Come back and talk to me when we have seen multi-generations of Putin's heirs rule like the Roosevelts, Kennedys, Bushes for 50 years plus. Ruling aristocracies don't happen overnight.
7
This article almost celebrates and praises one of the most diabolic and ruthless rulers in modern history. He is only “popular with Russians because he has thrown just enough crumbs to Russian citizens to keep them ignorantly happy but make no mistake . Putin would throw anyone on the train tracks for his power, including the entire EU and USA.
11
Ironic that Putin calls the west "infertile," as he heads a country whose population has been declining for many years.
8
My dear god, those matryoshkas!! I can only hope that the curators from the Museum of Bad Art (it's a thing, look it up) are already on the plane to Moscow.
Hey, did anyone else notice that it is Mr. Trump riding that bear with (and, deferentially, behid) Mr. Putin?
4
It is worth noting that Mr. Putin spreads much of his poison via agitprop on social media, promulgated by Russian trolls.
Russian trolling is a huge operation that has affected many outlets - Facebook, Twitter, and the commentary features of major American newspapers.
If you simply look at what posts readers favor in this newspaper, it is those posts which are the most incendiary, the most divisive, the most anxiety provoking.
This is a deliberate strategy of the Russian Federation's troll army.
Caveat emptor!
7
You are absolutely right about the trolls. Lots of press on this in relation to Facebook and Twitter - we now know they are entirely manipulated. But it’s also true that the comment sections of major news organizations have been infiltrated. This has not been adequately covered. And the news people have very thin technical capabilities compared to the big tech firms. Take a look at any article about Russia in the FT, for example. The Russians are all over it. Here too as you point out.
1
Ah, such world weary revisionists (and a few Russian trolls for good measure) here in this comment section.
Here are the simple facts : Vladimir Putin is:
1. Determined to revenge the collapse of his Soviet Union and return it to its power & glorious USSR heights -- as he perceived it.
2. His approach and methods are that of a mobster kingpin steeped in KGB methodology.
3. Russia could have rebuilt itself as a strong, vibrant and creative nation state. Putin could have engineered a more open, balanced society. Instead, he expediently fell back to what he knows best : repression, intimidation and short vision cleverness.
4. Russia is, at best, a two legged stool. The West needs to ratchet up the economic sanctions and close off access to international banking. Prevent travel of Russian oligarchs. Seize their properties abroad -- sell it to wealthy Asians, Indians, Saudis, etc.
5. Putin 'weaponized' the post-Soviet mob/oligarch money by sending it abroad to Europe and the U.S.
6. It's time to send it/them back to him, to Mother Russia. Rats in a tight, enclosed space devour themselves.
16
After we take care of the Republicans we need to crush him (economically), I know innocence Russians will suffer but I do not see a choice.
6
It seems simpler to me than this. Whatever racist, nationalistic script Putin and Putin wanna-be's use to con their people, the not-so subtle message Putin whispers in the ears of would-be "strongmen" is the certainty of acquiring massive wealth. Corruption, theft of national treasure.
Putin heads a kleptocracy; he is the Kleptocrat-in-Chief and model for Orban, Trump, et al.
8
Russia is the final proof that smart institutions not smart people make a great economy and a free people. Trump looks towards the wrong sources of inspiration.
5
Let’s see: Russia has a GDP smaller than Italy’s, less than one-tenth the size of the U.S., and with a declining population about 10% the size of China. The average man lives to be 64. Of course, unlike Italy, which produces Ferrari cars, Gucci bags and some of the planet’s best food and wine, Russia is - as John McCain said - a glorified “gas station” in a world where fossil fuels are a diminishing asset. It’s people have no free press, no right of assembly, fixed elections, and the pursuit of happiness is best characterized as another glass of vodka. Its Olympic athletes are state-sponsored cheaters. Its best and brightest spend their time hacking into computer systems instead of building them. It supports and enables ruthless dictators, killers like Assad and Kadyrov. Its leadership is narrow minded and intolerant : homophobic, anti-Semitic and misogynistic. And presiding over this Garden of Eden is Vladimir Putin, who will likely either die in office or be carried out with a bullet in the head, having been betrayed by one of his fellow countrymen. What a great place!
23
Well he sure has a fan in "The Donald." I wonder if the Russians will blame the U.S. for interfering in their election. I would lie to see a full investigation.
2
Russians have put Putin back in office. A known devil is better than an unknown one, Russian people ae not are enemies and we need to have good working relation with Russia. So what are our options?
4
After Boris Yeltsin Putin stabilized Russia and the average Russian people like what he accomplished. Who are we to judge whom they should vote for?
We have a president not elected by the majority of the people. We have gerrymandering and lots of obstructions to prevent people from voting and claims of millions of people voting illegally. Our MSM toes the government line, just as the Russian and all the European media does.
