, now you vote or die" reds "putin give greatsky choice for presidensky" give please paper for toilet now, spesiba

[shoorik1987]

jesus christ, can one be more retarded?

[lipriimo]

my family voted for bush, but 8 years later hes deffinetly screwed our middle class family, everything is too expensive from food to gas to heat! our economy is destroyed and weve done nothing to fix the world which is slowly falling into crisis. Were going to have a new president , mr obama, who will apologize to russia for our disgusting performance. i hope its not to late to fix relations

[juserneimm]

what is controversial is that today lot of people fight against elections and police beat people...you are against america but why you eat mcdonalds, why you imigrate USA, EU...go back home...

[juserneimm]

it is nice to see that russian people can live out their anguish here...too bad they cant speak to local press

[geobrklyn]

juserneimm ohhh that was good!!! :) nice reply,i also want to say that i am happy for estonia and i am happy to see our estonian brothers and sisters making progress and moving towards west,i hope we(georgia)can join you 1 day

[dominican1000]

i think the ones that are being brainwashed is you people, the elections in Russia are more fair and less corrupted than the election of 2008 in the U.S i bet you

[unnamed00]

You are very dumb.

US elections are not what they are said to be, but:

US elections >>>>>>>>>>>> Russian "elections"

[RiseUpToYourPotentia]

unnamed00 YOU are very dumb. If an election is rigged, does it matter by how much it is rigged? Rigged is rigged am I right? USA doesn't just have a problem with the fact that candidates need to be very wealthy to stand a chance, and be loved by the media (or face Ron Paul's story.. completely shunned), but the very electronic voting machines make rigging the election easier and more common than ever. There are thousands of documentation cases, but the people are too dumbed down to care. watch

[unnamed00]

Don't like to defend the US, but it is funny how you think the Russian "elections" could be more democratic. The problem with the voting machines in the US were mostly that they were hard to use for some and had software bugs. Any violations in US elections cannot even begin to compare to the ones done in Russia. There are tens of thousands of documented cases of ballot stuffing, people voting multiple times, people being forced to vote, station officials changing results, etc.

[unnamed00]

The Russian central election committee, which is ran by Putin's zombie friend and ass kisser, just refuses to investigate.

And in Russia you not only have to be rich and loved by the media to have a chance, but also loved and picked by the current president...

[RiseUpToYourPotentia]

you're just going to ignore what I said? if thats how you want it

a) There are equally thousands of cases of rigged elections THROUGHOUT America's history, and I'm just talking about Presidential ballots. in America dead people vote, prisoners vote, republican nut jobs vote 5 times in a day.

b) russia is about 15 years old, democracy will prevail but give it some fucking time. 300 years later what about you? what is happening in the elections right now WASN'T NECESSARY FOR MEDVEDEV TO WIN

[RiseUpToYourPotentia]

What part of this don't you understand? Putin isn't a perfect person, so he wasn't a perfect president. But after a few complete asses, Russia got what it needed, a workaholic that brought some fucking progress and stability to the nation. If it took on some literalistic leader without an iron grip on power.. guess what would happen.. Russia Mafia would rise again and take over EVERYTHING. Life back to miserable 1990s. If you didn't live thru the 90s, don't talk shit you internet democrat..

[unnamed00]

Putin a workaholic? Just because he told reporters that he was a slave of the people does not make it true.

What progress and stability? There is only progress and stability relative to the 90's, and this is only due to the prices of oil and gas...

I would have been happy if there was some real progress and stability. I am not a democrat idiot, but with an "iron-grip" ruler Russia is still close to a 3rd world country. It is the 67th best place to live, real impressive for a country so rich.

[RiseUpToYourPotentia]

What part of this don't you understand? Putin isn't a perfect person, so he wasn't a perfect president. But after a few complete asses, Russia got what it needed, a workaholic that brought some fucking progress and stability to the nation. If it took on some literalistic leader without an iron grip on power.. guess what would happen.. Russia Mafia would rise again and take over EVERYTHING. Life back to miserable 1990s. If you didn't live thru the 90s, don't talk shit you internet democrat..

