haresfur wrote:
No doubt. It also includes those who left for economic betterment/stability/security, incl. some oligarchs. It might still serve Putin's interests.

 haresfur wrote:
thought the same. Antisemitism is pretty rife in Russia.  

 R_P wrote:

actually, I have no argument with this. Europe is battling the same right-wing anti-immigrant fervour being whipped up by various actors (both domestic and external) as many other countries around the world.. all of it a huge distraction to the real problems.  
Merz and his party is particularly hamstrung as they are trying not to lose more voters to the AFD but are too timid to take a strong course against the AFD. This is the main reason for his low popularity. 

 R_P wrote:
I doubt the 15% of Israelis who are Russian Jews, many of whom bailed because of antisemitism, are much of a fan base for putin

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:
I didn't suggest the ratings were a direct result of corruption.

The similarities were that they use nationalism to inflict counterproductive policies on the country/people.

Corruption plays a part in that depending on the location/system. Ultimately the ideology du jour plays a larger role. 

The ratings are a response to those counterproductive policies.

No doubt we'd argue over which/why they are counterproductive.

 R_P wrote:

acknowledged .. see my edit re Merkel and Schmidt. But the current low ratings are due more to the political environment plagued by massive uncertainty and threats without any apparent solutions being on the horizon, not, as you were suggesting, rampant corruption among the leadership.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:
Myopic.

 R_P wrote:

Again, chalk and cheese.  

Power always attracts corruption (read your Bakunin), which is why we have laws against it and a free press and a proportional representation system to stem the flow... unlike a number of other countries I can think of.

The main reason for the negative favourability ratings of European leaders lies in the proportional representation system. Any leader is almost certainly a leader of a minority party that is only in government because it builds a coalition. That means their voting base will always be below 50%. You can't compare this to FPTP systems.


edit, that said, Merkel and Schmidt both enjoyed high ratings.. different times I guess.  

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:
Because most are corrupt but on a different scale and/or area (not always money but other levers of power/influence), and not as flagrantly obvious.

 R_P wrote:

No, the red herring was yours. I was comparing the leadership styles of N, T and P and you lumped them in with just about every other government out there. Obfuscation much?
And no European leaders have raked in billions through corruption like Trump and Putin have. Chalk and cheese. Speaking of which, how corrupt is N?

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:
Lots of red herrings.

In the context of the discussion: significantly positive net favourability ratings in a pluralistic society are a good thing!

 R_P wrote:
Um, dissension in a pluralistic society is a good thing.

All European countries have a proportional representation system (barring the UK)

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:
Uh-uh, that must be it.

 R_P wrote:
you've been out of Europe too long.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:
I see those similarities in most current leadership. 

 R_P wrote:
That is obvious. But don't they all have glaring similarities?  Maybe not puppets, but a marriage made in heaven?

All of them proudly proclaim they are loyal nationalists but all of them are doing precisely the worst thing for the interests of their respective countries and meanwhile lining their pockets big time. 

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:
All have interests to be sure. Netanyahu and Putin even have national interests.

Putin has an interest in a good relationship with Israel/Netanyahu. 15% of Israelis are Russian-speaking. Israel imports a lot of Russian oil and refined products.

He has an interest in achieving a relationship with Trump/US that is less adversarial. I don't buy the Manchurian puppet stories.

 R_P wrote:

out of curiosity, R. how do you square the Netanyahu, Putin, Trump relationship?

Are they personal enemies or just all mobsters vying for turf rights?

.. or all just kind of best buddies playing the world to their own advantage?

 steeler wrote:
There's ample evidence in the media of who were "playing" Trump.