We have a Democracy controlled by money, our own oligarchs like the Mercers and the Koch brothers and all the flaky billionaires of the Trump administration.
Why do we think we have the right to sit in judgment of another nation. The Russian people don't like to be slandered and denigrated either. Russia has done nothing to the USA so why do we manipulate public opinion against Russia? Informed people know that our government will lie and deceive us, our government will break international law and invade other nations killing millions of people in the process.
6
The West should have been more aware of spreading the cause of human rights and freedoms over and above economic interdependence and trade. There is no way Putin should have been allowed to run rough shod over his people, the free press, and the Crimea without something at stake to him and his ,personally. Anymore, than the Chinese leaders during the massacre of Tianamen Square or the squashing of minorities anywhere, should be overlooked while capital flow and trade increase to these same perpetrators. When our troops fought in WWI and WWII, it was with the philosophy that the opposing side was not only killing innocent lives but killing the concepts of human dignity, rights and freedoms that we enjoyed in America and the West, that we believed we all should earn as children of God. Capitalism wasn't the god it is today then, and families' valued having and caring for others, more than having more stuff. Don't be fooled Trump fans, if it is happening in America to others, it can happen to you! If you allow our "so-called" president the power over our laws to do as he pleases, we will become like Russia, and as this article title indicates "The Poison Spreads".
3
With Russia's evil actions in Britain, clearly sanctioned by Putin (and the oligarchs around him), the West must defend itself. The EU and US should declare Putin and his associates persona non grata, seize their properties in the UK and US, and file charges against them in the World Court. Unless Putin is put on unequivocal notice that such actions will not be tolerated he will push the envelope to see what he can get away with.
5
Marionette Vlad Putin's very favorite dancing puppet is President Donald J. Trump.
6
I think Kasparov overstated the West's infatuation with the West. They liked him for a few months, at most, but it only took a few meetings to reveal that he was little more than Comrade Putin. Russia had that window of possibility when the Soviets were finally bounced, but its institutions sadly failed it. Russia now seems headed for an endless reign of totalitarianism. This is a country that has never had a democratic form of Government, and Putin is merely the latest to exploit that environment. Russia is a great culture, and it is sad to see its Government institutions behave in such repetitive fashion.
3
Since 1826 Russian leaders are of the opinion that the most important thing for a properly functioning state is a good secret police; snitch, cheat, suppress, incarcerate, kill, and first and foremost disinform (i.e. lie), in order to prevent the development of an informed civil society. Mr. Putin of course comes from a KGB background, meaning he believes it even more. As long as this persists Russia will not see any real changes, or only after catastrophidc events like in the First World War, and then not necessarily for the better.
16
One might argue we have similar but smaller but growing information corruption issues. Our media seems as ideology ourmotivatrd as it is information motivated. Our deeply embedded political establishment appaers to use investigations, surveillance, and information leaked from them for political ends with the most obvious being the multiple collusion investigation none of which, after extensive time and covert surveillance have publically disclosed no illegal collusion invoving the campaign. However, much bad press has been generated, non collusion charges have been filed, much information has been collected from the Trump Admin and many have endured huge legal costs.
Yes, we can throw stones at Russia but we seem to be moving in that direction.
Can anyone name a top main stream media source that is not biased? An administration focused investigation, congressional or otherwise that was not biased both in the investigation and the coverage?
3
We do have the CIA to do the dirty work, They are the people organizing coups, assassinate people and organize opposition to governments we don't like, with money and weapons. President Bush Sr. at one time was the head of the CIA. The CIA is at least as good as the former KGB and the current Russian agency. They know how to hack computers and meddle in elections.
5
Trump must had called his Russia handler, Putin, to personally congratulate him. Trump probably mulls in private on how he could duplicate Putin's regime here in America. Yes, folks it could happen for no democracy is eternal. We already see signs of it already; a president who attacks the media and opponents alike through social media[Twitter],a political party[GOP] that acts as a rubber stamp for his policies, and a political base so thoroughly brainwashed they can no longer view their hostage taker[Trump] through an objective lens. A corporate media outlet[Fox News] that morphed into a state run propaganda arm for Trump. They will not run a single negative story about Trump and rather engage in every conspiracy theory as if it is fact. The only thing missing is a 'crisis' where Trump can grant himself the title 'President for Life' while indefinitely suspending national elections or only having one name on the ballot like they do in Russia.
13
We are really in no position to sit in moral judgment of Putin and Russia.
He is a hard-nosed politician and works in the interest of Russia as he sees it, Russia first, he wants to "make Russia great again", just like President Trump's MAGA.
3
How many decades had the USSR and modern Russia committed atrocities, purges, hostile takeover of governments, assassinations, kidnappings and on and on which were met with shrugs at best and outright denials or mocking by the very same people now who *finally* are ready to look critically at Russia?
