Anyone have any information on Putin?? What is his history? Where did he come from?? What is he like??  I look at him and I don't know if I trust him.

Benjamin

 He is the Premier or President or something of Russia.
 He comes from Moscow mostly, as that is where they have their Duma/Central Committee/Politburo/Big Meetings.

 Chuck

IIRC his nickname used to be Mad Vlad ... supposedly the next best thing to Stalin [;)]  and yet still a long way off from him.  Don't know if I've got the right guy though.

I can't belive how much people DON'T know about the world around them....

That said here is a brief rundown of him:

Vladimir Putin was President Boris Yeltsin's chosen successor. He spent most of his career working for the KGB, and I belive he was also a spy in Germany.

He became part of Yeltsin's inner circle around '96. By '98 he was head of the Federal Security Service, one of the successors to the KGB. He came into the spotlight when Chechen rebels began attacking in southern Russia, and at an address at the end of '98 he said it was Russias duty to reclaim the honor it lost during the failed attacks in '94-'96. He became quite popular.

However, despite all of that, he was endorsed by many liberals and reformers in Russia. He believes in a market economy, and criticized Russian leaders. During the election he won the support of the Union of Right-Wing Forces, headed up by two liberals.

He was seen as a strong leader, and a person who could bring Russia out of the free-fall they were in. So far, he has been somewhat successful.

He is a very strong believer of cutting Russian military forces. He has closed some bases overseas, and is planning on closing several more.

He has embraced the West, he knows exactly what Russians want: peace, stability, normalcy, a sense of economic progress and the room to rebuild their lives. Putin’s approval ratings are about 75 percent as of October.

Av.

[url]http://www.dallasnews.com/texas_southwest/STORY.ea2e527417.b0.af.0.a4.bf86f.html[/url]

Presidents at home on the range
Informality the order of the day

11/15/2001

By G. ROBERT HILLMAN and CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News

CRAWFORD, Texas – President Bush welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin to his home on the range Wednesday for a couple of days of old-fashioned, face-to-face diplomacy.

And, at the beginning at least, the only discouraging word heard was a clap of thunder from an autumn rainstorm.

As the drops began to fall, the president and first lady Laura Bush greeted Mr. Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, at the ranch helipad and then walked their guests to a white Ford pickup for the short ride to the ranch house for a down-home Texas dinner.

Mr. Bush climbed behind the steering wheel, with Mr. Putin riding shotgun, and the first ladies squeezed in the back seat.

"The president brought the rain, for which we're always grateful in the state of Texas," Mr. Bush said, looking for a silver lining in the clouds. "I'm thrilled he's here. There is no better gift than rain."

Mr. Putin is the first foreign leader to visit the president's 1,600-acre Prairie Chapel Ranch, where all formalities were left at the pickup doors Wednesday.

"I want to show him some of my favorite spots," the president said.

Mr. Bush, wearing bluejeans and boots and carrying an umbrella, welcomed Mr. Putin, who had come casually dressed as well, right down to a silver Western-style belt buckle.

"Texas is not just a Lone Star State," Mr. Putin had said earlier in a speech at Rice University in Houston, but rather a state of "romantic magnetism of which captivates everyone who knows and loves America."

Mr. Putin flew from Houston on a Russian IL-96, the equivalent of a Boeing 747, and arrived at the Texas State Technical College airport near Waco, where more than 200 guests waved miniature American and Russian flags.

Several women sported "Rootin' for Putin" T-shirts.

Ever the politician, the former KGB officer veered off the path to his waiting Marine helicopter to shake a few hands.

The Bushes hosted a small dinner party for the Putins on Wednesday night and planned to take them to Crawford High School on Thursday to speak to students and answer their questions. After lunch, Mr. Putin will head to New York City and the World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

-- continued --

At Wednesday night's dinner, the Ranch Hands, a country-and-Western swing band from Austin, provided the music for a two-step or two.

"I can cut a pretty mean rug," Mr. Bush joked with Texas reporters when he arrived in nearby Waco on Tuesday night, knowing that they knew he was no dancer when was governor.

Only about two dozen others joined the Bushes and Putins for dinner, a mix of the official U.S. and Russian delegations and a few Bush friends.

