{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"4. What\u2019s Really Happening in Russia?","description":"Once again John nail\u2019s it with his experienced view on what is happening in the world, this time in Russia. Is Russia the superpower they want us to believe they are? Why did the US play such a foolish game after the collapse of communism? Do we need to be worried about Putin and indeed his increasingly cosy relationship with China? What IS it with those semi-naked horse photos? Should Boris Johnson pose semi-naked on a horse? And crucially, could John Simpson have Vladimir Putin in a fight? On this episode we cover:  How we were conditioned for so many decades to think of Russia as a great superpower And an alternative system to ours The system collapsed without real industrial growth We now have a much smaller version Still the biggest country in the world But it\u2019s lost a lot of the rich and productive parts A president who seemed at first to want to join with western countries The US played a very foolish game after the collapse of communism Instead of reaching out the hand of friendship they played the winner Putin realised the Russian people like to think they\u2019re as strong as before The entire economy is only the size of Australia\u2019s It doesn\u2019t spend all that much more on armed forces than Britain does It\u2019s a big, lumbering deeply inefficient society with pretentions to grandeur Very clever diplomatic footwork to give misleading impressions Vladimir Putin is \u2018renting out the place to China\u2019 Turning Russia into China\u2019s small time bodyguard figure China has the economy, Russian has the armed forces It\u2019s not what the majority of Russians would want But it\u2019s hard to get through to Russians The negative stereotypical image of a Russian abroad How Russians in Russia are very different But still gloomy looking How much John loves Russia and Russian people Russians being wonderfully warm and affectionate beneath the gloom Russian people have soul John meeting Putin several times The impression is tha Putin suffer from little man syndrome \u2026A former spook with a dislike of Western values \u2026but None of this is true! Putin being surprisingly warm and friendly Putin watching the BBC a lot to improve his English Putin being a John Simpson fan! Very very charming John meeting Gaddafi and Saddam Gaddafi being \u2018just a nutter\u2019 Nutters can be quite exciting Is Putin dangerous? He can be deeply disruptive Putin idea of none of the dangers that face our planet How the finger on the button\/ambitious plan to rule the world Putin doesn\u2019t really exist Although it\u2019s not a bad idea to be a bit nervous of Putin John asking Putin\u2019s chief of security how many of their journalists can end up dead The job of a foreign correspondent being to ask hard questions Could John Simpson have Putin in a fight John\u2019s learning to box as a child Putin semi-naked on a horse The real message Putin wants to show the world How UK politics would be a lot more fun if Boris Johnson got his kit off on a horse Are the Russians fiddling with our politics? Putin wants to weaken the West The mixture of enormous wealth (china) and considerable cunning (Russia) is something we will have to face up to soon Could the China\/Russia relationship be beneficial to us? How we are stuck with the old \u2018we\u2019ve got to have an enemy\u2019 and need to move beyond that John\u2019s passion for translating Chinese poetry Funny Chinese food products and \u2018fried cock\u2019 Ultimately we\u2019re seeing Putin\u2019s long term attraction to voters is finally going down But does this mean he will do something silly to reverse this\u2026?   ","author_name":"John Simpson's World Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/johnsimpsonsworld.libsyn.com\/website","html":"