How many left wing US journalists were lining up to be on RT for this or that propaganda piece about the evils of the US and the west? None of this sparked the slightest outrage from the people now suddenly anti-Russian hawks.
The message seems to be: anything is excusable, short of undermining a politician with a D next to their name. I am just not buying this sudden change of heart.
3
"He soon soured on European institutions, including NATO and the European Union..."
We would more than sour if China or Russia set up scores of ABM sites on the Canadian and Mexican borders.
7
Someone told me, Trump soured on European institutions and NATO the day he was sworn in. He would like to break up the EU by supporting BREXIT.
2
I wonder if Trump is as frightened of Putin as he is of Mueller. Poison or penitentiary, Donald?
12
I've been wondering this, too.
2
Not nearly as afraid as those refusing the face the reality of life: Trump is president for the full 4 years, like it or not. Clinging to this delusion that a impeachment is going to happen is unhealthy and folly. It will help no more than the ill-fated money waste that was the recount. Come to terms with reality, like an adult.
Putin is nothing but a thug and that is why Trump likes him.
10
Answer to "romantic idealization"--A long-due Analysis/Survey?
1 Under Putin's rule, to what degree the Russian TQL has improved?
2 By what percentage the wealth of Putin/followers has increased?
3 Have the Oligarchs benefited from his rule?
4 Internationally, are there people/governments who have helped Putin in his rule/misrule?
5 Has the international media been dealing with these questions judiciously?
2
Great, apply that to the USA administration and Congress...
3
My goodness! Why in the world is Mr. Putin a hero for Mr. Trump? And why has Trump done nothing to protect the United States from ongoing and future information warfare by Putin?
Putin has imposed "state control on the media." He has stifled "dissent on the streets and online." Russian presidential elections are now a sham ritual. Putin and his friends have stolen billions from the Russian people. Putin's political enemies are imprisoned or assassinated.
6
Our media is under control of the corporations that control our government. Our oligarchs are looting the nation under our very own eyes. Our CIA is operating worldwide, any bet, they are hacking the Russian and the European and the Chinese computers too. They even listened in to Angela's phone.
If we go to war our oligarchs make the money and the people will die for them.
3
"Voter malaise" - it will be interesting to compare the percentage of voter turnout with elections in US/UK. Putin is no "colossus" but the election will show whether he has "clay legs". The author mentions the country`s stagnation in the 1980`s and the "underlying weakness" now but he fails to to describe the shocking 90`s when ordinary Russians lived in dire poverty with homeless children living on the streets and vying with wild dogs for scraps of food while "oligarchs" grew rich by stealing the the natural resources and industries. But "perception is more important than facts" and "fake news" was not invented by Russia but was evident in reports on Tonkin, on WMD in Iraq and the reports of an impending massacre of Libyans by Qadaffi. One should examine one`s own conscience -and one`s country`s history - before judging and condemning others.
4
Putin is winning on so many levels. He will be re-elected without any American interference in his elections . He has cyber control of our nuclear power plants and more and we have a cowardly liar and blow hard as our President. Trump does not get it. There is no red line and even he has to obey the law that he thinks he is so far above.
5
He is doing what we can do too. We have cyber control of the Russian nuclear power plants too. Really, we have seen no credible evidence of that only allegations, the same is true with the allegations of poisoning the double agent and daughter in GB. Just lies, like the tale about Obama being born in Kenya, no BC, but a real BC people did not believe. There are the WMD confirmed by all the intelligence experts in GB and the USA.
1
Why do we again hear that Putin "tried" to tip the scales in an American election?
He succeeded, obviously. (Of course, he could not have had a chance of success if our society were not already diseased.) This cowardice masquerading as journalistic objectivity is disheartening.
4
My takeaway from this is that there is too much personal demonization of Putin, nasty though he can be, and not enough analysis of how the west is culpable fro some of the problems.
We celebrated the looting of public property under the drunken Yeltsin, creating the oligarchs that undermined hopes of democracy and weakened the social safety net there. We took advantage of Russian weakness to expand NATO to Russia's borders, tempting perhaps fro the short-term but without thinking of the long term reaction. We helped overthrow an elected, if unpopular, pro-Russian government in Ukraine. Understandably, Russia would not stand for losing their important naval base in Crimea. And while the US has gone ahead making Iran a major enemy while strengthening their had by overthrowing Iraq's Sunni leaders, the Russians have found a way to get along with Iran, Syria, Israel, Turkey while the US backs one of the world's most repressive regime in Saudi Arabia. Sad!
We really belw an opportunity to reset international relations for the better.
12
What is most disappointing to me is the hand the White House had in rejecting the many (relatively) genuine offers of assistance made by Iran to the Bush Administration after 9/11. Iransaddam’s had been absorbing hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees (up to 2 million without any or little international assistance) since the Soviet invasion in 1980, up to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and the arrival of al-Qaeda’s state within a state. Iran did this while fighting Saddam’s Iraq—with its western assistance—singlehandedly from 1980-88.
