365 DAYS TILL OBAMA'S REMOVAL. WHAT HAS OBAMA'S PRESIDENCY MEANT? WHO HAS OBAMA BEEN?

Today, there are 365 days until Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States of America gets removed from office. It's quite likely that as time advances, historians will be less than kind in describing Obama.

For many, Obama will end up in the column of mediocre presidents, a man whose stunning lack of intellect rendered him incapable of commanding the office. For others, Obama will end up in the column of one of the worst presidents precisely because that is where Obama belongs.

Obama is like so many of his kind. He sees himself as a black rather than an equal-standing American with the same rights as anyone else at random. Yet, Obama comes from a contemporary ex-Mohammadan ("Muslim"), atheist, Marxist, African who never was a slave nor were any of his ancestors, and a mid-western, white, vagabond mom.

And yet, Obama is living proof that anyone can rise up in life and make something of himself with the help of others. Obama personifies how the USA is truly the land of opportunity.

Likely, many whites socially-promoted Obama through his years. No doubt, good-nature whites lowered college admissions standards and law school admission standards for Obama.

But look at how pathetic Obama is. He reaches the pinnacle — the presidency of the USA — all he does is complain about white folk. Obama truly is enslaved.

Back in 2008, Obama took to a microphone without the aid of a teleprompter and a speech written for him by someone smarter and Obama said this about working-class Americans:

"They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

In that one statement, Obama revealed himself in his entirety. It should be clear that Obama meant whites with their guns and their Christian religion bitter about being overrun by foreigners who Congress aids and abets.

Back in July 2012, Obama spoke this gem:

"There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me—because they want to give something back. They know they didn't—look, if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own... If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business—you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."

Of course, Obama fails to see that without profits, there can be no taxes. Taxes are an unearned share of profits.

Before Congress and states legislators can build anything, they must get taxes. Taxes are an unearned share of profit. Without profit, there can be no taxes. And without taxes, Obama's delusion — "you didn't build that"  — couldn't happen.

All along, Obama has wanted to destroy everything that gave him a chance — the great USA that arose from white, Anglo-Norman jurisprudence and British Enlightenment thought over the last 409 years. Obama has striven to do his best to contribute the most to the retrogression that Americans have been suffering under for the better part of the last 100 years.

Afrocentricism and black liberation theology drive Obama. Obama is small-minded and lacks a deep-thinking intellect. Obama should have surprised no one. It is no wonder why Obama failed as a president.

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THE AMERICAN WAY OR ISLAM? SHARIA LAW OR ASSENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL?

For me, this picture says it all. Obama's policies are misguided. Islamism is a horrible totalitarian doctrine rooted in pseudo-theology. It's a distorted, perverse, bad plagiarism of Judaism.

As there is no place among a free people of totalitarian doctrines like communism and fascism, so too there is no place among a free people for Islam.

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OBAMA SAYS AMERICANS DON'T HAVE RELIGIOUS TESTS FOR IMMIGRANTS AFTER SIGNING INTO LAW PREFERENTIAL RELIGIOUS TESTS FOR IMMIGRANTS. SPEAKER RYAN DENOUNCES DONALD TRUMP'S PLAY TO MAKE AMERICANS SAFER BY RESTRICTING DANGEROUS IMMIGRATION.

On Sunday, Sun December 6, 2015, between the afternoon and evening NFL games, the mediocre-intellect-in-chief, Barry Obama, commandeered Americans' broadcast airwaves to give his propaganda message to cover up for the horrible devout Muslims who murdered Americans in San Bernardino for the cause of Islam.

Idiotically, Obama said the killers "had gone down the dark path of radicalization, embracing a perverted interpretation of Islam" rather than acknowledging reality. They were persons who went down the path of becoming devout muslims adhering to Islamism, a badly plagiarized kind of Judaism.

Obama offered up a bit of true gold comedy when he said, "We're working with Turkey to seal its border with Syria." Meanwhile Obama can't even work with the Mexican government to seal the border with Mexico and stop the Central American illegal alien invasion under which Americans have been suffering since the Bill Clinton years.

And then Obama went ahead with false bravado to masquerade his lecturing:

We will destroy ISIL and any other organization that tries to harm us. Our success won't depend on tough talk, or abandoning our values, or giving into fear.

No sooner did Obama say that those in charge — because it is never truly about Americans — should not give into fear, Obama proposed giving into fear. Obama said, "To begin with, Congress should act to make sure no one on a no-fly list is able to buy a gun."

The existence of a no-fly list reveals fear. Almost everyone who has been named to the no-fly list is a  U.S. citizen. Only those living from fear try to deny anyone they dislike from flying. And could there be anything more fearful than trying to take away from Americans their constitutionally-enshrined right of owning guns by violating the Second Amendment?

Bogus constitutional scholars like Obama forever need to be schooled on the Constitution of the United States. The first ten amendments, which are known as the Bill of Rights, describe legal relationships that impose duties upon any congress formed under the Constitution and confers matching rights to every individual living within the territories of the United States.

And then the one-time practitioner of Islam told Americans, "Here's what else we cannot do. We cannot turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between America and Islam." Meanwhile the war is between the ummah — worldwide muslimry — who adhere to Islam and Islamic law against the Americans, the United States Constitution and our way of life.

And with an amazing display of publicly-expressed stupidity, Obama said, "But just as it is the responsibility of Muslims around the world to root out misguided ideas that lead to radicalization, it is the responsibility of all Americans -- of every faith -- to reject discrimination. It is our responsibility to reject religious tests on who we admit into this country."

Back on  November 21, 1989, then President Bush signed into law the the 1990 Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill. That bill included the Lautenberg Amendment, named after Frank Lautenberg, the senator from New Jersey who pushed for it, which gave preferential status to refugees from the former Soviet Union and Southeast Asia based on their religions. In short, the law established a religious test for immigration!

The worst bit though is this. With passage of the omnibus spending bill signed into law by President Obama himself on on January 17th, 2014, Obama re-authorized the Lautenberg Amendment to give a religious preference test for Jews, Christians, Baha’is, and other religious minorities seeking to flee Iran.

Obama gave a speech claiming he has a plan. Obama's failure of a plan since Janurary, 2009, has been this:

1. Import even more hijrah muslims — muslims who practice jihad by immigration
2. Try to confiscate legal guns from Americans when Congress has a duty not to try to confiscate arms of any kind for any reason, anytime. 

On Monday, GOP presidential front-runner, Donald Trump, released a statement to news media:

Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on. According to Pew Research, among others, there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population. Most recently, a poll from the Center for Security Policy released data showing “25% of those polled agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified as a part of the global jihad” and 51% of those polled, “agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah.” Shariah authorizes such atrocities as murder against non-believers who won’t convert, beheadings and more unthinkable acts that pose great harm to Americans, especially women.

Mr. Trump stated, “Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life. If I win the election for President, we are going to Make America Great Again.”

Current Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, the proud cheesehead from Wisconsin, took to the airwaves to denounce Trump's plan. Idiotically, Ryan said "What was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for and, more importantly, it's not what this country stands for."

And yet, this is exactly what Congress does. Not only is the Lautenberg Amendment proof that Congress controls immigration by religious tests, but also long ago Congress passed other immigration law that restricts immigration on grounds of terrorism, criminal activity and other dangers to Americans (see: 8 U.S. Code § 1182 - Inadmissible aliens)

For more on Obama and his muslim obsession:

• DOES U.S. LAW OR THE CONSTITUTION AUTHORIZE OBAMA TO UNILATERALLY SUSPEND IMMIGRATION LAW? HAS OBAMA GIVEN CAUSE FOR HIS IMPEACHMENT?
• OBAMA STARTS HASHTAG JIHAD AGAINST AMERICANS. REJECT OBAMA'S EFFORTS TO TRY TO MAKE YOU FEEL SHAME.

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JIVE TURKEY OBAMA, THE KING OF STUPIDITY, WRONGLY CLAIMS SYRIAN EXODUS IMMIGRANTS ARE LIKE MAYFLOWER AMERICANS DURING HIS PROTESTANT CHRISTIAN THANKSGIVING ADDRESS

Today, President Obama took to YouTube to lie to Americans on all days, the without doubt Protestant Christian holiday of Thanksgiving. Idiotically, Obama said,

“In 1620, a small band of Pilgrims came to this continent — refugees who had fled persecution and violence in their native land. Nearly 400 years later, we remember their part in the American story, and we honor the men and women who helped them in their time of need.”

Self-funded, capitalist adventuring separatist Protestant Christians (left). Totalitarian Syrian muslims dependent on charity handouts to survive

Today, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving because dissenting English Protestants known as Pilgrims who sailed to North America to establish an English colony did so as part of their Protestant Christian religious practice. Not merely reform-minded English Protestants known as Puritans who sought to purify the Church of England from all Roman Catholic practices, the Pilgrims were separatists who believed that no hope existed for purifying the Church of England.

The Pilgrims arranged for Dutch investors to finance the ships and supplies for the Pilgrims to establish of a profit-seeking colony on land in America owned by the English king. The Pilgrims struck a deal with the King of England through his agents to obtain a land patent granting them the right to settle on the English land in North America.

