Just because he's guilty of the same thing (assuming he is) doesn't make him wrong for recognizing it in our politics.
Plus, I think it's a little bit disingenuous to treat Putin, who grew up in and was part of the Soviet government, as if he's the leader of a long democratic tradition. He's one of the couple first Russian leaders to be elected rather than appointed by the party. I don't expect Russia to get democracy 100% right, right out of the gate. God knows we screw it up and we've had almost a quarter millenia of practice, plus the benefit of England giving us a model to build on.
Solid point. He was also correct in his criticism of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, that it made Russia weaker on the global stage and we have done nothing but exploit them for the crimes committed by a dissolved government structure.
Just because he's guilty of the same thing (assuming he is) doesn't make him wrong for recognizing it in our politics.
Plus, I think it's a little bit disingenuous to treat Putin, who grew up in and was part of the Soviet government, as if he's the leader of a long democratic tradition. He's one of the couple first Russian leaders to be elected rather than appointed by the party. I don't expect Russia to get democracy 100% right, right out of the gate. God knows we screw it up and we've had almost a quarter millenia of practice, plus the benefit of England giving us a model to build on.
Solid point. He was also correct in his criticism of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, that it made Russia weaker on the global stage and we have done nothing but exploit them for the crimes committed by a dissolved government structure.