Back Story Newsletter
Good morning,
Putin’s Russia And Us
For more than 12 years I lived in Russia, and watched Putin’s evolution from stable, strong leader to where he is, and thus we are collectively, now squaring off against Russia.
As a journalist I covered his every statement and move as he slowly reined in a new democracy after the fall of the Soviet Union, to todays police state that has strangled freedom and debate and I think reality.
I can’t say for sure what got Putin to his current state, whether it was the fact he couldn’t diversify the economy, or rein in kleptocracy in his rather wide inner circle. Or he got sick in the pandemic and isolation led to madness. But to a degree that’s all history except the madness part.
All that matters right now, is what he intends to do to Europe and the collective west, and what we need to do to protect ourselves.
This week a couple of stunning statements deserve much note and to minimize them would be to underestimate the threat to Europe.
Putin addressing the 350th anniversary of Peter the Great said it was impossible to build a fence around Russia. But he also gave us a clue what he intends for Russia and us.
"Peter the Great waged the Great Northern War for 21 years. It would seem that he was at war with Sweden, he took something from them," Putin said. "He did not take anything from them, he returned them" referring to lands claimed in that long war.
"Apparently, it also fell to us to return [what is Russia’s] and strengthen [the country]. And if we proceed from the fact that these basic values form the basis of our existence, we will certainly succeed in solving the tasks that we face," he continued, referring to the invasion of Ukraine and perhaps beyond.
That statement makes Putin a clear and present danger to us all, and one that can no longer be left to weekly mood swings by Germany and France and others on weapons and support for Ukraine.
As the former British head of the army Gen Lord Richards noted there is no long term strategy and there needs to be one when it comes to Russia. Richards said the British government had adopted a “let’s see how it goes strategy” and was failing to show “decisiveness”.
Statements by Russian allies of Putin are even more disturbing especially coming from a former fill in President of Putins, Dmitry Medvedev, who was once thought to be a liberal successor.
“People often ask me why my Telegram posts are so harsh. The answer is, I hate them. They are bastards and geeks. They want death for us, Russia,” he wrote.According to him, he will do everything "to make them disappear."
Medvedev was presumably referring to Ukrainians, although he seems to share the same sentiments for European nations and NATO countries.
The statement puts Medvedev in the genocide category, with a wish to make 44 million people “disappear” and is shocking on every level to any normal person reading it.
It also gives you a very candid representation of the brain function and thought processes of those in the Kremlin, and what kind of wacky information they consume and immerse themselves in, unless they just say this as an excuse for leading Russia no where?
In Putin’s and Medvedev’s world, ‘out there’ is a world of conspiring saboteurs and traitors all working to hurt Russia. It’s genuine angry, imagined, spoon fed hatred dished out presumably by the intelligence services that keep themselves in power by over exaggerating the threats from the west.
Regardless, all of it needs containment and we need to defend ourselves from it and Ukraine is the front line for us all.
If you don’t see this war expanding beyond Ukraine consider the fact a draft bill submitted to the Russian State Duma calls for repealing the resolution of the Soviet Union State Council “On Recognizing the Independence of the Republic of Lithuania”.
The bill was drafted by a member of the United Russia party, Evgeny Fedorov.
The Baltics are the most vulnerable to Russian aggression, and there are calls for more NATO reinforcements including permanent bases, instead of the current rotational battle groups. But at least they are protected by Article 5 of NATO which means if attacked, all of NATO would defend.
Putin has succeeded in rattling the region so much Sweden and Norway, are seeking NATO membership.
All of this could de-escalate if Putin wished it too. He doesn’t as can be seen by his unprovoked invasion and brutal campaign in Ukraine, and his refusal to withdraw forces.
We are on a long road of conflict with no end in anyones sight. Putin is not a reincarnation of Peter the Great as he wildly imagines, but the fact he says it, tells the west a more serious long term strategy needs to be designed, not to fence in Russia, but to more quickly defeat Putin’s war in Ukraine before the Kremlin gang dreams of expanding it westward.
Dana
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