What’s Really Happening in Russia‪?‬ John Simpson's World Podcast

Once again John nail’s it with his experienced view on what is happening in the world, this time in Russia. Is Russia the superpower they want us to believe they are? Why did the US play such a foolish game after the collapse of communism? Do we need to be worried about Putin and indeed his increasingly cosy relationship with China? What IS it with those semi-naked horse photos? Should Boris Johnson pose semi-naked on a horse? And crucially, could John Simpson have Vladimir Putin in a fight?
On this episode we cover: 
How we were conditioned for so many decades to think of Russia as a great superpower
And an alternative system to ours
The system collapsed without real industrial growth
We now have a much smaller version
Still the biggest country in the world
But it’s lost a lot of the rich and productive parts
A president who seemed at first to want to join with western countries
The US played a very foolish game after the collapse of communism
Instead of reaching out the hand of friendship they played the winner
Putin realised the Russian people like to think they’re as strong as before
The entire economy is only the size of Australia’s
It doesn’t spend all that much more on armed forces than Britain does
It’s a big, lumbering deeply inefficient society with pretentions to grandeur
Very clever diplomatic footwork to give misleading impressions
Vladimir Putin is ‘renting out the place to China’
Turning Russia into China’s small time bodyguard figure
China has the economy, Russian has the armed forces
It’s not what the majority of Russians would want
But it’s hard to get through to Russians
The negative stereotypical image of a Russian abroad
How Russians in Russia are very different
But still gloomy looking
How much John loves Russia and Russian people
Russians being wonderfully warm and affectionate beneath the gloom
Russian people have soul
John meeting Putin several times
The impression is tha Putin suffer from little man syndrome
…A former spook with a dislike of Western values
…but None of this is true!
Putin being surprisingly warm and friendly
Putin watching the BBC a lot to improve his English
Putin being a John Simpson fan!
Very very charming
John meeting Gaddafi and Saddam
Gaddafi being ‘just a nutter’
Nutters can be quite exciting
Is Putin dangerous?
He can be deeply disruptive
Putin idea of none of the dangers that face our planet
How the finger on the button/ambitious plan to rule the world Putin doesn’t really exist
Although it’s not a bad idea to be a bit nervous of Putin
John asking Putin’s chief of security how many of their journalists can end up dead
The job of a foreign correspondent being to ask hard questions
Could John Simpson have Putin in a fight
John’s learning to box as a child
Putin semi-naked on a horse
The real message Putin wants to show the world
How UK politics would be a lot more fun if Boris Johnson got his kit off on a horse
Are the Russians fiddling with our politics?
Putin wants to weaken the West
The mixture of enormous wealth (china) and considerable cunning (Russia) is something we will have to face up to soon
Could the China/Russia relationship be beneficial to us?
How we are stuck with the old ‘we’ve got to have an enemy’ and need to move beyond that
John’s passion for translating Chinese poetry
Funny Chinese food products and ‘fried cock’
Ultimately we’re seeing Putin’s long term attraction to voters is finally going down
But does this mean he will do something silly to reverse this…?