Stephen Lendman

Relentless US Putin bashing persists, reckless accusations made - including invading Ukraine and murder, evidence backing up claims absent. None exists.

Putin is vilified for forthrightly defending Russian sovereign independence, supporting a multi-polar world, and challenging Washington’s imperial agenda - at the same time seeking world peace and stability along with mutual cooperation among all nations.

Comments by US officials reflect administration policy. Britain’s BBC is state-owned, controlled and operated. Propaganda substitutes for credible news and information.

Its correspondent Richard Bilton asked US Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) director Adam Szubin “if Putin is corrupt.”

He lied, saying “(i)n our view, yes…“He supposedly draws a state salary of something like $110,000 a year.”

“That is not an accurate statement of the man’s wealth, and he has long time training and practices in terms of how to mask his actual wealth.”

With no corroborating evidence, Szubin claimed Washington has known for “many, many years he’s been “enriching his friends, his close allies, and marginalizing those who he doesn’t view as friends using state assets.”

“Whether that’s Russia’s energy wealth, whether it’s other state contracts, he directs those to whom he believes will serve him and excludes those who don’t. To me, that is a picture of corruption.”

The reliable Saker justifiably calls Putin “one of the greatest Russian leaders ever.” He “secured his place in history.”

“(I)n a little over a decade, he brought her back as a world power capable of successfully challenging the AngloZionist Empire.”

His overwhelming 90% popularity reflects it, even during current economic hard times because of low oil prices perhaps heading lower.

At the same time, he hasn’t so far been able to change a US-created system established during the Yeltsin years. In the 1990s, so-called Western “advisers” turned post-Soviet Russia “into a US colony.”

Reforming its economy remains Putin’s most pressing internal challenge. He’s part of the solution, not the problem.

Szubin’s accusation is part of Washington’s longstanding campaign to vilify him. It’s had no effect on the vast majority of Russians supporting him - nor on his status as arguably the world’s most preeminent geopolitical leader, a master chess player, making Obama look buffoon-like in comparison.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed Szubin’s accusation, calling it “pure fiction,” Britain is complicit in vilifying him.

A BBC Panorama documentary focused on his “wallet,” his alleged “secret riches,” providing no evidence of his involvement in corruption - accusations without credibility.

Throughout his presidential years, he’s been irresponsibly bashed - Western presstitutes repeating state-sponsored misinformation and Big Lies.

All independent leaders Washington doesn’t control are targeted the same way - especially ones courageous enough to challenge its imperial agenda responsibly.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html