Putin makes a point about Assange and American "democracy"

[blackbird]

Putin asks the West why it "hid Assange in prison" - RIA Novosti 101210

[traveler]

Mr. Putin made a very good point.
My father used to tell us, roughly 30 years ago, that the communists were small children compared to their US counterparts. How right he was!

[routefire]

Putin is playing opposition politics. I think he forgot to read the part where WL says its main opponents are regimes like Russia and China.

[Exdefensecontractor]

I agree Mr. Putin does make a very good point. Western democracy Protrays itself very differently from what it really is, and points its finger at china and Russia, and has done so for many years.

[blackbird]

russia and china are corrupt and they don't seem to care. Russia just spend like 60 billion  on military equipment. thats a lot of money that could have been used for improving the economy or something. Im so sick wars and 'leaders' who think they can play with nuclear weapons and start wars on OUR FREKIN PLANET! what the hell is wrong with this society, our so called "guardians" (leaders) are like angry, selfish parents who never updated thier parenting menual.  its time to grow up and quit acting like barbarians. i really really wish global protest would take place. and everybody just quit thier jobs for the government and then they can sit there and whine and think about what they have done wrong. but, will this ever happen? :(

[traveler]

Russia and China don´t pretend to be saints, or the angel bestowing democracy upon the world ... like the US does. At least with these countries things are out in the open you know where you stand. That´s the point Mr.Putin is making.

[Exdefensecontractor]

The united states spends almost half the entire annual world expenditure on defense.

Modification:

43% in 2010 for the united states.
I think the graphs in this post put things into perspective when comparing to china or Russia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

To put it in perspective .... The united states spent ten times what Russia did in 2009.

[Blue]

@ Traveler:

I'm not sure that's accurate statement regarding openness and Russia. Some of the information in this History book would make your toes curl:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitrokhin_Archive

Although more relevant in today's climate would be the book by Misha Glenny 'McMafia':
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misha_Glenny
This one takes a close look at the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union and the uprising and expansion of organized crime and the out of work spys that found work in that arena.

This one by the ex Malaysia adviser to the PM there Matthias Chang is interesting with some accurate references but with some disturbing undertones, and heavy propaganda in parts. I started folding the corners with this one on the pages where there would be something of this nature and the book is a mess now, but it has some interesting charts that show the details of the 14 out of 16 times that the US almost went to the Nuke button. With details as to what was the issue. My copy was blank on a lot of pages, I don't know if this is due to buying it in Kuala Lumpar or not:
http://www.amazon.com/Brainwashed-War-Programmed-Military-Industrial-Media-Propaganda/dp/9676906743