But the second time, they'd have known.
When they elected him for the top internal office, they knew.
When they re-elected him for the third time as president, they knew.
Russians have their own culture and viewpoint. It pays to understand it. Quite a few abhor Putin. Most do not. He put the bad guys in their places and on a leash; he defended the voters against those who would be corrupt on too massive a scale in public; he defends Russia against all of its many external enemies. He's their defender.
So it makes sense for him to be seen shooting, riding, doing all kinds of virile, manly things. Because he's their batka, their protector and defender of the Russian honor.
Nationalists seem him protecting and restoring Russian honor. Calls to restore Russian greatness get him votes. He prevented breakaway regions from breaking away because that would be horrible and threaten Russia's territorial integrity. Better to destroy the village and take the land for Russia then let the people and land escape. Will to empire.
They see him as the one that protected them against economic collapse under Eltsyn--it makes no difference that the economy was improving faster and corruption declining faster before Putin was elected than after, or that corruption surged under Putin's first two terms. That's the perception. He's their breadticket, for workers.
They see him as the one that stopped the freefall in benefits to retirees. For those who depend on the state for their existence, he's also their bread ticket.
The faithful see him as restoring and defending the Orthodox church from foreign heterodoxy. He's banned some religious organizations, and he's regulated others to death. Some churches that have been there for decades are stymied as they wait for their registrations to be rejected, revised, rejected, revised. The Orthodox Church is blessed.
Conservatives like that he seems to reflect old values. He restored the Cossacks--which may have the same name as the Ukrainian group but which are firmly Russophiles and protectors of a strong, central, powerful government. Rather the opposite of the old Cossacks and more in keeping with the revision under the tsars.
Xenophobes--and that includes skinheads--like Putin because he likes russkost', being Russian. When in doubt, round up some foreigners. They're a menace. They threaten Russian purity.
Some DUers like that he accepted Snowden. But for his own reasons, not theirs. He restored order. But on his terms. Some like that he sticks it to the US. Or that he's been anti-US intervention, anti-corporatist, anti-EU expansion, anti-NATO. But always for his reasons and those of some segment of his supporters, and usually those reasons are foreign to most DUers.
They knew exactly how he was going to turn out. They cheered him over S. Ossetia. And on his Abkhazia policy. Oddly, in many ways his policy is Eltsyn's--both are Russian nationalists, one just happened to be a drunk who hung his corruption out for all to see in an inappropriate way.
= new reply since forum marked as read
