Vice President Joe Biden: I looked into Putin’s eyes and told him he has no soul

[DonViejo]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Vladimir Putin has no soul, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden concluded after meeting with the Russian leader at the Kremlin in 2011, according to an article in the New Yorker published online on Monday.

Biden told the magazine about his 2011 visit with Putin, who at the time was prime minister, and said he found himself just inches away from the Russian leader.

“I said, ‘Mr. Prime Minister, I’m looking into your eyes, and I don’t think you have a soul,’” Biden told the magazine. “He looked back at me, and he smiled, and he said, ‘We understand one another.’”

Biden’s assessment is in stark contrast to that of former U.S. President George W. Bush, who famously said after his first meeting with Putin in 2001: “I looked the man in the eye … I was able to get a sense of his soul.”

-snip-

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/21/vice-president-joe-biden-i-looked-into-putins-eyes-and-told-him-he-has-no-soul/

[TwilightGardener]

1. Embarrassing. Why would any world leader say this to another?

What does it do to further our relationships with these countries? A nice reminder of why I supported Obama for President, and not Joe or Hillary (who said something similar as SOS, as I recall).

[Igel]

3. Dunno. Honesty is good, sometimes.

On the other hand, I think this is an attempt at retconning. Until the very recent past relations with the current administration have sometimes been tense with Russia but never hostile.

Hard to know if Putin thinks he has a soul or not. He was a good communist, but is a real friend of the Patriarch and the union of church and state. Russian-style, with the state firmly in charge of the church.

[wildbilln864]

4. +1!

[Dems to Win]

9. +1

[geek tragedy]

11. key part is Putin's response

“He looked back at me, and he smiled, and he said, ‘We understand one another.’”

Dude was not even fazed.

[Coexist]

12. its likely a play on GW Bush's eye/soul gazing with Putin

Bush: I looked in his eyes and saw his soul.

[bigwillq]

32. It was dumb then and it's dumb now (nt)

[hughee99]

13. +1

Wasn't Joe Biden's contribution to the ticket supposed to be his foreign policy experience? This is the sort of thing I'd expect one of *'s idiots to say. And even if he did say it in a private and candid moment with Putin, it's the sort of thing you keep within your circle, not brag about to the New Yorker.

[andlor]

26. +1!

[Ilsa]

2. Is this some sort of good-cop/bad-cop routine?

I wondered why saying that was important to Biden.

[GliderGuider]

5. Sounds like a clever technique for connecting with Putin (if that's possible)

Essentially, Biden was saying, "I see you, and I know you don't buy Bush's sentimental bullshit. Well, neither do I."

Putin may not have a soul, but that doesn't mean he's a rational man.

[samsingh]

6. Biden has a tendency to speak honestly and abruptly

I think saying that to Putin takes courage and shows Americans are not afraid to call it as it is.

[lululu]

16. good old Uncle Joe. The truthteller.

I find it refreshing.

We need more of that in politics instead of a bunch of lying weasels (no offense to weasels intended.)

Biden 2016.

[samsingh]

17. he's cool

[former9thward]

8. Was it at this meeting?

[hughee99]

14. Perhaps he's suggesting Putin should think about joining the church of Fonzie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Father,_the_Son,_and_the_Holy_Fonz

[former9thward]

15. Or perhaps it is simply "nations have no permanent friends and no permanent enemies

only permanent interests" -- Lord Palmerston.

[defacto7]

10. Simply a media opportunity.

It means nothing whatsoever. Otherwise Biden is trying to be a medium or something, I think not.

Both know there are brownie points to be made in each others public image. I think this kind of talk is a waste of time and an appeal to the unthinking.

[Sunlei]

18. Vice President Joe Biden knows evil really does walk the earth. I wouldn't have been so polite.

[tblue37]

19. My guess is that he said it as an inside joke between the two men, both

mocking GWB's sentimental foolish remark about seeing Putin's soul.

At the time, I bet the two men laughed together about the comment, but now Biden is revising its significance, suggesting that it was intended seriously at the time.

[yurbud]

22. if he actually said it, that would be about the only way it would be appropriate.

[magical thyme]

27. that's the only way it makes sense, but in that case

it's not appropriate to talk about it in an interview, and certainly not to suggest it was intended seriously.

Because other than as an inside joke, it comes off as juvenile. And personally, I'm not in the mood for "clever quips" from any fucking politicians, any more.

[murielm99]

20. Look at Scott Walker's eyes some time.

I think there is a lack of a soul there, too. His eyes give me a chill.

[yurbud]

21. that's just embarrassing. that's like Baby Bush level fucking embarrassing

if you can't talk like an adult, Joe, shut the fuck up.

[bemildred]

23. How juvenile. nt

[Hekate]

24. With Bush the Lesser, I never knew if he was deeply cynical or deeply stupid when he said that

The old KGB guy is a stone killer, that's what you see when you look into his eyes, and that's what he wants you to see.

All this being pals with the Patriarch is about political advantage, running the country, pulling the levers. It's useful. If it was not useful to Putin, he wouldn't be doing it.

Joe Biden is a mensch, through and through. He speaks the truth -- sometimes he blurts it out, but it's still the truth. He is calculated, as well; on the whole I'm pretty sure he knows exactly what he's doing.

[Lurks Often]

25. It isn't the VP's place to say something like that

it's bad diplomacy and a bad idea to potentially risk a grave insult to a major country's leader. I doubt Biden did the United States any favors by running his mouth off again.

I don't like Putin, but I understand he is going to what he thinks best for Russia and what's best for Russia probably isn't going to be something most Americans like or want to see. What is best for Russia isn't necessarily going to be what is best for the United States or Europe either.

[GOLGO 13]

28. Couple of things jump right out to me here...

1. Putin is the kind of guy that would take that comment as a bad-ass compliment. Biden being a tough guy himself "gets" it.

2. Biden has proven to be an excellent judge of charecter.

3. Biden in 2016. He knows he''ll run into Vlad again.

[sorechasm]

29. Proud to be a sociopath...

At least we know that Putin's not acting the part, he really believes in defining others by how much he is feared to get his way: "We understand each other."

Talk about juvenile. I don't think he was joking.

[Octafish]

30. Is happy ending. And now his son can sell fracking gas in Ukraine.

Hunter hates Russia Toady:

http://rt.com/business/158660-biden-son-ukraine-company/comments/page-2/

[bigwillq]

31. Ha. Another Biden Blunder, imo.

Childish, imo.

How does this promote world peace or strengthen relations with foreign countries? Nice move, BlunderMan.