what if all this talk about the f-35 being crap has to do with some sort of russian propaganda aimed at shaping the public opinion in the west, which should eventually pressure the politicians to drop the idea of buying the f-35. Because what the "Internet Age" has taught me is that the world is not short of suckers, and russian propaganda knows it.
Think of it! Putin would have a much better sleep at night if the American allies and NATO members didn't have a stealth fighter/bomber able to penetrate the enemy lines without much problems and hitting the targets with high precision. The idea of f-35 and other stealth planes is to reduce some "costs", like political cost, while still exercising your geo-political control. For instance, the Europeans countries would never send a plane to east Ukraine if there is a chance it might be shot down. Imagine a European Prime Minister saying: "we sent a couple of ours f-35s, bombed the rebels, came back and opened the door for the Ukrainian army to reunify the country and bring peace"; to instead saying: "we sent a bunch of planes, some where shot down, some of our men were killed and the situation in east Ukraine is still not defined". The second sentence could translate into: "shit! I could lose the next election".
The russians might not admit it in public, but they are always scared about the western military superiority and economic power, particularly the USA. (Yes, I said economic power, don't fall for the BRICS bullshit, the economic fragility of these countries is nothing compared to the fragility, that of course exists, in the developed nations). They (russians) have their own stealth fighter project, the T-50, that seems not to be working properly, besides the fact they are short of money and had to drop the number of planes they initially planed to build for the Russian air force from 52 to just 12 now. Meanwhile the f-35 is about to hit the skies, and the Americans already have almost two hundred f-22 and and 20 B-2 on top of 10 nuclear powered carriers with a bunch of f-18.
So, I say it again, it wouldn't be surprising if the russian propaganda wants to shape public opinion to at least delay the acquisition of advanced stealth fighters/bombers by NATO members.