Putin lambasted the CIA for its astoundingly stupid handling of the pursuit of Edward Snowden - and he should know, he's a former intel man himself

With the 2016 Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum having recently concluded, we were once again privileged to witness Vladimir Putin's mad ownage skills on full display.

Now let's step back to the 2014 forum, and revisit another class act, witty rebuke by the Russian leader that brought down the house.

Putin was responding to a question about Edward Snowden, when he told the interviewer that in his opinion as an ex-KGB man, the CIA has handled its pursuit of Snowden with total incompetence:

[Snowden] ended up on our territory based on what I see as the unprofessionalism of the CIA who tried to catch him. I'm ex-KGB too, you know?

Choosing himself to remind everyone that he was KGB, was a brilliant aside from the man who the western media never tires of tarring with the "ex-KGB" brush. And since he's ex-KGB, well, then he ought to know CIA incompetence when he sees it.

Putin went on to detail how by telling the whole world about Snowden, the US government virtually guaranteed he'd be stuck in Russia, whereas if they'd just kept their mouth's shut, they could have tracked his plane and forced it to land - just as they so outrageously did to the president of Bolivia.

Then he went on the mock the West's incessant charges against Russia in the field of "human rights":

Russia is not the kind of country which expels fighters for human rights.

That one got a hearty laugh from the assembled audience. And far from cooperating with Russia, Putin said Snowden had not given them a thing:

Actually, he really should give us some secrets, that bandit, we gave him asylum! But he doesn't talk!

Vladimir Putin's wit will surely find plenty of useable material to come. The idiocy and hypocrisy of western leadership will make sure of that.