dannybananny said:
I just find it amusing how he treats high ranked businessman.
I wonder what would happen if he didn't sign it? Probably he would vanish during the night and that isn't funny, it's beginning of new communist era. ;)
Yeah, that's what many people say about Putin. Also, Medvedev (current Russian president) is an ongoing source of jokes for being a pet and a puppet of Putin, since many Russians are sure that Putin is the one who runs the country while Medvedev only being a ceremonial front.
On the other hand, most of the Russian high ranked businessmen you saw on the video or elsewhere are so called oligarchs. Many of them made their biggest chunk of their money, or even became rich during a period of Soviet Union collapse. And they didn't do it exactly legally. So while Putin and his close allies are ex-KGB (not a particularly open and flexible bunch), they know exactly with whom they are dealing (take Berezovsky and his ties to Israel, for example) and that Russia is in such a mess, bureaucracy and economy wise, that only an iron fist attitude will show those "high ranked businessmen" that they can play their games but only to a specific point. And that there is a price to pay, like being reminded who is the alpha dog. ;)
Simple Russian people, btw, love Putin. It is possible that it is also because of years of iron fist reign of Communistic regime (after all, many Russians genuinely cried when Stalin died), but it is also because they see that Putin doesn't go easy on big shots. It is highly possible that there are more powerful people behind Putin, but if so, he appears to be less of a puppet than other leaders of a "free World". At least, he is more articulate. ;D
Another thing to remember is, that there is a reason for Russia, and Putin specifically, being constantly either blamed or challenged by PTB. We know that there is only one master at the top, and Russia is no doubt part of it, if not one of the biggest parts. But it seems like there are several factions, and in this game they play Russia appear to be the stubborn one.