# Putin's Revenge (Frontline)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putins-revenge-frontline/799896
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 26, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putins-revenge-frontline/799896 "2017-10-26T16:10:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putins-revenge-frontline/799896/1 "2017-10-26T16:10:03Z")
Wow, did anybody else see this last night? Wonder if Trump or Putin did? Did the hairs on the back of your neck stand up? Explains a lot. I understand so much more now. Boris Yeltsin had a laspe in judgement selecting Putin, he clearly was conned, and later in his life grew to regret it deeply. Watch it free [here.](http://www.pbs.org/video/putins-revenge-mzz1lp/)
---
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2017, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putins-revenge-frontline/799896/2 "2017-10-26T17:53:01Z")
Am at work, so I can’t set everything aside to watch a 54 minute video. Highlights?
---
### Author:  [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putins-revenge-frontline/799896/3 "2017-10-26T18:36:24Z")
It’s a good summary of how Putin came to power and what drives the callous son-of-a-bitch. Not much new but a good overview with some clips of former CIA Director Brennan commenting on Putin.
---
### Author:  [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putins-revenge-frontline/799896/4 "2017-10-26T19:20:47Z")
Czar, I’ll try, I’m sure some could do better. But in a nutshell, in Putin’s eyes, America has humilated his country, and he has his version of what he considers making Russia great again.
After Gorbachev, Yeltsin was also good about freeing up the media, and how he had a good realtionship with Bill Clinton. Yeltsin realized shortly after appointing Putin that he was duped, Bill tried to warn him, but it was too late. Soon after Putin came to power, he started resorting back to state run media. Shows the carnage of those that started getting in his way, and that opposed him. There was this one really funny muppet of Putin on Russia’s MTV, that was absolutely hilairious but made him furious. He sends in his goons to shut them down too.
Explains how the feud got started with Hillary, thought she was meddling with his country always wanting to talk about democracy and peoples rights, so he felt like with Republican presidents in America, that they don’t care as much about that sort of thing, and why it was important to get Trump elected, and goes into that a bit.
He was there when the wall came down in Germany, and felt humilated. Shows how the Middle East uprising rattled his cage, especially after how Gaddafi met his fate, and started becoming more paranoid that he would meet the same fate with his people. Particularly when his own countrymen started taking to the streets in massive protests. They also uncovered massive cheating and the evidence that was gathered up at the ballot boxes with their smart phones, there was no denying it. Putin once again spinning it to make it look like America was behind it and meddling in their elections.
I know I didn’t do the documentary the justice it deserves; I plan on watching it again soon. But hope others will make the time, don’t think they will be disappointed. Sure cleared up a lot of things, and understand why many of our wiser politicians say he is not to be trusted.
---
### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putins-revenge-frontline/799896/5 "2017-10-26T20:06:14Z")
> [@razncain](#):
>
> Explains how the feud got started with Hillary, thought she was meddling with his country always wanting to talk about democracy and peoples rights, so he felt like with Republican presidents in America, that they don’t care as much about that sort of thing, and why it was important to get Trump elected, and goes into that a bit.
Yes, yes. As President Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! Or not. Really, whatever works for you. It’s all good.”
---
### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putins-revenge-frontline/799896/6 "2017-10-26T20:08:45Z")
Without ever seeing the documentary, I would have told you that…
1. Putin is a highly ambitious man.
2. Putin is a very patriotic Russian.
Which means he wants two things: for Russia to be the most powerful country in the world and for himself to be the most powerful man in the world.
Everything he does is aimed at those two ends. FOr a man like Putin, the Yeltsin years must have been Hell. RUssia was weak, impotent, laughed at, and worst of all… ignored!
TO him, America is the enemy. Not just a strategic enemy- he’d hate us even if we were nice to him. He hates us because we offer things he can’t. Ergo, he tries to convince the rest of the world that what we have isn’t worth much. “What’s so great about freedom, anyway? Security is much better.”
---
### Author:  [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putins-revenge-frontline/799896/7 "2017-10-26T20:31:04Z")
Not sure if the show covered this but I remember Rachael Maddow doing a story about how Yeltsin essentially gave away all of Russia’s resources for quick cash to win his reelection and a handful of people (Putin supporters) took them all for peanuts. Then Yeltsin ended up not even serving his full term. Such a waste.