However, the first Thanksgiving decreed by Congress was to celebrate a war victory. Congress decreed the first national day of Thanksgiving on Thursday, December 18, 1777, to commemorate the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga after the surrender of General John Burgoyne and 5,000 British troops in October 1777. In proclaiming the first national day of thanksgiving, Congress wrote,

“It is therefore recommended to the Legislative or executive Powers of these UNITED STATES, to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for solemn THANKSGIVING and PRAISE; That at one Time and with one Voice the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor”

The history-idiot-in-chief should know this: CHRISTIANS FOUNDED AMERICA, NOT ATHEISTS, NOR JEWS, NOR HINDUS, NOR BUDDHISTS, NOR MUSLIMS.


Unlike 10,000 Syrians engaging in exodus from the Middle East, there were only 102 Pilgrims. More so, the Pilgrims were self-funded, adventurers. The U.S. Congress is funding the Syrian exodus from Syria to the USA. More so, Congress gets its funding from borrowing and taxes you to pay its massive credit card.

The 10,000 Syrians engaging in exodus are mostly needed muslim beggars many of whom denounce Christian belief and who want to see the world fall to muslim Sharia law.

Obama is living proof that Americans need a constitutional amendment barring anyone from becoming president of the United States who has at least one immigrant parent.

Obama is disloyal to the core. Obama hates Americans, especially white protestant Christian Americans. White protestant Christian Americans comprise the lion's share of American population — 79.96% white, 51.3% protestant. It matters not if most choose not to attend a church or affiliate with any protestant church.

You can watch the deplorable, denigrating idiot, the leader of the free-world, lie about Americans and American history for his personal agenda and political gain on Thanksgiving.




At least as of this writing, Americans need only suffer 420 days with the rather disgusting, anti-American.

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OBAMA STARTS HASHTAG JIHAD AGAINST AMERICANS. REJECT OBAMA'S EFFORTS TO TRY TO MAKE YOU FEEL SHAME.

Today, Obama unleashed an attack on all Americans who rightly stand united against Obama's plan to import Syrian Muslims and their anti-American culture into the USA. This time, Obama has taken to Twitter, firing off a hashtag missile against the minds of the impressionable.

Obama is waging a war of psychology against Americans. When you think about it. That is the stuff of sicko dictators that you would find in movies like V for Vendetta.





Obama is using the latest tactic of cultural Marxists that relies upon deep-seated psychology whereby no one wants to known as a shameful person. Instead of slut-shaming, Obama is trying race-shame you.

Don't let the jerk-in-chief attack your mind with his hashtag missiles. No doubt, as an American, you have compassion. However, unlike Obama, you lack stupidity.

In STUPIDLY, SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR OBAMA GOES ON TIRADE AGAINST AMERICANS LOYAL TO AMERICA, I showed you that Obama tried to shame you into believing you are not an authentic American if you defended your expressed preferences for the USA and like-minded Americans over anti-Enlightenment foreigners such as Muslims.

There are four types surrounding the question of importing Muslims into the USA. Three of them are against Age of Enlightenment Idealism:

• Appeasers
• Collaborators
• Denialists

And then there is the fourth type:

• Realists

Realists know the end game for Muslimry worldwide is political domination. With that comes imposition of Sharia Law. Sharia law means legalizing and institutionalizing a rape culture one which adjudicates for men against women.

Every realist knows this. Every realist knows that those who strive to live by Islamism do not want to live by the rule-of-law based on Age of Enlightenment ideals.

As I showed you in OBAMA. MR. SETBACK. THE GREAT APPEASER. OBAMA NEEDS TO WIN A NEW NOBEL PRIZE FOR APPEASEMENT, Obama began his presidency with a plan of appeasement to world Muslimry. Now it seems that Obama's appeasement was part of a larger plan of collaboration. Consider that Obama was raised by his Islamic step-dad, Lolo Sotero, it seems so unlikely that Barry Obama lacks any strong sympathetic allegiance to world Muslimry.

Obama entered the White House as an appeaser to worldwide Muslimry. He will leave the White House as a Muslimry collaborator.

Obama's support of terrorists in Syria against a UN-recognized sovereignty has let Obama put a toilet bowl stain on the reputation of Americans. In so doing, Obama has made Americans who pay taxes to Congress unwilling collaborators to terrorism.

All of the anti-Assad Syrians who Obama will import illegally into the USA — no law exists that authorizes Obama to pay to transport them — in effect are terrorists in violation of international law. It matters not if Assad is a bad guy as likely he is.

All Americans must ask themselves to what purpose does it serve to import millions of people who believe in a totalitarian doctrine to govern every moment of their lives, a doctrine — Islamism — that is little different than Mao Communism. Rather than relying on pseudo-science rhetoric though, it relies on pseudo-religious rhetoric, a rhetoric devised from corrupting extra Judaic texts and apocryphal, bogus writings about Jesus.

The next effect is the same. The bogus rhetoric justifies totalitarian political action ranging from stoning to death women who allegedly entice men to rape them to blowing up Westerners who attempt to live by Age of Enlightenment idealism.

Not only is Obama a bad president, perhaps one of the worst ever, but also Barack Obama simply is a horrible human being, a true lowlife. Obama is a horrible little man with deep character flaws, the product of his rather lame parents — a self-loathing mom and and an opportunist, immigration status-seeking dad as well as an opportunist, often-absent step-dad. Later historians will not be kind to him.

Everyday that passes, Obama goes further to reveal himself as a Islamic collaborator. Americans need to step up and demand Obama resign the presidency.

For more on the ongoing stupidity that is Barack Obama, check out WE INTERRUPT YOUR PROGRAMMING TO BRING YOU OUR LATEST WAR AGAINST ISLAMIC JIHADISTS, ISIS, OH AND SYRIA.

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OBAMA. MR. SETBACK. THE GREAT APPEASER. OBAMA NEEDS TO WIN A NEW NOBEL PRIZE FOR APPEASEMENT

Back on October 9, 2009, in a rather amazingly stupid move, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded Obama the Nobel Peace Prize.  On explaining why the Nobel fools gave Obama the prize, Committee Chairman and labor socialist Thorbjørn Jagland said "We have not given the prize for what may happen in the future. We are awarding Obama for what he has done in the past year. And we are hoping this may contribute a little bit for what he is trying to do." As it will be seen, cowardly Norwegians gave Obama the prize for his appeasement efforts in 2009.

Obama began working hard at appeasement from the beginning of becoming president on January 2009, Only a few days after taking office for the first time, Obama said, "My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy." Soon thereafter, Obama granted his first television interview to an Arab cable TV network, Al Arabiya.

Only two months after taking office, on April 6, 2009, Obama landed in Muslim-controlled Turkey. There he gave a speech to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

Only four months before being awarded his Nobel Prize and only four months after being sworn into office under to uphold the Constitution, on June 4, 2009, the one-time neighborhood agitator from Chicago, Democrat Obama, spoke a speech at the at Cairo University from the All-Muslim city in Egypt. Obama's thought handlers titled the speech, "A New Beginning." Obama gladly read his teleprompter version of the speech.

The speech written for Obama focused on false flattery of supposed Muslim achievements like algebra while ignoring that Babylonians had done algebra 2,600 years before a Persian mathematician as well as ignoring that modern algebra came from the mind of a Frenchman, François Viète in the 1500s. As well, the speech contained references to Americans who converted to Islamism, such as the Vietnam War draft dodger, boxer Cassius Marcellus Clay (Muhammad Ali). Obama bragged about 1,200 mosques being active within the territory of the United States.

Meanwhile religious leaders of Muslims — the guys who control the minds of all Muslims, the guys who define what it means to be Muslim — denounced Obama appeasement effort in Egypt as mere unneeded lecturing, talking and sloganeering.

So here we are today, more than six years later. Obama's appeasement strategy of Saudi Arabia-backed Wahabi /ISIS Muslims has led to the creation of a new totalitarian country steeped in Islamism.

Obama believes that early modern world colonialism is the excuse why Muslims are so violent against westerners today. As well, Obama believes that collectivist totaliarian-based Muslims are exactly like westerners whose general philosophy derives from Age of Enlightenment individualism.

After the November 2015 Muslim Terrorist Attack on French Parisians, urban warfare coordinated attacks that resulted in a kill ratio of 16 innocent freemen (Frenchmen and  foreigners) to one Muslim with 129 killed in total, all Obama could say is “terrible and sickening setback” to his agenda of appeasing Muslims. Obama, the Great Appeaser, went onward and said, "The strategy that we are putting forward is the strategy that is ultimately is going to work. It’s going to take time."

Meanwhile, your beloveds or even you might get killed by pro-Muslim, pro-Sharia Law military operatives while the world waits to see if Obama's appeasement strategy will magically defeat the world's unwanted, except by the Saudi Arabians, but new country, the Islamic State.

For all of his faults as an idiotic socialist, at least the president of France, Hollande, called the attacks on Parisians “acts of war,” which he said were decided upon and planned in Syria, then organized in Belgium.

Obama should have won, the Nobel Prize for Appeasement. Obama is Mr. Setback, the Setback President. Obama wants to set us back before the Age of Enlightenment and in so doing, put us on equal footing with all 1.57 billion Muslims worldwide.