[unnamed00]

Yes there were seriously rigged elections in the US, like 2 centuries ago...

Ok let's wait 300 years for the situation to improve in Russia.

And Medvedev would not have won without the mass falsifications and control of the media.

[RiseUpToYourPotentia]

i'm guessing your iq is of borderline retardation so please do us all a favor and stop typing shit

[unnamed00]

Well considering that you are easily fooled by propaganda, you are the one who is more likely to be retarded and to be typing shit.

[TacereM]

"and I'm just talking about Presidential ballots."

Where, when, and who?

"russia is about 15 years old"

Russia is a lot older than that. The "DEMOCRATIC" Russia is only 15. And by the way, I believe that's the first time in it's history.

[geobrklyn]

all russians are brain washed by state media,it a joke,i speak russian as a second language and when i watch thair tv,i just say..what the f@ck...most russians must be stupid to belive this

[PanArt757]

After all people must realise, it's just under a two decade that post Soviet Republics ventured in to democracy.

What is two decades it terms of human history? Give them a time for god sake!

[PanArt757]

I remember when west turn openly aggressive towards Putin. After UCOS case. When UCOS boos wanted to sell oil resources to Americans and deal didn't went through Yank's got really pissed off.

I'm sure Yanks and Brits would like to see Russia like Nigeria.

That is to have a "democratic" puppet government actively surrendering oil resources .

[PanArt757]

I support Putin and Medvedev. Wat Russia needs first of all is stability and sustained economic growth.I belief that combination of young democracy and widespread poverty tend to produce kind of people that we seen in times of Eltsin, bustards that were busy selling out country and become rich just overnight. West was happy having such Russia, and few of them gave a s...t about majority desperately poor Russians. First stability+economy+national unity, and than democracy.

[lrlbox21]

Putin, the corrupt murderer.

He is all about absolute power.

You can not trust Russia anymore.

Iran is there ally.

[zagross16]

Who has Putin Murdered? Now look at How many people bush has killed with his ILLIGAL war on Iraq?

Absolite Power? You wanna talk about Bush and the extention of the Executive Branch? Illigal Wire Taps, Bush giving himself a pardon/loop hole so he cant be put on trial for war crimes...that is absolute power.

You ant trust Russian because they cant trust America!

Good...Iran and Russia, what is wrong with that? i look forward to your stupid reply.

[geobrklyn]

i am not american but i'll tell you differnce bet US  and russia,just look at the elections in russia,it's a freak show not election,you have choice between comi,nazi,dictator and some guy called bugdanow,#2don't get me statred about war crimes in chechnya and war in afghanistan and please don't tell me those were differnt times because as far as know same peolpe are in charge now as thay were before,your country will never be like US,people here are nice and warm,not like russia......NAZIS

[zagross16]

I am not saying they are better than America, i am neither American or Russian.

You talk about the candidates on the Russian side, have you taken a look at the American Candidates? They are all the same shit, just different sex, color, and party...

Your last comment about people in USA being warm and nice just shows how brainwashed you are the the BS you see on TV about russians all being evil...go watch some more movies.

[dominican1000]

Russia is not what you think people, you are all being brainwashed by Cnn, Fox news and crap. ok RealNews, how about making a video news about the true Russia, instead of making Russia look bad.. if not that proves this channel is just pure Ameerican propaganda, brainWashin the people.. like always :b

[unnamed00]

And you are being brainwashed by channel 1 news (and other state run channels)...

[geobrklyn]

i know what the differnce is between russian media and american,i have both channals and speak both languages

[unnamed00]

And so do I...

[geobrklyn]

dominican1000 you've got to stop kissing russian ass and need to open your eyes,it's for your own good,just put "russian skinheads"in search engine and you'll see what thay do to people(your skin color)like you in russia

[PanArt757]

Georgians are also not suspected in loving there ethnic minorities;-)

[geobrklyn]

who brain washed you? russian media??

