I can assure you, if Mr. Putin was a throwback to the good ol' days of Lenin and Brezhnev, you wouldn't hear a peep out of the liberals. 

For all the U.S. and European harassment of Russia, Russian is still effectively debt-free. It owes $150-billion. A fraction of the "federal" "reserve's" foreign debt. And half that owed by the province of Ontario. 

No wonder the liberals and neocons alike hate his guts.