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STUPIDLY, SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR OBAMA GOES ON TIRADE AGAINST AMERICANS LOYAL TO AMERICA

Today, after a G-20 meeting held in Turkey, the babbler-in-chief tried to scold you as if you are children. In his delusion, Obama said, "I hear folks say that maybe we should just admit the Christians but not the Muslims. That’s shameful. That’s not American. That’s not who we are. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion."



Obama tried to pull the same old lame rhetoric tricks known since at least the ancient Romans. The Social Justice Warrior-in-chief Obama tried to shame you. Obama tried to say that if you don't do as he says, you can't be an American. In a rather lame effort, Obama tried to claim only he knows what a true American is.


Stupidly, Obama went on to say, "We don’t kill people because they’re different than us." It's not like Americans killed Vietnamese or Koreans in any wars because they believed differently than us and even looked differently than us.

The worst bit about these jackasses who become presidents of the United States is their incessant, publicly-expressed idiocy that merely because they are presidents, they are smarter than all Americans or merely smarter than you.

Rather than take to a podium blathering away as a 10th rate hack public speaker, Obama needs to step up and do his job. Rather than doing his job, in DOES U.S. LAW OR THE CONSTITUTION AUTHORIZE OBAMA TO UNILATERALLY SUSPEND IMMIGRATION LAW? HAS OBAMA GIVEN CAUSE FOR HIS IMPEACHMENT?, I have shown you how likely, Obama has been breaking the laws of Congress that Congress has made on behalf of Americans.

If Obama doesn't want to do his job, he can quit. He has that option.

Of course, Obama could have done something smart such as state that his administration would accept only widows and orphans who have been brought to America by private means. All the same, Obama lacks legal authority to to spend funds to transport either possible asylum seekers or possible refugees. Legally, Obama cannot run his own airline or taxi service. There is no law that authorizes him to do so.

The true meaning of civilization is rule by impartial law in protection of the individual. And the true meaning of progress is the advance of the individual and his property, which is the right of ownership, from any overlord or over group acting in concert as an overlord.

Followers of Islamism never can produce civilization much less live by civilization. Muslims and their doctrine of Islamism reject liberty, science and progress.

In spite of what Obama believes or wants you to believe, Islamism is a kind of totalitarianism. The basis of Islamism is a radical false Judaism, a wrong political theology, followed by 1.6 billion on earth.

Those who are in charge of the propagation of Islamism are viciously oppressive. Should Islamicists prevail, not only will any gains of authentic progress — individualism, property (right of ownship) — disappear but also mankind will enter into a long retrogression toward tribalism savagery.

Self-identifying Muslims need awaken to the cult under which they live and subjugate themselves. Self-identifying Muslims need to walk away from their warring, world-domination questing cult of the thoroughly deceptive, false teachings of a cult huckster, Mohammed.

The vanguard of Islamism are trying to usher in peace first by murdering all who do not want to join their cult. Should they succeed, the rest would surely follow.

Everyone of the world would be safer if 1.62 billion individuals quit the warring, world-domination questing cult of Mohammed, a false-god totalitarianism of quite real hate.

Until they want to quit their totalitarian cult, let them live among themselves — in Indonesia, in India, in Pakistan and the Middle East.

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DOES U.S. LAW OR THE CONSTITUTION AUTHORIZE OBAMA TO UNILATERALLY SUSPEND IMMIGRATION LAW? HAS OBAMA GIVEN CAUSE FOR HIS IMPEACHMENT?

One of the gripes of Colonial Americans against King George (3), which led to the American War for Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain was imposition of foreigners upon the colonials. So insenced by his acts they made their grievance known in the Declaration of Independence — "obstructing the Laws for the Naturalization of Foreigners"

The U.S. Constitution fails to enumerate specific powers over immigration to either the President or the Congress. What the designers of the Constitution did was explicitly authorize the Congress the power grant citizenship only to "establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization..." (Article I, Section 8, Clause 4).

That said, Article I, Section 8, Clause 10 of the Constitution granted power to Congress to “define and punish . . . Offences against the Law of Nations.”  It is under this clause that likely Congress can define immigration law granting the rights of immigration and the liability against those who violate the rights Congress gives itself in any immigration law.

Recently, America's supposed constitutional scholar president and quite likely ex-EOP student Barry Obama unilaterally decided to import no less than 10,000 Syrians claiming that such Syrians are refugees. Yet, no where does the U.S. Constitution or public law created by Congress authorize any president of the U.S. to unilaterally suspend immigration laws, go fetch foreigners living in other lands, turn them into immigrants whom he favors, let them cut the line and gain legal residency status in the USA.

The section of U.S. Law that governs immigration is U.S. Code: Title 8 - ALIENS AND NATIONALITY. The section of U.S. Law that governs asylum is 8 U.S. Code § 1158 - Asylum. The section of U.S. Law that governs refugees is 8 U.S. Code Chapter 12 - IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY SUBCHAPTER IV - REFUGEE ASSISTANCE (§§ 1521 to 1525).

Under 8 U.S. Code § 1157 - Annual admission of refugees and admission of emergency situation refugees, law required Obama to announce before the start Congress' fiscal year the exact count of refugees he would process in the United States once they arrived here by their own means. Obama simply cannot decree any number of refugees he desires based on his politics. 

(2) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the number of refugees who may be admitted under this section in any fiscal year after fiscal year 1982 shall be such number as the President determines, before the beginning of the fiscal year and after appropriate consultation, is justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest.

It is also quite likely that Obama has violated 8 U.S. Code § 1182 - Inadmissible aliens. Aliens are inadmissible if have failed to present documentation of having received vaccination against vaccine-preventable diseases, which shall include at least the following diseases: mumps, measles, rubella, polio, tetanus and diphtheria toxoids, pertussis, influenza type B and hepatitis B, and any other vaccinations against vaccine-preventable diseases recommended by the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices.

Also under 8 U.S. Code § 1182 - Inadmissible aliens, no one can be admitted who has engaged in terrorist activities. Anyone who has fought against the Assad government, the legal, sovereign government of Syria, no matter how bad that government is, is a terrorist. 

(B) Terrorist activities(i) In generalAny alien who—(I) has engaged in a terrorist activity;(IV) is a representative (as defined in clause (v)) of—(aa) a terrorist organization (as defined in clause (vi)); or(bb) a political, social, or other group that endorses or espouses terrorist activity;(VII) endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization;(VIII) has received military-type training (as defined in section 2339D(c)(1) of title 18) from or on behalf of any organization that, at the time the training was received, was a terrorist organization (as defined in clause (vi)); or(IX) is the spouse or child of an alien who is inadmissible under this subparagraph, if the activity causing the alien to be found inadmissible occurred within the last 5 years,

There is law that authorizes specific paid for acts once refugee aliens have entered the USA. That law is 8 U.S. Code § 1522 - Authorization for programs for domestic resettlement of and assistance to refugees. Yet, there is nothing is this section law that authorizes Obama or any president to fund the transportation of refugees from their own countries.

No where in U.S. Law is Obama authorized to import anyone and then subsequently grant them refugee status. Obama simply lacks the authority to do so. In doing so, the ex-community activist agitator and higher education constitutional hack has violated both his constitutional oath and well as U.S. Public law.

If any president could transport refugees and transport any number of refugees as Obama intends to do, any president might transport a foreign-trained subversive force who could then lead an insurrection in effort to overthrow the Congress and the United States of America in a military coup d'etat.

Obama seems to be little more than a lame King George the Third.

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OBAMA FAILS TO PAY TAXES ON ALMOST 69 MILLION DOLLARS IN 2014.

Today, the propaganda agency for President Obama announced that Obama and Joe Biden, who is the vice-president of the USA, released the summary their income taxes. Josh Earnest, the propaganda agent claims Obama paid  $93,362 in total tax.



However, since Obama gets paid by Congress, it's comical to claim he pays taxes to Congress. Obama's salary for FY 2014 was $450,000. In effect, Congress reduced Obama's salary to $356,638. However, because Congress pays Obama, Obama didn't actually pay any taxes. Foolishly, Obama paid $22,640 to the State of Illinois.

What propagandist Earnest fails to mention is that Congress paid Obama an additional $68,560,000, to blow as living expenses. No charade of phony taxes were levied by Congress for this sum.

Congress gave Obama $55,110,000 to blow on the White House, another $12,700,000 to blow on his "Executive Residence" and another $750,000 to pay for plumbers, painters and electricians under the guise of "White House Repair & Restoration."

Congress was less generous to Joey Biden, giving him only another $4,520,000 in fun cash to blow.

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OBAMA AND HIS CONGRESSES HAVE STEERED AMERICA INTO A 1975 FORD ERA ECONOMY

Back in March 2009, former commercial banker cheerleader-in-chief, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke sat before the cameras of the propaganda arm of the establishment, the CBS Television show 60 Minutes. Looking into the cameras, Bernanke said, "I think all of our efforts, so far, have produced results...And I think as those green shoots begin to appear in different markets and as some confidence begins to come back that will begin the positive dynamic that brings our economy back...I do. I do see green shoots."



