Voice of America News reports: “Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says U.S. economic policies amount to ‘hooliganism.’

Putin, in his annual address to the Russian parliament, said Wednesday that ‘everything is not so good for our friends in the States.’ He told the lawmakers to look at the U.S. trade balance in which the country imports more products than it exports, its growing long-term debt, and annual budget deficits.

He said Russia does not ‘have the luxury for such hooliganism.’ Putin said Russia has none of that and he hopes the country never will.

But he said that in difficult economic times the United States has ‘things easier,’ accusing the United States of turning on presses to print more money and flooding world markets with devalued dollars. The U.S. central bank is currently pumping $600 billion into the American economy through the purchase of government securities.

Earlier the financial services company Standard & Poor’s downgraded its economic outlook for the U.S. from ‘stable’ to ‘negative’ on fears that the White House and Congress may not be able to reach a long-term plan to reduce the country’s growing total of $14 trillion in accumulated debt…” (Putin did and said everything without naming or blaming our President. Our future looks bleak as one studies Revelation 18:10, 17, and 19.)

RIA Novosti reports: “Russia needs to be strong and avoid experiments with ‘unjustified liberalism’ in order to safeguard its sovereignty and prevent outsiders from dictating the country’s development, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.

In an annual address to parliament — his last as prime minister before legislative elections later this year and presidential elections early next year – Putin painted a glowing picture of his government’s performance in 2010, stressing achievements ranging from economic growth to new infrastructure and social development.

Putin set out an array of far-reaching goals that he said should see Russia emerge as one of the ‘top five global economies’ within the next 10 years.

‘In the modern world – if you are weak – there will always be someone who wants to come and advise you on what direction you must move in, what policies to pursue and the path you should choose for your own country,’ Putin said. ‘We must be independent and strong.’

The powerful Russian prime minister, who some analysts believe will bid to return to the Kremlin in 2012 and succeed his hand-picked successor, President Dmitry Medvedev, outlined a bullish agenda for Russia’s future political and economic development.

Putin did not directly criticize Medvedev, who is generally regarded as the more liberal figure in Russia’s governing tandem. But in his wide-ranging address, the prime minister made clear he had a clear vision about how Russia’s government should be run in the future and peppered his arguments with words often associated with his successor…” (Putin will undoubtedly be back in power when his chosen puppet is released during Russia’s next election. He could be the “Gog of Magog” during World War III – Ezekiel 38:1, 2, 8, and 16; 39:1, 2, 12, and 13.)