Yes, Putin is a good guy. And so was Ho Chi Minh. And so was Mohammed Mosaddegh. And so was - believe it or not - Moammar Ghadaffi. And so was Martin Luther King, whom the US government targeted for assassination. And so was Fred Hampton. And so was Patrice Lumumba. And so was Salvador Allende. And so was Fidel Castro. And so was Nelson Mandela, who was designated a "terrorist" by the USA until 2008.

There is something that you need to know: the US government lies. All the time. If they tell you something is black, you can be sure that it is white. In my 60+ years experience as an American, I can tell you that everything the US government says is almost certainly a lie.

Look at this latest kerfuffle over Sy Hersh's revelations that the US was behind the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipeline. The US govt has said that the charge is "utterly false". That's how you know that the story is "utterly true".

Seriously: if you think that it was NOT the USA who was behind the destruction of Nord Stream, then YOU ARE AN IDIOT.

And if you think that Putin is a "modern day Hitler" then you are also an idiot. Any national leader who refuses to bend the knee to US hegemony is described as a new Hitler. It is simply a joke. Putin is a nationalist who believes that the interests and priorities of the Russian people are more important than what is best for Wall Street and the USA. And for that he is branded a criminal.

It's as simple as that.