Vladimir Putin would make a far better President of the United States than Barack Obama.

Vladimir Putin addresses a Q and A conference in Russia. Photo courtesy Presidential Press and Information Office, Russian Federation. Released under CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported License by the Kremlin.

Forbes selected Vladimir Putin as the most powerful person in the world. This is one time our elected leaders should heed his advice. And not only our leaders, but every American citizen should heed his advice. It is a sad day when a Communist Leader makes more sense than most American politicians (and not merely the President).

Vladimir Putin lays it on the line

On 26 January 2012, Vladimir Putin made these introductory remarks to the Board of the (Russian) Federal Migration Service. Among other things, he boldly said, “Russia must not be a country that anyone can enter whenever and however he likes.” This excerpt gives the full context:

To be blunt, the problems and risks that have accumulated in this sphere are of concern to our society, and at times they are met with overt irritation. I have just told your chief what I know from my personal friends and acquaintances – people are trying to keep indoors during holidays in some big cities. This is very serious. We must pay attention to this and react accordingly. Let’s talk about this now.

Sound familiar? It should. Nearly four years later we hear that complaint, beneath the surface in America itself, and in the open in several countries in Europe. Later, Vladimir Putin proposed in detail:

On the whole, the adaptation of guest workers is a separate and comprehensive issue. We must create the conditions for immigrants to normally integrate into our society, learn Russian and, of course, respect our culture and traditions and abide by Russian law. In this regard, I believe that the decision to make learning the Russian language compulsory and administer exams is well grounded. To do so, we will need to carry out major organisational work and introduce corresponding legislative amendments. I’d like to ask the Federal Migration Service and other departments to submit specific proposals to the government. These proposals should be openly discussed with ethnic minorities as well as public and religious organisations. This should be mandatory for all guest workers regardless of their future employment.

Americans, take note.

An urban legend grew around Putin’s remarks. According to it, Vladimir Putin addressed the Duma on 4 February 2013. In this version Putin inveighed against “minorities” and “immigrants” and measured his words with less care than he did when he actually spoke to the Russian immigration service. Happily, we have his remarks. Putin spoke more like a statesman and less like a demagogue than the urban legend suggests. But he made his meaning no less clear for all that.

(CNAV tips the hat to Prof. Paul Eidelberg of Bar-Ilian University for alerting us to this story.)