When he first came to power the world leader Vladimir Putin most admired was Tony Blair. This fact is little known, rarely acknowledged, and frankly scary.
In fact, Blair was the very first foreign premier to visit Russia after he took power. Putin was still misleading the world that he would be a liberalising reformer. A naïve Blair bought the lie.
Then Blair lied to Putin over and over again.
Working with George W. Bush, Blair told the Kremlin he was certain Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It later came to pass Hussein did not.
In any case, Putin was …read more
Source: Middle East Monitor