There was Secretary of State Colin Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov; Commerce Secretary Don Evans; pianist Van Cliburn of Fort Worth and golfer Ben Crenshaw of Austin; Texas Railroad Commissioner Tony Garza; state Sen. David Sibley, R-Waco; and Elton Bomer, the former Texas secretary of state.

Mr. Sibley, for one, said he has never met a foreign head of state and was looking forward to the dinner.

"There seems to be some good chemistry" between the two presidents, he said.

Mr. Bush is most comfortable at his ranch, Mr. Sibley said, describing it as a place "where the black farmland meets the Hill Country."

"Superman had his Fortress of Solitude," Mr. Sibley said, "and I think that's analogous."

Mr. Bush suggested a visit to his ranch when he first met the Russian president five months ago in Slovenia, and Mr. Putin was quick to accept, even surprising Mr. Bush at his eagerness.

The two men met again in Italy and in China and Tuesday at the White House, where they agreed to cut their nuclear arsenals by about two-thirds.

They still remain divided, though, over Mr. Bush's desire to scuttle the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty so he can proceed unencumbered to develop a national missile defense shield.

Mr. Bush and his top aides said talks on the issue would continue with Mr. Putin at the ranch, but no breakthroughs were expected.

"Obviously, it takes awhile," Mr. Bush said Tuesday night. "It takes awhile to build up the trust necessary for him to know that I intend to keep my word when I say I'm going to do something and vice versa."

As the host, Mr. Bush said he had decided early on to do the "formal things" in Washington and offer Mr. Putin "a taste of rural life here in Texas" later.

"The best diplomacy starts with getting to know each other," Mr. Bush said, "and I want him to know my values and I want to know his values."

The president himself began sprucing up the ranch during his long August vacation, mindful of Mr. Putin's visit this fall.

"I'll show him the canyons," Mr. Bush said. "And I think he'll like it out here."

-- continued --

Mr. Bush and Mr. Putin are both new to national office, but from very different beginnings.

Mr. Bush, 55, grew up comfortably in a political family in Midland. His father was the nation's 41st president, and his grandfather a U.S. senator from Connecticut.

Mr. Putin, 49, was raised in near poverty in a tiny Soviet apartment. He worked for 16 years in the KGB, the old Soviet secret police agency, and was the deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, Russia.

Both men have two daughters and are physical fitness buffs, two things Mr. Bush is fond of noting.

"We'll go for a couple of nice, long walks," the president said.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/texas_southwest/STORY.ea2e527417.b0.af.0.a4.bf86f.html
© 2001 DallasNews.com

He is the man of the "Northern Pole".

"When those of the Northern Pole are united together in the East will be great fear and dread. "

"One day the two great leaders will be friends; their great power will be seen to grow."

Putin's little trip has the Nostradamians in a frenzy. Ahh, but you fail to beleive. I'll remind you, this is the same man that prophesized that France will save the world in the end. Their actions of the last 150 years was just to pull everyone off guard.

Luck
Alac

Thinking the Internet may have been a bad idea.

I was watching a documentary on the nuclear accident at Chyernoble (sp?).  At one point the voice over says "high ranking members of the KGB were rushed to the scene."  The screen shows a helicopter landing, and a couple of guys getting out.  One of them has all the green piping of the KGB uniormed units.  One of them is Putin, although the voice over makes no mention of it.    

Don't forget to mention the fact that he is WILDLY popular with the masses. It was a landslide victory. I have some friends who are former Russian citizens (Belarus... which is a whole different story). They were talking about Putin back in the mid to late 90s.

So your thinking that Putin is going to hook up with the President of Canada and start on a tour of world domination???? Last time I checked Texas was a long way from the North Pole.....

-SS

Those Canadians have been quiet for to long...

We ought to lob a couple of 500lbs bombs their way. Just be be sure.

Av.

Avalon, my thoughts excactly, cant be too careful.

You see, actually I was thinking it was the Lapps and the Inuit. We cant let them do it folks. Once they get together its all over but the shouting.

Luck
Alac

Electrons drop alot of the sarcasm I guess.

I thought it was funny...Inuit[:D]

Juggernaut

Well the Canadians aint laughing. Dem Inuit is tough. They already lost the northern territories, well who's next?

Luck
Alac

Im moving south