[PanArt757]

No, I was born and lived there. So I can tell something about it.

By the way I don't defend Russian nationalism it can be very cruel, but what I meant to say you got such a s..t in Georgia in plenty so don't pretend to be angels.

Remember what Christ say "Let the one who is sinless throw the stone"

[myRonPaul]

To The People that Call themselves "The Real News"

If you were a Real News channel you would not be so copy like to pretty much all the major corporate media in US in promoting this ever-repeating narrative of one sided, aways negative coverage of Russia.

[nexus2xl]

Putin has done so much for Russian economy.

Russia is unstable and easily corruptible, to have a new leader every few years would be a nightmare.

Russia needs solidarity and stability.

[SparklestheClown]

President Bush got this right yesterday when he was asked about this election. It does not matter what Russia does, unfortunately, we have to keep up relations for the bigger picture. It is a shame if they do not have truly democratic elections, but I would not be surprised. Another reason to understand why our administration has to do the things it has to do. Because there is so much more than we realize going on worldwide.

[TurnerDiaries]

Putin had restored Russia's pride and superpower potential, he has also restored Russian dominion within it's own territory- quelling insurgencies within Chechnya, Dagestan, ingushetia (etc). Putin has also helped to rehabilitate Russia spiritually after years of dirty Red Atheism. He's a real statesman; unlike the stickman excuses for leaders which we have in the Western world.

[lrlbox21]

and then the Soviet Union was gone....lol

Regan was the BEST

[Bigbird5553]

Haha ya it was ALLL Reagan he took them down. It was a multi president effort, the 4 previous presidents efforts at least. Reagan was there to take all the credit and see the climax. If any of you reagan lovers can admire something besides "he won the cold war"(which simply is exaggeration) . Because it's just republicans making mountains out of molehills again. Go ahead and make fun of dems as a reply. lol I'm not one.

[lrlbox21]

You have absolutely no knowledge of history.

You should be ashamed.

[lrlbox21]

nobodys being elected. the murderer Putin has picked his boy.

[abatareika]

The murderer is Bush with his wars. Don't forget it, naci.

[zagross16]

WHAT? Putin hasent started a war killing MANY THOUSANDS...fucking stupid Americans, you wont get it until America is a shit hole and Russia/China/India owns your asses since your neck high in Debt and your country is Bankrupt. Maybe then you will start to actually give a shit...stop watching American Idol you fucks!

[coochieXeater]

living in the u.s. i only hope russia elects a leader who opens BETTER relations with the united states. same goes for america we need a leader who better openly allies themselves with other nations like russia, im not much of a putin fan or a bush fan...

[sunnytoppil]

Obama has pledged his allegience to Africa and is pro U.N. involvement in all U.s. interests. the u.n. has asked Bush to pay a tax to the U.N. but he denied them ! Obama is a true socialist and I know He will bring a new world order.

[gosciu555]

shit what are you talking about

[evilskin]

eh.. i dont get it. are you pro obama or pro bush or pro "idontknowwhatthefuckimtalking­about" i dont get it. =/

[seivren]

Thank you RealNews.

And in reference to all the confusing dissent in these comments. Russia is a vast country with very different peoples within it.

[victorlablanc]

type in the search bar ( most evil man ever to walk the earth )

[37361811]

Putin is a Thug. There is a lot of Russians that live here in the United States and alot of them say that he is still part of the KGB!

[gosciu555]

he's not a thug and russians like him a lot. in many ways he's better than than what we have in the states

[Almrow]

but dmitry will be like the video said..putin's puppet =S

[broadcastpolice]

I'm Russian and this is bullcrap. Putin is the best president Russia has ever seen. Under Putin Russia paid more than $200B debt and the GDP grew from about $250B to more than $1,4 trillion. Now you tell me if he is a bad president... so what if he is former KGB?

[cortezawwris]

Most westerners are too foolish to think for them selfs and believe everything there fed while not actually taking time to research the truth. With all those nations committing genocide( Turkey,Israel,Albania) and terroist they support

[DmitriRus]

Hm, and what is wrong with serving in special services??