---
### Author:  [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2017, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putins-revenge-frontline/799896/8 "2017-10-26T20:50:11Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> Yes, yes. As President Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! Or not. Really, whatever works for you. It’s all good.”
It’s the view that literally was expressed of what Putin was thinking and it says just that around the 24:00 mark, and they actually use that clip earlier in the documentary of Reagan saying just that (at least the first sentence 🙂 ). Despite that, and considering what Bush did and the wars to follow, he was still focused of Hillary and the Democrats being the biggest threat to his country. What’s your opinion of why Putin wanted Trump?
---
### Author:  [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2017, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putins-revenge-frontline/799896/9 "2017-10-26T22:03:28Z")
> [@razncain](#):
>
> It’s the view that literally was expressed of what Putin was thinking and it says just that around the 24:00 mark, and they actually use that clip earlier in the documentary of Reagan saying just that (at least the first sentence 🙂 ). Despite that, and considering what Bush did and the wars to follow, he was still focused of Hillary and the Democrats being the biggest threat to his country. What’s your opinion of why Putin wanted Trump?
Trump is useful idiot to Putin. Trump could never win a cold war or any sort of war for that manner. Hilary is smart enough to see how dangerous Putin is and potentially capable at figuring out ways of defeating him.
---
### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2017, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putins-revenge-frontline/799896/10 "2017-10-26T22:45:14Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#):
>
> It’s a good summary of how Putin came to power and what drives the callous son-of-a-bitch. Not much new but a good overview with some clips of former CIA Director Brennan commenting on Putin.
It left out a lot of Putin’s rise to power though.
The way Putin’s FSB had hidden cameras videotape Yury Skuratov (the russian Attorney General) with prostitutes in Russia, so that when Skuratov tried to prosecute Yeltsin, the FSB released the video. Supposedly this is a big part of why Yeltsin picked Putin as his successor, because Putin protected Yeltsin from prosecution by releasing Kompromat on the prosecutor investigating him.
The apartment bombings, which there is some speculation were a false flag. That controversy wasn’t addressed in the video.
Putin’s ties to the oligarchs, and how he uses their wealth to enrich himself. Also nothing was mentioned about the Magnitsky act, which Putin supposedly abhors and was supposedly a major factor in why he wanted Trump as president, in hopes Trump would overturn it or refuse to enforce it.
All in all, it wasn’t the best Putin documentary I’ve seen.
---
### Author:  [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2017, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putins-revenge-frontline/799896/11 "2017-10-26T22:58:31Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#):
>
> The apartment bombings, which there is some speculation were a false flag. That controversy wasn’t addressed in the video.
It let you draw your own conclusions here, but it certainly had me thinking the possibility was there. Without anything more concrete, I can see why they stopped there.
If you have some documentaries you’d recommend, I’d enjoy seeing them.
---
### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2017, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putins-revenge-frontline/799896/12 "2017-10-26T23:08:17Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#):
>
> The apartment bombings, which there is some speculation were a false flag. That controversy wasn’t addressed in the video.
I thought it was heavily implied.
---
### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putins-revenge-frontline/799896/13 "2017-10-26T23:28:13Z")
> [@astorian](#):
>
> Without ever seeing the documentary, I would have told you that…
>
> 1. Putin is a highly ambitious man.
>
> 2. Putin is a very patriotic Russian.
>
> Which means he wants two things: for Russia to be the most powerful country in the world and for himself to be the most powerful man in the world.
If this is true (and it no doubt is), that speaks better of Putin than of Trump, who is ambitious but of questionable patriotism.
---
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2017, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/putins-revenge-frontline/799896/14 "2017-10-27T02:47:53Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> Yes, yes. As President Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! Or not. Really, whatever works for you. It’s all good.”
Apparently Gorbachev got the message. Because he treated Reagan’s speech as empty rhetoric. Reagan made that speech in 1987 and the Berlin Wall was still there when Reagan left office two years later.
It appears the Russians understood the difference between somebody who talked like a tough guy and somebody who was willing to back it up.