Some mocked Bernanke, but green shoots came. Those green shoots sprouted for three-fourths of a year between Q3 2009 and Q1 2010 with the economy growing at a true rate of 1.4% yearly. Before that moment, between Q4 2007 and Q3 2009, the economy had shrunk -19.2%, shrinking at a rate of -10.1% annually.

Then, those green shoots were trampled under foot. Between Q1 2010 and Q2 2010, the economy shrank -1.1%, effectively wiping out all of that green shoot growth as it shrank at a rate of -2.1%. On the heels of the quick trampling, the economy bounced back momentarily between Q2 2010 and Q3 2010, growing a scant 1.0% and at the annual rate of 2.0%.

And then came another big drop in the economy. Between the three years of Q3 2010 and Q2 2013, the economy shrank a massive -25.4%, shrinking at the yearly rate of -9.3%.

The economy saw a short-lived, half-year 1.5% growth between Q2 2013 and Q3 2013, growing at a yearly of 3.0%. This is likely why Obama took to bragging about his interference in commercial matters.

Since Q3 2013 until now, Q3 2014, the economy has shrank -6.9%, shrinking at a yearly rate of -5.6%.

Bernanke was chairman of the Federal Reserve when both peak true bank credit and peak true GDP hit, inflation to which he and his predecessor, Alan Greenspan failed to see. And then the collapse came when that peak credit inflation led to panic and crisis.

Between Q4 2007 until now, the economy has shriveled by a whopping -42.5%, shriveling up at the yearly rate of -7.6%. This shrinking has brought Americans back to a President Ford era economy when True GDP came in at $1,369.95 trillion annualized at the end of Q3 1975 and $1,407.60  trillion annualized at the end of Q4 1975.

Yet, there is a glimmer of hope. Q2 2014 True GDP tallied to  $1,395.79 trillion annualized and Q3 2014 True GDP tallied to $1,396.56 trillion annualized.

Rather than the earlier stalled recoveries, this one might be legit. Seeing True GDP stabilize might be a sign of a flattening bottom. And while the economy could chug along for a long time at this level, always there is hope for growth from a base.

It seems so unlikely for the economy to shrink much more than it has. At this point, I'd settle for a Reagan-era peak True GDP of $1,740.06 trillion annualized hit back in Q4 1984. Besides, I liked the 80s.





Enjoy!


To live between a rock and a hard place
In between time 
Cruising in prime time
Soaking up the cathode rays

To live between the wars in our time
Living in real time
Holding the good time
Holding on to yesterdays

You know how that rabbit feels
Going under your speeding wheels
Bright images flashing by
Like windshields towards a fly
Frozen in the fatal climb
But the wheels of time 
Just pass you by
Wheels can take you around
Wheels can cut you down
We can go from boom to bust
From dreams to a bowl of dust
We can fall from rockets' red glare
Down to "Brother can you spare..."
Another war
Another wasteland
And another lost generation

It slips between your hands like water
This living in real time
A dizzying lifetime
Reeling by on celluloid

Struck between the eyes
By the big-time world
Walking uneasy streets
Hiding beneath the sheets
Got to try and fill the void


And here is your 1984 bonus.

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WE INTERRUPT YOUR PROGRAMMING TO BRING YOU OUR LATEST WAR AGAINST ISLAMIC JIHADISTS, ISIS, OH AND SYRIA

This evening, Obama interrupted Americans to announce that Obama has agreed to involve the United States in a war against the unrecognized country of the Islamic State. As well, Obama has called for a war against the sovereign nation of Syria, a people who have done nothing against Americans.



Obama opened his speech with the Tricky Dick Nixon sounding, "My fellow Americans." Obama then went on to make the dubious claim that Americans are safer because of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If Americans are safer because of Iraq, then why is Obama calling for re-engagement in Iraq?

Foolishly, Obama said ISIS is not Islamic. Yet, the first I in ISIS stands for Islamic. ISIS is an acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

ISIS is the epitome of what it means to be Muslim and Islamic. According to the writers of Wikipedia, an Islamic state is a state that has adopted Islam, specifically Sharia, as its foundations for political institutions, or laws, exclusively, and has implemented the Islamic ruling system khilafah and is therefore a theocracy.

Sharia is the official basis for state laws in the following countries: Afghanistan (29.82 million), Iran (76.42 million), Mauritania (3.796 million), Saudi Arabia (28.29 million), Somalia (10.2 million), Sudan (37.2 million), and Yemen (23.85 million). Islam is the official religion of Pakistan (179.2 million) and its Federal Shariat Court has the duty of striking down any law not complying with the Sharia Islamic law.

Right now, roughly 24% of Muslims worldwide live under theocracy. ISIS has invaded Syria (22.4 million) and Iraq (32.58 million) to yoke another 3% under theocratic Islamic Law.

It's quite likely at least another 25% to 30% would like to live under Sharia law right now. So at least half of the so-called Muslim world favor the action of ISIS. That is a whopping 810 million on this earth or more than 2.5 times as many Americans favor living under an Islamic state.

In his speech, Obama listed the atrocities of ISIS — threatening those who are not Sunni Muslims with genocide, execution of prisoners, killing of children, raping of women, forcing women into marriages. In short, Obama pointed out that ISIS are Muslims who are carrying out Islamic jihad, though Obama failed to name it for what it is — Islamic jihad.

Only last Wednesday, Reuters reported on the father and brothers of a pregnant Pakistani woman stoned to death by them in broad daylight outside the Lahore high court in a so-called honor killing merely because the woman refused to marry her cousin in a marriage arranged by her father.

According to TheReligionofPeace.com, 

the Quran contains at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule.  Some are quite graphic, with commands to chop off heads and fingers and kill infidels wherever they may be hiding.  Muslims who do not join the fight are called 'hypocrites' and warned that Allah will send them to Hell if they do not join the slaughter.

In Frontpage Mag, Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam, wrote:

The distinctions between ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hamas, the rest of the Muslim Brotherhood or your friendly CAIR rep next door involve how to get to that endgame of a theocracy. Everything else is just tactics and details.
You’re not going to talk the other side out of their theocracy. ISIS believes that it’s already so near to the endgame that expediency is unnecessary. That it cannot be stopped. Which also means that ISIS cannot be reasoned with in the usual conventional ways.

Obama said, "the greatest threats come from the Middle East and North Africa," which is about the only claim Obama has right.  Almost everywhere you look on the earth, where there is significant conflict, you will find Muslims involved (see the CFR's Global Conflict Tracker and Wikipedia's List of Ongoing Conflicts). Muslim proclaimed terrorist and insurgent groups stirring up trouble and murdering innocents the earth over dominate the country-by-country listing of warring hot spots according to WarsintheWorld.com.

By laying out his plan, Obama announced that he shall command the U.S. Air Force to fly air strikes inside the sovereign borders of Syria. As well, Obama said he has been using the U.S. military to assist what he calls the "Syrian opposition." As Syria is a sovereign country, assisting rebels in a war is akin to assisting terrorists. Now, Obama has called on Congress for more spending to advance the cause of terrorists against sovereign Syrian government.

Obama was quick to denounce the Syrian president, Assad, who, quite likely is an evil guy. But Kim Jong-un, the leader of communist North Korea is a bad guy too and yet Obama isn't calling on Congress for war powers to topple him.

Americans shouldn't be on the hook to have the economy further wrecked because foreign policy wonks believe it's in the interest of U.S. registered corporate entities to control the Middle East. And as despicable as ISIS is, ISIS is a problem for the Saudi Arabians, the Kuwaitis, the Syrians, the Iraqis, and everyone else who lives in the Middle East.

Obama also has gotten it right when he said, "we cannot do for Iraqis what they must do for themselves, nor can we take the place of Arab partners in securing their region." The Sunni Saudis and Kuwaitis and their hated Shia neighbors, the Iranians, have the most to lose if ISIS were to prevail.

Many act as apologists for the warring, world-domination questing cult Mohammad created because of their anti-Christian or anti-Jewry ideological worldview. Often, such apologists are atheists or agnostics or suffer from silly-minded Western New Ageism fawning over eastern religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.

Mohammad's cult appeals to masses of ignorant men precisely because as cult members, they get to lord over their women, abusing their women with impunity, even though they continue to count little in the political establishment hierarchy.

When political leaders can't confiscate property through taxation because people have so little property (right of ownership) in so few possessions, politicians must resort to other means to appeal to would-be supporters. Under Mohammadism that appeal is made by conferring lording status to males over their households.

By their propaganda of "the religion of peace," Muslim leaders mean that all who remain will have peace when everyone believes as these leaders dictate precisely because everyone else who refused to join their cult will have been killed off. In their quest for Sharia rule, at least 800 million of the 1.62 billion Muslim world worship a devil of an idea, a Satan of a doctrine, an evil jinn that has no respect for individualism and self-sovereignty, no respect for free-will that many see given as a gift from an all-loving creator.

The right policy for the U.S. political establishment is to isolate Sharia-law Muslims from partaking in world markets and thus the world economy. It is time to block imports from all Sharia-law Muslim countries and prohibit exports to the same. It is time to isolate the violent Muslim world bent on control under the guise of jihad.