Iran was willing to overlook how it had been treated by the US after 1989 and work with the Bush Administration to defeat the Salafi terrorists taught and created by the Saudis, a most passive-agressive regime.
America has a red line for everyone for WMD and chemical warfare except......Russia and us! Russia is using the deadliest chemical weapon there is now - Novichok banned even in war. And we used the deadliest chemical weapon of Vietnam era - Agent Orange. And the rest of the world looks on making a few squeals. I know I will get a lot of dislikes and hate if this comment is published but is it not the truth if we are honest with ourselves?
2
The man who created Novichok now lives in the United States. There is no evidence that the poison even exists and was ever produced. IF it does exist it would be available to other nations, not just Russia. For all we know it is a hoax, the British have produced not a shred of evidence, did not supply international scientists a sample to study, breaking international law.
The first word of your dramatic opening sentence should have been 'Trump' and not 'He'. Then it would have made sense.
As fore the erst of the paragraph:
"Annexed a chunk of Ukraine ..." (Without bloodshed, which is more than can be aid for the attempted annexation of Iraq and the destruction of Libya, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen by the U.S. and its proxies).
And so on. It looks different from the victims' viewpoints.
4
Putin clearly has his hands on the levers of our government. He effectively picked Tillerson to be Sec State, knowing that Tillerson stood to make over a hundred million should the Obama sanctions be lifted and the half trillion dollar deal with Rosneft, that Tillerson negotiated, be completed. Should that ever happen, Putin has billions to steal. Earlier this month Exxon withdrew their offer to Rosneft and Tillerson's usefulness to Putin ended. Tillerson speaks out against Russia and is fired within less than 24 hours. Tillerson was in no fashion qualified to be Sec State, and probably had the greatest conflict of interest in American political history by standing to reap huge financial rewards by helping to lift the sanctions. McConnell shoved him through the confirmation process without proper examination and debate. McConnell received 3.75 million from a Russian oligarch, who matched that number with other R's. Nothing to see here, eh?
10
alas, not so amorphous, see your own words "model," repeat "model for protecting national sovereignty..." rather single minded and focused seems to this reader.
He has been successful because he is a terrorist in his own country. He has run a virtual mafia state and has used old fashioned techniques of his KGB background, including torture, execution, denying the legitimacy of the press, arrested, beaten, and killed dissident citizens and journals, expelled journalist who disagree with him to milk his people of their liberties and wealth to enrich his bully cronies. He doesn't represent the good Russian people - he is a dictator of the highest order. Unfortunately, the Russian people and the rest of world have to deal with the consequences of his fascism.
3
The oligarchs already reeling from sanctions and sweating a backlash from the Russian populace over the economy seriously considered whether he was worth propping up any longer. Strange how the only real threat is from a member of the Communist Party. So maybe we are better off if Vlad stays in another term. Then again they elite oligarchy) may change their minds yet.
1
Why NYT persistent in demonizing Putin? When a nationalist leader such as Putin emerges USA media tends to immediately categorize as dictator. I don’t recall reading on the NYT about the dark influence of the Koch Brothers, they bring their destructive agenda creating NGO in developing nations. Look Brazil, the Koch Brothers were able to “impeach” Dilma Rouseff, as a result buy large stakes at Petrobras. Putin is way smarter than other leaders, he was able to keep accountable those foreign destructive NGO poisoning Russian politics.
8
The triumph of one Vladimir Putin is nothing more than the resurgence of the classic Soviet aparatchik. All of the men who currently run Russia came of age in The USSR, they remember how it operates, and THAT is all they know. Their only concession from USSR 1.0 to USSR 2.0 is their embrace of classical cutthroat (literally, mess with them and they will cut your throat) capitalism.
But the face of today's Russia is Putin, who, in particular, is an ex-KGB spy who once operated in the netherworld of USSR syp networks, witnessed the collapse of the USSR, and then through some twists of fate the man who once supposedly described communism as "a blind alley, far away from the mainstream of civilization" became the leader of the new FSB syp agency and then upon the resignation of Boris Yeltsin, be became leader of Russia.
Nice professional trajectory, no? The aparatchick / spy / statesman sees fit to run things the only way HE Knows. And the only way he knows others understand. The scary part is he hasn't left the spymaster behind because it appears he thoroughly enjoys settling grievances by murdering other Russian former spies with impunity.
4
Putin: "Make Russia Great Again"
Putin has many disciples.
Trump: "Make America Great Again"
Duterte: "Make Philippines Great Again"
Erdogan: "Make Turkey Great Again"
6
A criminal enterprise is easier than a legitimate one. A lazy way of doing business. Kill opponents, steal, bribe. Putin is the indisputable criminal alpha male of the wolf pack. A super Don of the mafia. Everything is in Putin’s favor much like a Vegas crap table. The real losers are the stifled Russian abilities and achievements that could be so welcome in the legit world. Trump is the perfect candidate for Putin. The results are bearing fruit. Chaos and disorder on the American team. A trump win is a Putin win.
