Putin has been demonized in the American corporate media. Strangely, he's called everything from Stalin to Hitler. He's both a communist internationalist and a radical nationalist. This shows the ignorance of those making the accusations. No Soviet dictator was ever treated this way. Why?
He rejected the advice of the World Bank and IMF. He was successful with state-centered economic growth that took a third world country and restored it to great power status in 5 years. He did it without the west and, in fact, against them.
American oil corporations want access to Russia’s resources. Putin has them tightly under semi-private, semi-national control. This is a huge reason. Most of the industrial economy runs on oil. Our plastics are all petroleum. The industrial universe is one huge, congealed oil field. From the west's point of view, having access to cheap oil is thus essential to jump-starting the presently depressed economy. Domination of Russia's fields is part of that. They're not used to hearing "no."
He’s building a new trading bloc with Kazakhstan and China. It also includes Iran, Armenia, Belarus and today, Turkey. This is called the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and is the single most important organization in the world. There's a reason the average American has never heard of it.
He’s dumping the dollar. 2017 is the target year for shifting all petroleum sales to rubles or euros. This would drive the value of the dollar down to nothing. It would be the end to imperialism.
He doesn’t believe in liberalism (in all senses of that term). Economically, politically or socially, liberalism posits an isolated individual that exists only in the imagination.
He is the victim of the neurotic projection of failed western leaders. He’s everything they’re not: popular, successful, free. He’s not beholden to corporate interests, he’s more powerful than they are. He gets to tell off billionaires because he owes them nothing.
He speaks the truth about global affairs from 9–11 to ISIS to GMOs. Discrediting him is essential.
He refuses to support Israel or Zionism. These people also rarely hear the word "no."
Don’t underestimate #5. My book on Putin, Russian Populist: The Political Thought of Vladimir Putin, goes into some detail there. When one compares Putin to Bush or Obama, there is a stark difference. Putin is immensely popular in Russia and, believe it or not, even more popular in Ukraine. Obama would have killed for Putin’s ratings. There are few politicians that can match him.
The western system is an oligarchy, serving only the wealthy. Belarus and Russia since 2000 have a far more rational economy. The state is stronger than corporate interests. This is new to most American readers. When Putin can march into a factory and order scumbag billionaire Oleg Deripaska to sign a contract that his workers favored, you know what politics is about (