Instead, if the U.S. political establishment were to make peace with the Russians and then make the Russians Americans' biggest ally, Americans could isolate the whole Muslim Middle East, the source of worldwide craziness.

NPR has a transcript of Obama's speech.

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ILLEGAL SCHMEGAL. IT'S NO FUN BEING AN ILLEGAL ALIEN. OBAMA HAS BEEN WIMPY FOR OVER FIVE YEARS

Back on Oct 23, 2012, I wrote this for G+.

"I can promise that I will try to do it in the first year of my second term. The challenge we've got on immigration reform is very simple. I've got a majority of Democrats who are prepared to vote for it, and I've got no Republicans who are prepared to vote for it." ~ President Obama

Someone ought to tell the purported constitutional "scholar" that Obama can do something right now. According to Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, Obama has:

...Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

In short, Obama can pardon — grant official forgiveness for an acknowledged crime — and once he does, Obama waives all punishment for illegal aliens as lawbreakers. In turn, all illegals would need to do is to surrender to a government office and sign a confession for their crime of entering into the U.S.A. illegally. BAM! And then likely, illegals can get non-immigrant visas letting them stay in the USA for up to one year to get their acts together.

That Obama has not done so speaks to his craftiness of using illegal immigration as voting getting stance. Also, that Obama has not done so speaks to his cowardly ways as a purported leader.

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OBAMA JUMPS THE SHARK

Within the last few days, Obama had the audacity to boast this idiotic claim: "Let's look at the facts. Since I have come into office, there's almost no economic metric by which you couldn't say that the U.S. economy is better and that corporate bottom lines are better. None. In fact, our policies have produced a record stock market, record corporate profits, 52 months of consecutive job growth, 10 million new jobs, the deficit being cut by more than half, an energy sector that's booming, a clean-energy sector that's booming, a reduction of carbon pollution greater than the Europeans or any other country."

Obama seems to lack a suitable intellect to understand a rather easy concept. If you take one apple and cut it into 10 pieces, suddenly you don't have 10 apples. Before you is but one apple cut 10 ways.

With crazed quantitative easing, all Bernanke did was slice up the same apple. In nominal terms, there are more dollars, which is the same as more slices of the same apple. Since everything gets tallied in dollars, everything appears higher. However, nothing has risen.

In fact, the economy has contracted under Obama, significantly so. After removing the effects of more dollars and bank credits in circulation owing to Bernanke's crazed QE, True GDP has fallen every quarter of every year Obama has been office. You can see that reality in WHY ISN'T THE ECONOMY DRIVING ANYWHERE? THE CAPITAL ENGINE LACKS FUEL!

As well, the S&P 500 is far from its all-time high, which was hit way back in 2000. Stocks aren't even close to their 2007 peak. Stocks trade at 1996 levels. In S&P 500 AND THE DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE HIT ALL-TIME LIES! I have shown you this really. And for the same reason that nominal stock prices don't reflect reality, neither do corporate profits.

How is employment rate of prime age workers, 25-54 working out for Americans? In ALMOST 17 MILLION AMERICANS STILL NOT WORKING FOR A LIVING!, I show you the employment rate stands near 1993 levels. There are two full New York Cities not working today.

In EVERYBODY'S WORKING FOR THE WEEKEND, FOR LESS, I show true wages have fallen for years, especially under shark-jumping Obama.

If the economy is better as Obama idiotically claims, then why are there more than 46 million Americans collected food stamps (SNAP), a likely record? In TRUE STATE OF THE UNION: NIXON TO OBAMA. THE BIG PICTURE, I show you how the Undertow of Political Dependency, which reveals the sum of income of those getting paid by politicians whether by government employment or by welfare, hit an all-time high under Obama.

Back in June, in IT'S A RECESSION IN A DEPRESSION! RECESSION COMES TO AMERICANS LIVING DURING THE GREATEST DEPRESSION EVER, I showed you that in True Prices, commodity ETFs were way down. When key material commodities are low, that means production is way off.

In May, in EXISTING HOME SALES PROPAGANDA SPREADS AT A BIZARRO THEATER OUTLET NEAR YOU, I showed you the horrible state of residential realty and in June, in THE FANTASY PERFORMANCE OF BETTER CARS AND TRUCKS SALES HYPED THIS WEEK ON YOUR LOCAL BIZARRO THEATER STAGE, I showed you the sorry state of car sales.

By every economic metric the economy has not come close to recovery. Oh and Obama agreed with Congress to blow another $6.666 trillion during his painful five plus years. In U.S. CONGRESS HAS CROSSED THE RUBICON, DEBT 100% OF GDP, FOR REAL. Obama is the most fiscally irresponsible president presiding over the more fiscally irresponsible Congress perhaps ever.

If Obama believes what he says, then truly Obama wants to make himself appear to the world as an idiot. If Obama knowingly lies merely to help candidates of his political party in their upcoming November election, then Obama is pure evil.

Either way, Obama has jumped the shark.

Be sure to check out the Bizarro Theater series: True State of the Union. You should find it fascinating and shocking! Now enjoy Fonzie jumping the shark.

And everyone knows what a colossal train wreck Obamacare has been. Bizarro Theater has more than enough on Obamacare.

Oh and that carbon reduction has come from fracking and the switch to natural gas merely because nat gas is cheaper than goal to burn to generate electricity. It has nothing to do with Obama.

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OBAMA GIVES THE OK FOR MORE TERRORISM AGAINST RUSSIANS

President Urkel Obama has OK'd another round of sanction against Russians. This time Obama has approved of attacks against those Russians who earn their living through the firms Rosneft and Novatek.

Rosneft is the largest oil producer in Russia. Novatek is a  natural gas producer, primarily.

Let no one in America lose the significance of Obama's action undertaken from advice of his brain trust.

When someone or a group attacks individuals in effort to get those suffering from attacks to pressure their politicians for changes to political policy, all English speakers have a word for such attacks. All English speakers call those attacks by the word TERRORISM. Such is the picture-perfect definition of terrorism. Terrorism means living by striking terror into individuals to get them to pressure their politicians for change in political policy.

One would think in light of 9/11, no politician in the United States of America would be so stupid as to stoop as low as those who attacked and slaughtered 2,752 Americans through something as cowardly as terrorism.

Sanctions amount to terrorism. There is no getting around it. Harming individuals in hopes they turn on their own politicians is the exact purpose of every terrorist alive and of every terrorist who has ever lived.

Presidents ought to act and act decisively in the best interests for all Americans and not merely those profiting from oil or those profiting from banking through a unified Europe and so on.

Obama has the authority to send troops to Ukraine. Obama has the authority to order air strikes against so-called Russian-leaning "separatists" in Eastern Ukraine. So why does Obama act so cowardly, so gutless, so unmanly, so anything but presidential?

Why does Obama act like a terrorist? 

Why are untold and unwarranted taxes blown for military if presidents fail to use the weapons of war when negotiation fails?

Yet, what everyone should truly ask himself or herself is this:

Why should Americans care if five million or even 20 million Ukrainians become ex-Ukrainians and join up with the Russians? 

Americans are not affected by such a change at all. American politicians care because their financial bankers who have a vested interest in expanding the European Union or who have a vested interest in seeing Russians become weaker make them care.

What does anything about the Ukraine have to do with you? Nothing.

The more competition American firms face, the more efficient those firms must become and the lower the prices you shall see over time.

You should hope that many Russians rises to challenge American firms in commerce. You should hope that Germans do as well. You should hope that Indians do, that Brazilians do, that firms from people the earth over do.

The more firms competing for your wages, the more firms competing to hire you, the better your living shall become. The more firms that rise up and push aside government protected firms, such as the USA-based Fortune 500 firms, the better your living shall become.

Capitalism rocks. Crony politics sucks.

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THE MAD RUSSIAN SPEAKS. PUTIN SHARES THE RUSSIAN VIEW ON ACCEPTING UKRAINE SOVEREIGNTY.

Today, Bloomberg editors published another hyped piece about Ukraine. When speaking with reporters in Brussels, Obama said, “The G-7 nations are ready to impose additional costs on Russia. If Putin doesn’t take concrete steps to help end the rebellion in Ukraine. We will have a chance to see what Mr. Putin does over the next two, three, four weeks.”

Five years into the job and Obama still comes across as a rattled school teacher. Obama fails to cast an image of strength. Instead, Obama comes across as shaky and insecure.

Only two days ago, Putin said this to Radio Europe 1 interviewer Jean-Pierre Elkabbach and TF1 TV interviewer Gilles Bouleau on June 3 in Sochi.



Here are the key points Putin said:

• I’ve already told you and will say it again: we will respect the choice of the Ukrainian people and we will cooperate with Ukrainian authorities.
• Yes, we recognise its (Ukraine’s) sovereignty. Moreover, we’d like Ukraine to act as a sovereign state. 
• Joining any military bloc or any other rigid integration alliance amounts to a partial loss of sovereignty. But if a country opts for this and wants to cede part of its sovereignty, it’s free to do so.