12
Assisted, in no small part, in that our (USA) so-called elected leader endeavors to take our country downwards to the same model.
23
Maybe (I give you that many far-right politicians from the West take Putin -- or a romanticized figure of Putin -- as the ideal model of the modern leader).
But, let's be real: if it wasn't Putin, it would be someone/something else.
Truth is the West is in decline, and, when societies are in decline, they are declining. Of course that no society (i.e. the elites of such societies) don't like to see themselves gone, so they'll do whatever it takes to preserve their respective orders.
That doesn't mean it is necessarily bad for humanity as a whole: the West itself has been brutal in sponsoring liberal dictatorships in Latin America and liberal-theocratic regimes in the Middle East. To say the Western World Order has been good for the vast majority of the world population is pure fantasy.
9
Well, I wouldn't call Chilean, Nicaraguan, Paraguayan, South Korean, Angolan, Mozambican dictators "liberal". I suspect most of the readers here (myself excluded) consider themselves "liberal" and would NOT support such regimes. Oh, wait, they do support the US adventures in Syria and Libya, which brought death and destruction to millions, so perhaps you ARE correct after all.
4
Putin will be remembered, along with Catherine the Great and Peter the Great, as one of Russia's most revered and respected leaders. He is no doubt the greatest statesman of our time and, with any luck, he and Xi Jinping will rescue much of the world from the terrible convulsions caused by the sinking of the Western Empire - unless it destroys the world before they get the chance.
14
I worked in Russia for a number of years in the energy sector and love its literature, ballet, chess, and architecture.
Yet Russia is in a corner out of which it may not emerge.
It’s economy and social services are disproportionately reliant on oil and gas, which are steadily falling out of favor. And kleptocracy has stunted other investments and diversification.
And then what?
I don’t think it implausible that Russia would try to escape its cornered, deteriorating situation by a nuclear strike against the West. It sees the world as zero-sum; the West must lose for Russia to win; and Putin, or Putin’s (probably more radical) successor, may - chess-like - surmise that America would not retaliate in kind. It also, if it cannot win, may choose a stalemate with the West. A nuclear strike would not allow Russia to win, but it would ensure that no one else does.
Not likely, but not implausible. And Putin’s latest publicly-made nuclear threats should not be dismissed as wholly innocent pre-election grandstanding. Russian aggression must be dealt with, immediately and with courage, before its strategy is able to unfurl.
16
I highly recommend that you read "The Dictator's Handbook." It is a game-theoretic analysis of the causes of, and prognosis for, a kleptocratic regime like Putin's. But it does suggest a way to undermine him--start hitting his oligarch buddies where it hurts (i.e., their assets stashed in the west). Then they may be less supportive of Putin's recent bellicose actions.
14
Indeed, that’s why the USA and KSA to plummeting the price of crude, was the best way to “destroy” Russia. Although didn’t happen. Thumbs up to Putin.
Funny, you admire Russia's ballet, chess, etc. without mentioning Her people. Sounds a bit one-sided. What gives?
2
It's a pity Russians are not able to get rid of Putin and his backward ideas that did not make sense even 100 years ago. Putin is not the problem itself: that fact he remains in power is a symptom of Russia's inabiltity of leaving backward, outdated and non-working ideas to the past and then move forward to build a prosperous nation with high standards of living. Most Russians live in poverty in order to pay for Putin's imperialist policies, which gives them nothing good in return and ruins the live of many people in other nations. Some countries like Germany, France, Italy and England paid a heavy price for imperialism 100 years ago and learned to get rid of it in order to improve people's standards of living. Unfortunately Russia did not. The fact Putin is in power is just a consequence of it.
36
The Russians had a perfect opportunity to do just that in 1991-1996; unfortunately, the West (chiefly the US) had washed its hands off at the time (the goal of destroying the evil Empire was achieved, the rest did not matter). For those who decry the Russian so-called meddling nowadays, I suggest the movie "Spinning Boris" about the US meddling in Russian elections of yesteryear - VERY educational. Pity most Nations tend to see the entire world thru only the prism of their own.
3
The West cheered when the USSR collapsed. If one loves the nation, would do as Putin does. Rebuilding his great Federation. The USA has been a destructive influence around the world, intervening directly or indirectly putting “democratically” elected presidents. Or “democracy” by force destroying invading nations.
4
@Berkovitz
No offense. But after reading all of your comments, it is quite apparent that the West isn't the only one to spin the entire world through only a prism of its own.
