West still in Fantasyland over Putin?
Has the West really comes to grips with the implications of the Russian police state's invasion and dismemberment of a major democracy -- Ukraine?
And would the Western press apply a little skepticism, please, to "polls'' showing an alleged 84 percent approval rating for Vladimir Putin? His regime controls ever more of the media in his country, and uses propaganda for domestic consumption with the skill of a Stalin and a Hitler.
The fact is that we don't really know how popular Putin is. We do know, however, that he is feared. People who oppose him can end up dead in "accidents.''