Here are highlights of what Putin said on Ukraine:

• After the anti-constitutional coup in Kiev last February, the first thing the new authorities tried to do was deprive the ethnic minorities of the right to use their native language. This caused great concern among the people living in eastern Ukraine.
• I hope we are not on the verge of any war. 
• Second, I insist that people – wherever they live – have their rights and they must be able to fight for them. 
• Instead of continuing the debates by legitimate and diplomatic means, our European friends and our friends from the United States supported the anti-constitutional armed coup. 
• We were against this course of events but after the anti-constitutional coup...
• Well, we must always talk about peace but we should understand the causes and nature of the crisis. The point is no one should be brought to power through an armed anti-constitutional coup, and this is especially true of the post-Soviet space where government institutions are not fully mature. 
• When it happened some people accepted this regime and were happy about it while other people, say, in eastern and southern Ukraine just won’t accept it. And it is vital to talk with those people who didn’t accept this change of power instead of sending tanks there, as you said yourself, instead of firing missiles at civilians from the air and bombing non-military targets.
• There are no armed forces, no Russian ‘instructors’ in southeastern Ukraine. And there never were any.
• The Ukrainian government must now sit down and talk with their own people instead of using weapons, tanks, planes and helicopters. They must start the negotiating process.
• I didn’t say that he (Poroshenko) shouldn’t yield to US influence. He is free to accept any influence he wants. Ukrainians voted for him, and he is free to develop a policy. If he chooses to accept anyone’s strong influence, let him.
• Regarding Ukraine and military blocs, this is what worries us, because if Ukraine joins, say, NATO, NATO’s infrastructure will move directly towards the Russian border, which cannot leave us indifferent.
• It’s a delusion that Russian troops annexed Crimea. Russian troops did nothing of the kind.
• Russian troops were in Crimea under the international treaty on the deployment of the Russian military base. It’s true that Russian troops helped Crimeans hold a referendum on their (a) independence and (b) desire to join the Russian Federation. No one can prevent these people from exercising a right that is stipulated in Article 1 of the UN Charter, the right of nations to self-determination. 
• In accordance with the expression of the will of people who live there, Crimea is part of the Russian Federation and its constituent entity.
• We conducted an exclusively diplomatic and peaceful dialogue – I want to stress this – with our partners in Europe and the United States.
• In response to our attempts to hold such a dialogue and to negotiate an acceptable solution, they supported the anti-constitutional state coup in Ukraine, and following that we could not be sure that Ukraine would not become part of the North Atlantic military bloc. 
• There is a punitive operation launched by Kiev’s government against the country’s own citizens. 
• I think Mr Poroshenko, who has no blood on his hands so far, has a unique chance to halt this punitive operation now and start a dialogue with people in southeastern Ukraine.

Here is what Putin said on Russia:

• Well, a policy of expansionism and conquest has no future in the modern world.
• We will not promote Russian nationalism, and we do not intend to revive the Russian Empire. 
• We want to develop our country within our own borders, of course. But – and this is very important – like other countries in other parts of the world, we want to use modern policies to improve our competitive advantage, including economic integration. 
• Russia’s policy is based solely on its national interests. Of course, we take the opinions of our partners into account but we are guided by the interests of the Russian people.
• As for our [defence] budget, it has hardly grown in terms of percent of GDP, barely by one-tenth of a percent. But we want to rearm our army and navy based on modern, advanced technology, by reducing quantity and improving quality.
• The current regime is not connected to any particular person, including the incumbent President. We have common democratic state institutions, although they reflect Russia’s needs. 
• What are they? The overwhelming majority of Russian citizens tend to rely on their traditions, their history and, if I may say so, their traditional values. I see this as the foundation and a factor of stability in the Russian state, but none of this is associated with the President as an individual.
• We have many opposition parties, and we have recently liberalised the procedure for registering political parties. We have dozens of parties that participate in municipal and regional elections.
• Are there any restrictions in Russia? I don’t believe so. Some of our opponents say there are unacceptable restrictions. What kind of restrictions do we have? For example, we have banned the promotion of suicide, drugs and pedophilia. These are our restrictions. What’s wrong with that?
• That’s not true, we did not ban homosexuality. We banned the promotion of homosexuality among minors. You see, these are two different things.
• We banned only promoting homosexuality among minors. It is our right to protect our children and we will do it.
• I have great love and respect for Russian history and culture. But the world is changing and Russia is too. Russia is part of the modern world, not the world of the past but the modern world. And I believe it has an even greater future than some other countries that can’t take care of their young people, of the new generations, of their children, and believe that they can just let things slide.
• I believe that in terms of defence, Russia is without any doubt one of the leaders because we are a nuclear power and our nuclear weapons are perhaps the best in the world.
• As for the economy, we are aware that we still have a lot to do before we reach the top. Although lately, we have made major strides forward and are now the fifth largest economy in the world. It is a success but we can do more.

Here is what Putin said on the USA:

• As for my relations with Barack Obama, I have no reason whatsoever to believe he is not willing to talk to the President of Russia. But ultimately, it is his choice. 
• I’m always willing to talk to any of my partners, including President Obama.
• Of course, we can see attempts by the United States to pressure their allies by employing their obvious leadership in the Western community, in order to influence Russia’s policy.
• Speaking of US policy, it’s clear that the United States is pursuing the most aggressive and toughest policy to defend their own interests – at least, this is how the American leaders see it – and they do it persistently.
• There are basically no Russian troops abroad while US troops are everywhere. There are US military bases everywhere around the world and they are always involved in the fates of other countries even though they are thousands of kilometres away from US borders. 
• So it is ironic that our US partners accuse us of breaching some of these rules.
• I’d like to say, for reference’ sake, because only the analysts know this, that the defence budget of the United States, which we talked about only yesterday, is larger than the combined military budgets of every country in the world – every country – combined. So who’s pursuing an aggressive policy?

Here is what Putin said of himself:

• I have the trust of my voters. Over 63% of Russian citizens voted for me. 
• I believe I hold a national mandate to carry out domestic and foreign policy, and I will fulfil my obligations under this mandate.
• You know, I’m an adult and I know what power means in the modern world. In the modern world, power is mainly defined by such factors as the economy, defence and cultural influence.
• I would like to be remembered as a person who did his best for the happiness and prosperity of his country and his people.

Here is the full interview:


JPE / GB: Good afternoon Mr President. Good afternoon, President Putin. Thank you very much for agreeing to give this exclusive interview to Radio Europe 1 and the TF1 TV channel at your Sochi residence. On Thursday evening you will meet with President Francois Hollande in the Elysee Palace, and the next day you will attend the D-Day 70th Anniversary Commemoration. This will be your first trip to the beaches of Normandy, and you will be the first Russian President to attend the ceremony. What do you as a Russian citizen think about being invited to this exceptional ceremony?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: This will be an important event for Europe and the rest of the world. We will pay tribute to those who prevented Nazism from enslaving Europe, and I believe that Russia’s attendance is a momentous event. The thing is that Russia and the anti-Hitler coalition countries, including France, were allies in that struggle for freedom, and my country played a vital and maybe even the decisive role in defeating Nazism. But we’ll never forget the French Resistance fighters and the French soldiers who fought side by side with us on the Soviet-German front, which is also called the Eastern front. I believe that this should not only remind us about our history, but also help to promote our relations now and in the future.

JPE / GB: Of course, you and Russia will take your rightful place on the beaches of Normandy. You lived in the Soviet Union until you were 40, you saw its collapse, and now you are actively contributing to Russia’s revival. What would you like to see happen now? What are your goals? Is Russia’s strategy a path of dialogue or expansion and conquest?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Well, a policy of expansionism and conquest has no future in the modern world. We’re confident that Russia can and should be a partner with its traditional allies, in the broad sense, now and also in the future.

This is what we want, and this is what we will keep working towards. We see no other way to develop relations with our neighbours and all other countries.

JPE / GB: Do you want to defend the Russian nation or to become the symbol of Russian nationalism and the Russian Empire? We remember what you said about the Soviet Union’s dissolution. You said that it was the worst geopolitical disaster of the 20th century. You also said that those who do not regret the collapse of the Soviet Union have no heart, and those who want to restore it have no brains. You have brains. What do you propose: Russian nationalism, or the restoration of the Russian Empire to its previous borders?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: We will not promote Russian nationalism, and we do not intend to revive the Russian Empire. What did I mean when I said that the Soviet Union’s collapse was one of the largest humanitarian – above all humanitarian – disasters of the 20th century? I meant that all the citizens of the Soviet Union lived in a union state irrespective of their ethnicity, and after its collapse 25 million Russians suddenly became foreign citizens. It was a huge humanitarian disaster. Not a political or ideological disaster, but a purely humanitarian upheaval. Families were divided; people lost their jobs and means of subsistence, and had no means to communicate with each other normally. This was the problem.

JPE / GB: And what about the future?

Do you want to restore the empire within the former borders or do you want to continue developing your country within your own borders?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: We want to develop our country within our own borders, of course. But – and this is very important – like other countries in other parts of the world, we want to use modern policies to improve our competitive advantage, including economic integration. This is what we are doing in the post-Soviet space within the Customs Union and now also within the Eurasian Union.

JPE / GB: Mr Putin, we are now talking about why a neighbouring country, Ukraine, is being torn apart by war. There is no other word for it. Now pro-Russian forces want to breach Ukraine’s borders. Who can stop them and what is your policy?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I wouldn’t call them either pro-Russian or pro-Ukrainian. They are people who have certain rights, political, humanitarian rights, and they must have a chance to exercise those rights.