1
Putin inherited a kleptocracy - that had been created by Yeltsin and his Western advisers. Such systems are very hard to undo - just look persistent the influence of the military-industrial complex in the US is. Putin managed to control the oligarchs enough that he could be effective as a president. So to characterize his rule as a kleptocracy is unfair.
The article mysteriously fails to mention Libya. Yet the events surrounding the fall of Gaddafi were very important in the development of Putin's view of the West. First there was the deceit at the UN where the US misinterpreted a resolution to protect the Libyan population as a license for regime change. And then there was the brutal murder of Gaddafi - who was captured thanks to US intelligence and whose murder was celebrated by Hillary Clinton with her infamous "we came, we saw, he died".
20
Just for the record. The kleptocracy you think Putin invented, was created long before "Yeltsin and his Western advisors".
At least try to get the historical facts straight.
3
Wim's response to the article mysteriously fails to mention the Lockerbie bombing.
His article also fails to mention the Russian division of Europe, and appropriation of several sovereign nations in order to form the East Bloc after WWII.
That's where a knowledge of historical facts comes in...
3
Those who wish to see the 'Putin era' end, better not hold their breath or they'll turn black and blue.
The only comfort one can find is the words once said by Dick Cheney. "Russia is a gas station pretending to be a country".
With the global oil surplus, that "gas station" will have tough time finding clients.
3
The condescending approach from Americans towards other countries and their leaders, including evil Cheney is disgusting. Many Americans need to travel abroad and reads media from abroad to better understand the world. Let’s be real the USA is a bubble, and it takes the government, corporations, and the secret agencies to sustain that bubble.
1
President Obama once described the United States as the world's "essential nation." President Trump is proving Obama right, as he casts the country he presides over, no longer heeded, into a sea of immorality, mendacity, belligerence and insouciance while the world sinks ever more inexorably into indecency. Russia knows full well that its gratuitously murderous villainy at home and abroad will sail right past today's America with barely a whimper of protest from its President. And so the assaults continue.
13
Reading this I can see in how many ways and how many 'presidential' days Trump has been modeling himself after Putin. He is definitely a Putin wannabe and also offers 'no coherent or comprehensive ideology but just wants to rule the world as the song 'Everyone Wants to Rule the World' sings.
"I do thinks these other leaders look at Putin and see not so much an inspiration, but a type of permission," says Garry Kasparov, former chess champion. This sums up Trump's view of Putin. Personally, the people I admire most are those who do good not evil. Those who are humanitarians and democratic in their beliefs.
I agree with this article and I too am frightened by the fact that 'Putin is the vanguard of a new generation of leaders in Turkey, Hungary, Italy and, of course, Trump in America'.
In addition to human bloodshed, there is a dangerous cyber war being waged against all democracies and Putin is at the forefront as far as taking down America. Trump and his cabal have been the greatest threat to our national security by denying and belittling the ongoing investigation of Putin attacks on our U.S. elections and our infrastructure. Trump has also tried to shut it down dozens of times.
Yet, the American president takes an oath of office :--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.".
11
Trump: a knock-off Putin. Without the intelligence or " charm ".
Thanks, GOP/NRA Party. November.
30
When I was a youth I was taught to hate Russians because they were atheistic Communists dedicated to destroying family values and religion.
Now I am told to hate the Russians because they are reactionaries advocating family values and religion.
When are those people over there going to get it right?
12
Actually, I was a kid during the worst scares -- and nobody taught me to hate "the Russians" but there were major scare tactics about "the Reds." Remember "better dead than Red?" I really never absorbed the message that it had anything to do with culture - other than with leaders - civilian and military - obsessed with control and power - and manipulation of messages to ensure fear and compliance.
In both instances the danger lies with those who have a lot at stake in winning or losing. And there is a grave danger under Putin - again with nothing to do with religion and family values, other than he has adeptly folded the Orthodox Church into the fold.
6
Part of the Putin poison is monetary which makes it possible for his oligarchs to have access to state-owned banks and use their large ill-begotten funds to vitiate even more the unjust, unsustainable and, therefore, unstable international monetary system. Hopefully, the Mueller Investigation into Trumps monetary relations with Russian oligarchs will show additional light besides Cambridge Analytica’s dealings.
In the meantime we have to continue to explore alternative monetary systems that make those Russian and other monetary subversions impossible. This is urgent because the international monetary system is so basic to any kind of global governance system.
One possible system is the carbon-based international monetary system proposed by Verhagen 2012 "The Tierra Solution: Resolving the climate crisis through monetary transformation". Its conceptual, institutional, ethical and strategic dimensions are updated at www.timun.net. An outstanding economist author and global warming organizer stated the following about this Tierra monetary system: “The further into the global warming area we go, the more physics and politics narrows our possible paths of action. Here’s a very cogent and well-argued account of one of the remaining possibilities.” Bill McKibben, May 17, 2011
3
The notion that partisan nation states are primarily significantly driven by socioeconomic and political debate and division is a naïve elite misreading and misunderstanding of human history.
