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Entry: Putin Power Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/putin_power#12473 Post contents: President Putin is a patriot, not a nationalist. That's why the neocons hate him, because he takes patriotism seriously and excoriates abstract nationalism, including the menace of nationalism in his own country. And don't anyone get me started on those so-called Russian "dissident" enemies of Putin like the National Bolshevik Party. I was personally assaulted by two members of the National Bolshevik Party in public in a major Russian city in 1998; they assaulted me because they heard me speaking English, asked me if I was American, then started raging about Clinton and Serbia, attacked me without warning. An anecdote Taki would probably enjoy: I didn't even need to hit them, I simply moved in the right way to avoid the blows, and one of them fell on his face and broke his eyeglasses. Then I offered him my hand, picked him up and offered him a cigarette (because they had both stopped attacking). He saw that I smoked Russian cigarettes, and that fact, plus the fact that I didn't continue fighting after he was down, impressed them enough to invite me to share a bottle of vodka with them. Russians. Never underestimate them, including how incredibly generous and large-spirited they can be if you just treat them with basic respect. Sent at: 2008 07 04