For example, in Ukraine governors are still appointed by Kiev. After the anti-constitutional coup in Kiev last February, the first thing the new authorities tried to do was deprive the ethnic minorities of the right to use their native language. This caused great concern among the people living in eastern Ukraine.

JPE / GB: You did not let this happen but are you saying that we are on the verge of another Cold War?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I hope we are not on the verge of any war. Second, I insist that people – wherever they live – have their rights and they must be able to fight for them. That’s the point.

JPE / GB: Is there any risk of a war? Now, as we see tanks on their way from Kiev, many people in France are asking this question. Were you tempted to send troops to eastern Ukraine?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: This is an interview, which implies short questions and short answers. But if you have patience and give me a minute, I will tell you how we see it. Here’s our position. What actually happened there? There was a conflict and that conflict arose because the former Ukrainian president refused to sign an association agreement with the EU. Russia had a certain stance on this issue. We believed it was indeed unreasonable to sign that agreement because it would have a grave impact on the economy, including the Russian economy. We have 390 economic agreements with Ukraine and Ukraine is a member of the free trade zone within the CIS. And we wouldn’t be able to continue this economic relationship with Ukraine as a member of the free trade zone. We discussed this with our European partners. Instead of continuing the debates by legitimate and diplomatic means, our European friends and our friends from the United States supported the anti-constitutional armed coup. This is what happened. We did not cause this crisis to happen. We were against this course of events but after the anti-constitutional coup – let’s face it, after all…

JPE / GB: But now we see so much tension in politics. Yet despite this, you will be in Normandy speaking about peace while Barack Obama keeps urging Europe to arm itself.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Well, we must always talk about peace but we should understand the causes and nature of the crisis. The point is no one should be brought to power through an armed anti-constitutional coup, and this is especially true of the post-Soviet space where government institutions are not fully mature. When it happened some people accepted this regime and were happy about it while other people, say, in eastern and southern Ukraine just won’t accept it. And it is vital to talk with those people who didn’t accept this change of power instead of sending tanks there, as you said yourself, instead of firing missiles at civilians from the air and bombing non-military targets.

JPE / GB: But, Mr President, the United States and the White House claim they have evidence that Russia intervened in the conflict, sent its troops and supplied weapons. They claim they have proof. Do you believe that?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Proof? Why don’t they show it? The entire world remembers the US Secretary of State demonstrating the evidence of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, waving around some test tube with washing powder in the UN Security Council. Eventually, the US troops invaded Iraq, Saddam Hussein was hanged and later it turned out there had never been any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. You know, it’s one thing to say things and another to actually have evidence. I will tell you again:  no Russian troops…

JPE / GB: Are you saying the US is lying?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: There are no armed forces, no Russian ‘instructors’ in southeastern Ukraine. And there never were any.

JPE / GB: So you do not want to annex Ukraine and you never tried to destabilise the situation there?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: We never did that. The Ukrainian government must now sit down and talk with their own people instead of using weapons, tanks, planes and helicopters. They must start the negotiating process.

JPE / GB: The new Ukrainian president was elected on May 25 through a democratic vote. Do you recognise Mr Poroshenko as a legitimate president?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I’ve already told you and will say it again: we will respect the choice of the Ukrainian people and we will cooperate with Ukrainian authorities.

JPE / GB: In other words, if you meet him on 6 June on the beaches of Normandy, and if President Hollande helps to make this meeting possible, will you shake hands with him? Will you talk with him?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: You know, I don’t plan to evade anyone. President Hollande kindly invited me as the representative of Russia to attend this commemoration, even though the event it will commemorate was tragic. I was pleased to accept his invitation, and I’m grateful to the President for inviting me. There will be other guests, and I’m not going to avoid any of them. I will talk with all of them.

JPE / GB: But will you meet with Poroshenko? You said you would only work with him on the condition that he would not totally yield to US influence.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I didn’t say that he shouldn’t yield to US influence. He is free to accept any influence he wants. Ukrainians voted for him, and he is free to develop a policy. If he chooses to accept anyone’s strong influence, let him. But I wouldn’t…

JPE / GB: Do you recognise Ukraine’s sovereignty and its neutral stance with respect to relations between Russia and the West?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Yes, we recognise its sovereignty. Moreover, we’d like Ukraine to act as a sovereign state. Joining any military bloc or any other rigid integration alliance amounts to a partial loss of sovereignty. But if a country opts for this and wants to cede part of its sovereignty, it’s free to do so. Regarding Ukraine and military blocs, this is what worries us, because if Ukraine joins, say, NATO, NATO’s infrastructure will move directly towards the Russian border, which cannot leave us indifferent.

JPE / GB: Mr President, Russian troops annexed Crimea recently. Will you ever give it back?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: It’s a delusion that Russian troops annexed Crimea. Russian troops did nothing of the kind. Frankly...

JPE / GB:  But Crimea has been included on the map of Russia, the kind of maps we used in school. It’s part of Russia now. What was it, annexation or reunification? Which word should we use?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: If you’ll let me finish, I think you’ll see what I mean.

Russian troops were in Crimea under the international treaty on the deployment of the Russian military base. It’s true that Russian troops helped Crimeans hold a referendum on their (a) independence and (b) desire to join the Russian Federation. No one can prevent these people from exercising a right that is stipulated in Article 1 of the UN Charter, the right of nations to self-determination. 

JPE / GB: In other words, you will not return Crimea [to Ukraine]? Crimea is Russia, is that it?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: In accordance with the expression of the will of people who live there, Crimea is part of the Russian Federation and its constituent entity.

I want everyone to understand this clearly. We conducted an exclusively diplomatic and peaceful dialogue – I want to stress this – with our partners in Europe and the United States. In response to our attempts to hold such a dialogue and to negotiate an acceptable solution, they supported the anti-constitutional state coup in Ukraine, and following that we could not be sure that Ukraine would not become part of the North Atlantic military bloc. In that situation, we could not allow a historical part of the Russian territory with a predominantly ethnic Russian population to be incorporated into an international military alliance, especially because Crimeans wanted to be part of Russia. I am sorry, but we couldn’t act differently.

JPE / GB: So, Francois Hollande has invited you to France, to Paris and Normandy. You know him very well. Can you move further forward, and can you describe your relations as confidential?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Yes, I think so.

JPE / GB: Do you think so, or are you sure?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I’ve always thought so. I see no reasons to think otherwise. We have very good interstate relations, but we have much to do yet to promote our economic ties.

But our personal relations have always been trust-based, which helps in work as well. I hope it will stay this way.

JPE / GB: You are talking about trust-based relations – both in defence and the economy. You have paid over a billion euros for two Mistral-class amphibious assault ships, and Russian naval officials are to visit Saint-Nazaire in a few days. Have you given them special permission to go to France?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I believe we are living in a civilised world and we will all continue to fulfil our obligations and contractual commitments. I’ve heard a lot of talk about these ships going to Russia and some people believe that Russia shouldn’t get them. You know, here in Russia we had a lot of opposition to this contract. France is entitled to decide against selling the ships, but in that case we should get out money back. This would mean that out countries won’t have an opportunity to develop ties in the defence sector – but overall we are ready to expand our cooperation and even to place new orders, if our French partners are interested.    

JPE / GB: Despite external pressure, you have asked France to supply these assault ships – and if France does it you may place other orders as well, right?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: We expect our French partners to fulfil their contractual obligations, and if everything goes as we agreed, we will not rule out the possibility of further orders – and not necessarily in naval shipbuilding; they may concern other sectors as well. Overall, our relations in this area are developing well, and we would like to continue strengthening them – in aviation, shipbuilding, and other sectors. We have successful cooperation experience in space exploration, at the Guiana Space Centre near Kourou.     

JPE / GB: Do you think France is a sovereign and independent state whose opinion is respected? What do you think of Germany? You speak with Angela Merkel in both Russian and German, while François Hollande doesn’t speak Russian and you don’t speak French. Do you have a common language of communication?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: The fact that I don’t speak French and Mr Hollande doesn’t speak Russian is not a barrier for us. It does not prevent us from speaking a common language, and we understand each other well even via an interpreter.

Speaking of the level of sovereignty, I will say it again – any country that becomes a member of a military alliance gives away some of its sovereignty to a supranational body. For Russia, this would be unacceptable. As for other countries, it has nothing to do with us. They have to decide such matters for themselves. In this regard, I think of the Gaullist tradition and General Charles de Gaulle, who protected France’s sovereignty. I think this deserves respect. And there’s another example: François Mitterrand, who spoke of European confederation, with Russia as its member. I think this opportunity still exists and we will have it in the future.

JPE / GB My next question concerns the United States. You will meet with Barack Obama in a few days, you will sit a few metres away from him. But he doesn’t seem to be willing to speak to you. What will this meeting be like and how will relations develop between the world’s richest country and its largest country? How can you avoid speaking to each other when there’s a real need for this since the war is not too far off?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Well, you’re exaggerating about the war being not far off. You seem to be feeling aggressive. Whatever gave you this idea, and why are you determined to frighten us all? As for... 