Neither Putin nor his 'poison' are new. Vladimir Putin along with likes of Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, King Salman and Recip Erdogan reflect a hateful and uglier enduring human reality.
We are primate apes who evolved in Africa 300,000 years ago. And we are biologically DNA genetically programmed by our fit nature to crave and seek fat, salt, sugar, water, habitat, sex and kin by any means necessary including conflict and cooperation. Socioeconomics and politics are subservient to our nature.
Ethnic sectarian tribalism aka nationalism is the normal nurtured human nation state condition. The two deadliest holocausts in modern human history were the World War II 30 million Chinese killed by the Japanese Empire and the 27.5 million Soviets left dead by Nazi Germany. Socioeconomic and political differences were superficial distractions from driven fundamental immoral inhumane bigotry.
Putin does not want to be the next Comrade Stalin of the new Soviet Union. Putin's goal is to be the next Czar Peter the Great of the returning Russia.
11
Good analysis. Most Americans are so simple-minded that they cannot think this way.
1
Ugh. You had me until you used the over-used “elite.”
It has been 'rumored' that Putin is the richest man in the world. No one knows exactly how much money he has stolen from Russia and put into his personal account. His clever use of authority and violence has allowed him to steal billions and then use liberal global norms and practices to hide his money around the globe. Bank of Cypress? This is why the sanctions imposed by Obama hurt so much for Putin.
Not only is Putin greedy but he is a well trained by the KGB murderer and thug.
His disdain for democracy equals disdain for transparency. You can't talk about his stealing, you can't hold him accountable for his theft. Smart manipulation of authority and the media to hide your crimes.
No wonder Trump looks up to Putin. Trump is a wannabe kleptocrat who has only succeeded in stealing a few billion maybe but if he turns America will be able to take a lot more.
11
Is Mr. Putin “the leader of the free world?”
Putin is the leader of the underworld. All he has to do to add territory is sow discord and undermine the rule of law. He will continue to strike in the US, as long as we allow it.
Today, in the world of autocracy, the proudest boast is l’etat, c’est moi. Franklin and the founding fathers gave us a Republic, but it’s not free.
9
The author is correct about the right’s fawning idolatry for Putin, but what he doesn’t mention is the American left’s similarly fawning excusing of Russia’s policies as a result of obsolete ideas about communist/socialist ideology - which really doesn’t exist any more in Russia but which the American left (particularly old lefties) still insist is part and parcel of modern Russia. It is not. Simply, modern Russia has no ideals, left or right. The left here just doesn’t get that and comes off as silly and ignorant in adhering to ideals that they mistakenly attributed to the now long gone Soviet Union. I have many lefty friends who watch RT religiously and who serve as useful idiots who believe every piece of propaganda they view on RT. So too much of the American left is just as ignorant and stupid as the right with with regard to Russia, resulting in the toxic stew of Trumpism.
4
To understand the rise of, and Russian fascination with, Bad Vlad, one would do well to read the journalism of Masha Gessen, especially “The Man without a Face” and, more recently, “The Future is History”. In the latter, she profiles four “everyday” Russians who grew up largely under Putin’s reign, and a psychoanalyst, sociologist and philosopher, in a country where psychoanalysis, sociology and Western philosophy have been largely nonexistent and/or banned. The only supporter of Putin is the philosopher, whose heroes, not surprisingly, are Hitler and Heidegger.
On the other hand, what is surprising is that the GOP has overseen everything from the Red Scare under McCarthy to the Evil Empire under Reagan, and now embraces, with open arms, the latter-day, scarier version of both. To paraphrase General Barry McCafferey, this renders Trump a serious threat to our national security as, for whatever reasons, he mysteriously seems under Putin’s sway. The German word for “poison” is “Gift”. Under Trump, Putin appears to be the gift that keeps on giving.
6
Gessen choosing a group of four of which only one favors Putin is what we call cherry picking. At least three out four will vote for him.
2
If you read accurately, four “everyday” Russians plus a psychoanalyst, sociologist, and philosopher make seven. The pseudo-philosopher is the lone Putin supporter. Actually, what you did, is what everyone calls, how you say, cherry picking.
2
The Cold War never ended because we never ended it. The Russian's gave up an Empire PEACEFULLY with some promises from us to NOT exploit their weakness by moving NATO eastwards (we pushed it anyway, even to the point of wanting the Ukraine: once part of Russia).
We then broke these treaties and agreements, SALT II, our promises to NOT produce battle field nukes, our promise to NOT renew or modernize our nuclear arsenal as we expanded and then modernized not reduced weapon sales.
