Putin Slanders Gays While Giving "Assurances" Gays Will Be Safe in Sochi

Too many people seem to forget that Vladimir Putin is a former KGB operative - a secret police bureaucrat/enforcer.  Not exactly a kind and charitable line of work.  And then one must remember the widespread arrests that have gone on under Putin's dictatorship presidency, especially among Putin's political adversaries and those who do not tow the line in respect to Putin's efforts to cozy up to the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church, an institution that has a foul history of supporting reactionary extremism and propping up tyrants or unfit rulers.  And then there is the rampant corruption that is a daily fact of life in Putin's Russia - a good glimpse of this can be found in an article in the February issue of Vanity Fare.  In an interview Putin has stated that gays can be assured of safety in Sochi at the 2104 Winter Games - as long as they "leave the children in peace," implying, of course, that gays are predators who prey on children.  The man is a total bastard and asshole to put it mildly.  Fox News has details on Putin's slimy PR campaign.  Here are excerpts:

Russian President Vladimir Putin says gays should feel welcome at the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, but they must "leave the children in peace."

Putin told volunteers Friday that gays visiting Sochi "can feel calm and at ease," and vowed that there would be no discrimination at the games. But he emphasized that, according to a law banning homosexual "propaganda" among minors, gays cannot express their views on gay rights issues to anyone underage.

Putin and other politicians have defended the June propaganda law as a protection of child rights, but critics believe that the law discriminates against sexual minorities.

In the wake of international outcry against the bill, Russian authorities have put limits on the right to protest during the Sochi games, which run Feb. 7-23.

Why do I increasingly think of Adolph Hitler as  I watch Putin and his campaign against gays and his attempts - just as Hitler did while persecuting Jews - claim gays are not subject to mistreatment even as they are subjected to violence and Putin himself suggests that gays prey on children.  I wish the Olympic athletes all the best during the Winter Games, but as far as Putin/Russia itself goes, I hope that Games are an unmitigated disaster. May they lose huge amounts of money and end up showing Russia off as a second class country.

P.S. I am reading Red Fortress, which is a history of the Kremlin and Russia.  It's reminded me that much of Russia's unfortunate history has been due to corrupt, ruthless, and/or incompetent leaders.  The Russian people are consistently the ones who lose out in the process.  In Putin, who wants to do things "the Russian way," this sad track record has not changed.