[cortezawwris]

I Did not vote for PresidentPutin since I'm a Monarchist. But I respect, admire and love him for all he done. While the west blindly Critizes him becuase we stood up and not allow western corporations steal are oil. President Putin just made media speech for 4 hours few weeks ago speaking thousands of reporters from around world answering any question. While Your President Bush barely speak half hour and all his questions are aways scripted and nothing about corruption anything important.

[voinvarvar]

Putin he is head of Russian mafia.

[cortezawwris]

Your an ignorant fool President Putin is good honorable man who I love dearly. He was at my fiance parents funeral becuase they died from terroist attack. My god american are so blind and Ignorant maybe think instead being fed Propaganda. Your media shows nothing but lies about Russia .

[broadcastpolice]

Agreed!

[cousinNACHO]

only one candidate in the ballot, only one plan? shame on Russia, in the United States we have 2 candidates who follow one plan.

[anyandeverything]

lmao - exACTly

[cortezawwris]

Retarded american there many different parties on the ballot. Unlike your nation when only choose between one rich Upper class corporation serving man.

[macflyfilm]

This is an interesting news channel, actually seems legitimate. What I mean by that, is it seems truthful, which is not just uncommon but nonexistent these days. Especially in America.

[myRonPaul]

propaganda in the guise of 'real news'

one sides, slanted, not representative of reality. pay attention whom they choose interview for their videos

[WhyNotTruth]

Wow russians are as stupid as we are!!

[RationalLiberty]

russians overhwelmingly support putin and know that medvedev is his puppet. They want this.

[macflyfilm]

I'll assume you are American, you never said you were. I suppose that proves your point.

[WhyNotTruth]

Wow... I am a stupid American and I just realized it... BANG!!!... Thud... (sound of gunshot and lifeless head hitting keyboard)

[macflyfilm]

LOL ;)

[oldhacks]

Putin having his opponent arrested is a lot like how MSNBC censored Mike Gravel right when his polling numbers started to rise. Al Gore's TV station made a cartoon making him out to be a cranky senile old man, SNL did a skit with him in a straight jacket.Keith Olbermann lied on air during the New Hampshire votes and said Mike dropped out.CNN's gay poster boy Anderson Cooper goes on conan and Lampoons him. at some point the public has to start wondering why they're working so hard to demonize him

[zagross16]

Fuck, America worry about your god damn elections first...you got a fucking neocon "staying-at-war-for-100-year-i­s-ok" candidate and Hillary or Obama in the other side...I think your election system is more fucked that Russias, atleast the Russian president is going to do whats best for HIS people not the big business or interest groups.

[oldhacks]

Hillary said she'll stay in Iraq as long as it takes to secure the oil too. America doesn't have elections anymore. We just anoint whoever gets the most support from the lobbying district. Americans don't think there's any thing we can do. They'd send money to Ralph Nader and Mike Gravel but they know our elections aren't fair so they just lie down for whoever wants to be president.

[oldhacks]

pretty obvious that America isn't any better at all.

/watch?v=13KxS9JV0Hg

[oldhacks]

Putin..Hillary..What's the difference?

[livinginlux]

And yet, Putin and his government enjoy much higher approval ratings among the Russian people than almost any other government in the world today.

They must be doing something right.

[TiCLer]

Exactly. I am not sure what they imply when they say the poll says his endorsed candidate is leading. Does that mean the polls are doctored? I have to say I am not very informed about Russian politics but I am kind of confused after watching this.

[patsagainstrats]

That's because most people in Russia have little access anything beyond their own state-run media.

[da0217]

What about the drastic, real life economic and social improvements as indicators? Those who decide on issues based on what they see on tv whether state run or privately owned(which have their own agendas, for Christ's sake American non-state owned media sold you the Iraq war!!!) is a fool. Don't spew you standard American "state run media is bad" propaganda, which your week mind has been subjected to for all your life, as fact.

[redheadfo847]

yipee