JPE / GB: Because Ukraine is near Russia.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: So what?

JPE / GB: And this is where the war is going on. When he mentioned the war, he said it is not far off.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: There is a punitive operation launched by Kiev’s government against the country’s own citizens. It is not a war between states, it is something entirely different. As for...

JPE / GB: Do you think it should be stopped immediately?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I think Mr Poroshenko, who has no blood on his hands so far, has a unique chance to halt this punitive operation now and start a dialogue with people in southeastern Ukraine.   

As for my relations with Barack Obama, I have no reason whatsoever to believe he is not willing to talk to the President of Russia. But ultimately, it is his choice. I am always ready for dialogue, and I think that dialogue is the best way to bridge any gaps. We have been in contact until now, we have talked on the telephone regularly.

JPE / GB: Russia and the United States are experiencing some problems. Are these problems between two powers or between two people, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Problems between countries always exist, especially between such big countries as Russia and the United States. There have always been some issues, but I don’t think we should go to extremes. At any rate, it wouldn’t be our choice. I’m always willing to talk to any of my partners, including President Obama.

JPE / GB: So you are willing to talk and you regret what is happening? But don’t you think the United States is trying to surround Russia, to make you weaker as a leader and perhaps isolate you from the world? You are being very diplomatic now but you know the facts.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Facts? You’ve said it yourself: Russia is the biggest country in the world. It would be very difficult to surround it, and the world is changing so fast that it would basically be impossible, even in theory.

Of course, we can see attempts by the United States to pressure their allies by employing their obvious leadership in the Western community, in order to influence Russia’s policy.

Russia’s policy is based solely on its national interests. Of course, we take the opinions of our partners into account but we are guided by the interests of the Russian people.

JPE / GB: Mr President, it is very convenient that you are meeting with Mr Obama on June 6. Perhaps, it would be worse if you were meeting with Hillary Clinton. Only a few days ago, she said that what Russia is doing in Eastern Europe resembles what Hitler was doing in the 1930s.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: It’s better not to argue with women. But Ms Clinton has never been too graceful in her statements. Still, we always met afterwards and had cordial conversations at various international events. I think even in this case we could reach an agreement. When people push boundaries too far, it’s not because they are strong but because they are weak. But maybe weakness is not the worst quality for a woman.

JPE / GB: Women must be respected, of course, and I’m sure you respect them. Do you think she went too far? There is a lot of mockery and cartoons in the media – including those showing you. What was your first reaction? Were you angry? Did you want to get back at her or laugh? We have never seen you laugh.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Someday I will indulge myself and we will laugh together at some good joke. But when I hear such extreme statements, to me it only means that they don’t have any valid arguments. Speaking of US policy, it’s clear that the United States is pursuing the most aggressive and toughest policy to defend their own interests – at least, this is how the American leaders see it – and they do it persistently.

There are basically no Russian troops abroad while US troops are everywhere. There are US military bases everywhere around the world and they are always involved in the fates of other countries even though they are thousands of kilometres away from US borders. So it is ironic that our US partners accuse us of breaching some of these rules.

JPE / GB: But you have taken some decisions regarding your defence budget. Are you as President taking any special decisions on security and defence now, because the general environment is more risky?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Regarding the defence budget. I’d like to say, for reference’ sake, because only the analysts know this, that the defence budget of the United States, which we talked about only yesterday, is larger than the combined military budgets of every country in the world – every country – combined. So who’s pursuing an aggressive policy?

As for our [defence] budget, it has hardly grown in terms of percent of GDP, barely by one-tenth of a percent. But we want to rearm our army and navy based on modern, advanced technology, by reducing quantity and improving quality. We have a relevant rearmament programme, and it was not adopted yesterday or in response to the Ukrainian crisis. It has been our policy, which we will continue to implement.

JPE / GB: Mr President, Syrian leader Bashar Assad has been re-elected president without much effort. Can you influence him? Can you ask him to order his army to stop its atrocities, to stop fighting their own people?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: All sides are guilty of atrocities there, but primarily the extremist organisations that are thriving in Syria. We are mostly worried about…

JPE / GB: Religious, Islamic [organisations]…

VLADIMIR PUTIN: …those organisations that are directly connected with Al Qaeda. There are many of them there, which no one tries to deny any longer. It’s a general fact. But we are mostly worried that the wrong action could turn Syria into another Afghanistan, a completely uncontrollable spawning ground for the terrorist threat, including for European countries. All the terrorists who are operating there now would eventually move to other countries, including in Europe.

JPE / GB: We don’t quite understand why you, Vladimir Putin, the man who wants to modernise Russia, support a person who is killing his own people, who is covered in their blood. How can this be?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I’ll explain very simply and clearly, and I hope that the majority of the French people who are watching and listening to this interview will understand me. We very much fear that Syria will fall apart like Sudan. We very much fear that Syria will follow in the footsteps of Iraq or Afghanistan. This is why we would like the legal authority to remain in power in Syria, so that Russia can cooperate with Syria and with ours partners in Europe and the United States to consider possible methods to change Syrian society, to modernise the regime and make it more viable and humane.

JPE / GB: I’d like to ask you about your country, Russia. How would you describe its current political regime? Some describe it as a democracy, while others argue that Russia is so huge that it needs an iron hand. How does Vladimir Putin define the Putin regime?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: The current regime is not connected to any particular person, including the incumbent President. We have common democratic state institutions, although they reflect Russia’s needs. What are they? The overwhelming majority of Russian citizens tend to rely on their traditions, their history and, if I may say so, their traditional values. I see this as the foundation and a factor of stability in the Russian state, but none of this is associated with the President as an individual. Moreover, it should be remembered that we only started introducing standard democratic institutions recently. They are still in the process of evolving.

JPE / GB: Can a person stand in opposition to the authorities in Russia without fear of losing his ties and reputation, without being punished?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: We have many opposition parties, and we have recently liberalised the procedure for registering political parties. We have dozens of parties that participate in municipal and regional elections.

JPE / GB But is it possible to be a personal opponent of Vladimir Putin without exposing oneself to risks?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: If you listen to some of our radio stations and watch some TV shows, I assure you, you are unlikely to find anything similar to this kind of opposition in France.

JPE / GB: There have always been periods of strict order and authoritarian power in Russia. But in the age of the Internet, can a country develop by restricting freedoms?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: It is impossible and we are not restricting the Internet. We have certain… You know, whatever we do, someone tries to find something that goes against democratic principles, including the Internet. Are there any restrictions in Russia? I don’t believe so. Some of our opponents say there are unacceptable restrictions. What kind of restrictions do we have? For example, we have banned the promotion of suicide, drugs and pedophilia. These are our restrictions. What’s wrong with that?

JPE / GB: And homosexuality. It is not pedophilia, it’s a different story.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: That’s not true, we did not ban homosexuality. We banned the promotion of homosexuality among minors. You see, these are two different things. In the United States, since we talked about it, homosexuality is illegal in some states. We impose no criminal liability whatsoever. We banned only promoting homosexuality among minors. It is our right to protect our children and we will do it.

JPE / GB: We would like to talk about the end of your term in 2018. We would like to talk about labour camps. We find such things surprising in the West. For example, Pussy Riot were sentenced to a term in labour camps, and it wasn’t just an ordinary prison. Will you close those camps by the end of your term?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: These are not camps. These are places where the inmates’ freedom is limited but they can live a more or less normal life. These are not prisons where people are not allowed to work.

Prisons where people can’t even work is the worst punishment you can think of. And I don’t think we should put all convicts in such facilities where people are deprived of their freedom. I think it is much worse than what you are describing.

JPE / GB: Who convinced you that you are carrying out a special mission for Russia?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Why do you think that I believe I’m carrying out a special mission? I have the trust of my voters. Over 63% of Russian citizens voted for me. I believe I hold a national mandate to carry out domestic and foreign policy, and I will fulfil my obligations under this mandate.

JPE / GB: Do you have a role model in the Russian history? Are you guided by Soviet or Russian politics?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I have great love and respect for Russian history and culture. But the world is changing and Russia is too. Russia is part of the modern world, not the world of the past but the modern world. And I believe it has an even greater future than some other countries that can’t take care of their young people, of the new generations, of their children, and believe that they can just let things slide.

JPE / GB: And the last question, Mr President. In 2013, Forbes rated you as the most powerful person in the world. Were you flattered by this title?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: You know, I’m an adult and I know what power means in the modern world. In the modern world, power is mainly defined by such factors as the economy, defence and cultural influence. I believe that in terms of defence, Russia is without any doubt one of the leaders because we are a nuclear power and our nuclear weapons are perhaps the best in the world.

With regard to cultural influence, we are proud of the Russian culture – literature, the arts and so on.

As for the economy, we are aware that we still have a lot to do before we reach the top. Although lately, we have made major strides forward and are now the fifth largest economy in the world. It is a success but we can do more.

JPE / GB: We don’t know yet how Vladimir Putin’s era will go down in history. What would you like to be remembered for? And would you like to be seen as a democrat or an authoritarian leader?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I would like to be remembered as a person who did his best for the happiness and prosperity of his country and his people.

JPE / GB: Thank you very much. Have a good trip to France, Mr President. Good-bye.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Thank you.

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