I think for most of the Lew Rockwell audience Vladimir Putin’s viewpoints from the Tucker Carlson interview are nothing new.  I’ve been watching and reading what this man has to say for years.  My guess is you have as well.  However, in there is a nuance that I realized while watching him talk to Tucker.  He has extremely long (low) time preferences a la Hoppe’s “Democracy – The God That Failed.”  Vladimir Putin has 16+ years being Russian head of state and he is reminiscent of a monarch’s ownership stake in his country.  He most definitely has skin in the game and Russia’s long-term interests at heart.  It is from this aspect that he can run circles around western politicians with short (high) time preferences, who adhere to post modernist and neocon ideologies, along with having trouble remembering if they put on their Depends when they woke up.

A perfect example of his personality, leadership, and ability to communicate is when Putin makes a seemingly minor digression to talk about Tucker’s unsuccessful application to the CIA.  In one sentence he subtly communicates volumes.  On the one hand he implies that he literally crawled up Tucker’s private parts and dug decades deep to get background information on him.  It tactfully but playfully conveys a warning that says “I know very private and confidential things about you.”  Yet, at the same time, he had to have sent the State Department and the intelligence (sic) services into a tizzy disclosing that Russia has access to at least a roster of CIA applicants, if not more.  In one strategically placed “off-the-cuff” remark President Putin creates a pucker-factor of 10 on multiple levels.

This is real 3D Chess in action folks.  I admire his style, his intelligence, and his statecraft.  You should as well.  If the US had politicians this well versed in history and its ramifications, with even half his ability to articulate and communicate policy objectives in order to make sure that the citizens and their families of our country continue to have the ability to thrive in a future full of change, we would be much better off in incalculable ways.

It is why Tucker has been threatened with imaginary crimes for interviewing President Putin.  It’s also why the leaders of western countries don’t want to talk to him.  Putin removes the mask.  He reminds them that they are corrupt, unintelligent, and ineffectual politicians, and he’s unwilling to subvert Russian interests for “the rules based order” that only benefits US hegemony.  The emperor has no clothes.  And he throws responsibility for their actions squarely back at them.  There is no “Potomac Two-step” when Putin holds you responsible.

If you can’t intelligently debate the nuances that surround the truth and come to understand those other perceptions, all you have left is coercion and violence.