Q&A: Putin Critic Weighs in on ‘Putin Interviews’ Series
As the dust from Oliver Stone’s politically explosive (or not, depending upon which American you ask) “Putin Interviews” begins to settle, Russian viewers were just finishing the concluding episode Thursday. In the United States, where the controversial series — four hourlong episodes — was made available to Showtime subscribers June 12-15, critics largely panned it as blatantly hagiographic. “Natural Born Buddies: The Shared Ideology of Oliver Stone and Vladimir Putin,” wrote the left-leaning New Republic; “Oliver Stone stinks” was the blunt summation of conservative Daily Caller blogger Jim Treacher, who described it as one of the only times he saw …