Nothing Putin does in the media is “spontaneous.” His whole image in front of the Russian people is created to make him look strong.
Sounds like nearly every US President including Obama.
Those tigers he hunted? He shot it in a cage
Did you not notice the way Dick Cheney “hunted” his birds?
Now , I don’t have any illusions that our political leaders in the US aren’t doing some of the same press style games…
Good…
the only reason Ed Snowden gets through is to ask a question he was either told to ask, or Putin expected him to ask
You shouldn’t speak conjecture with such absolute certainty. Even tricky questions slip through to Obama on occasion and no true free press organization ever gets near him.
And if it went in a direction Putin didn’t like, well… even LIVE shows aren’t really “live.” There would be some “connection issues.” And then Mr. Putin would say “What I think you’re asking me is…”
That’s a lot of conjecture and fantasy. The truth of the matter is it was live TV. The question was asked about mass surveillance and Putin answered the question like a typical, full of shit politician.
But like many public questions to politicians, sometimes the questions are more important than the answers. A dialog has been started and we’ve got Snowden to thank for that.
And as far as your other fantasy that Snowden was forced to ask that specific question, it makes little sense. If at some point Snowden decided to expose that down the road, it would be a huge embarrassment for Putin and the Kremlin.
The so-called “reward” wouldn’t justify the risk.