As soon as Russia was 'neutralized' by our stooge there, Yeltsin, who we backed with 'economic experts' from Harvard, Yale etc, we proceeded to give Russia the economic equivalent of 'Shock and Awe' leading to a total collapse so bad it looked like the nation would fall apart into Republics, which scared us. One nuclear state is easier and safer to negotiate with, so we tolerated Putin at first before Russia became strong again while we fought Muslims in the ME instead. (We always MUST have an enemy to excuse weaponry!)
So we put nukes into Poland (Catholic fascist itself if anti Russia) and we supported anti Russian neo Nazis like the coup in the Ukraine led by swastika waving actual Nazis (like those at Chancellorsville USA).
We supported the coups against democracy in the Ukraine (costing us $ 5 billion) just as we do in Egypt, Honduras and attempted in Venezuela and Turkey. Russia crushed ISIS in Syria while we armed them. Remember Libya, Iraq and Syria and the poor refugees all, OUR fault!
14
Limbaugh, like a Trump, is just dumb enough to admire this most villainous ex-KGB Head, now leader of Russia.
5
Putin seems to be a classic case of short man's syndrome. They can be very nasty.
9
A variant of the small hands syndrome.
5
Portraying western values as "international", "the norm", "universal" or "global" = Racism.
The fall of liberal democracy has less to do with Putin and more to do with liberal democracy itself. No ideology founded on delusional pseudoscience (human equality - broadly construed) can last very long. It will collapse from its own immorality.
Putin or not, autocracy is the best form of governance known to humanity, including all the other we've tried. The west's paranoid, outdated assumption that all autocrats end up like Nazi Germany is not only historically ignorant, it also puts you on the wrong side of progress.
2
First. I really think that you should look up the definition of 'Racism'. You're way off base.
And secondly, it's no surprise that someone living in Chinese dominated Hong Kong would find no fault with Putin or any other garden variety authoritarian who comes along..
I grew up in a Europe divided by the Soviets -- and about it had anything to do with "progress".
4
Chemical nerve agents or radioactive poisoning are in Putin’s arsenal, and he has a very long reach. Able to undermine elections in the West, infiltrate our water, electric, and aeronautic systems, wreak havoc with social media, Vladimir Putin is well versed in the KGB tactics from the Cold War, which he is still fighting. Poised to win tomorrow and preside for another six years, Putin has shown his power and prestige with a new range of weapons to instill fear in the West. But his master stroke was to put the useful idiot, the self-proclaimed stable genius in office to pay back Hillary for what he perceived as her meddling in his 2012 election. She rightfully called a Trump Putin’s puppet, but unbeknownst to the majority who supported her, Putin had the whole GOP in his pocket, too. And our only defense against such aggressions against our country is Robert Mueller, who using the rule of law, has investigated the links between the Trump Organization and Putin’s regime. Putin’s poison needs a powerful antidote called fair and free democratic elections unhampered by foreign powers or sold out GOP gerrymandering. Putin’s poison pen letter to the West will ultimately be stamped, “Return to sender.” Let him take his own bitter Putin pill.
8
What is highly ironic is that it was due to Bush/Cheney aggressions in Iraq and at Russian borders that Putin pushed back in his 2007 Munich Security Council speech about the dangers of one country wielding all the power. Now, not Trump and the GOP are enamoured of Putin’s styles and strategies, trying to cut off opposition speech by the Democrats by disallowing their memo to be printed and now shutting down the investigation into Russian meddling in our 2016 campaign. They have become Putin’s puppet party but will soon see that patriotic Americans have no stomach for treason and treachery. They hVe been trying to poison free thought and fact based media with their poisoned Fox News. It should be renamed Putin and Friends.
3
There's a sucker born every minute. Obviously, a worldwide phenomenon.
3
Putin is Stalin light.
3
Not sure about the light part. He understands how to use media; the sort of image he wants to present; the power that information provides; the art of using psychological means to achieve his ends. He is every bit as ruthless in achieving his ends, without leaving any trail. Stalin airbrushed.
2
Putin is all about money as power. And like the mafia, he uses death and destruction to insure his "markets" are not tampered with, but expanded and "Omerta" by his loyalists. The U.S. became a Capitalist State starting with Reagan. He is the Prophet of money over principal and packaging it in a fluffy, shiny package. Why should we be surprised. It was and is in all our big TV dramas and reality shows.
If we want to stop this, we need to remove the Capitalists from the controls and truly follow the Constitution, especially with regard to religion. All these dictators know that religion, no matter which one, is the opium of the masses. The Evangelicals have perfected the formula for enriching themselves from the ruined lives of their "faithful" sheep. Putin and his fellow autocrats and fascists have taken all those lessons, from the Capitalists and Evangelicals and made a huge, beautiful gift to themselves. If we want to save ourselves from all this, we need to stop giving our hard-earned money to these false prophets of so-called churches.
As Scalia used to say, go back to the original intent. It is pretty pure and understandable without all the "spin" mostly from Capitalists and Evangelicals, that has turned it into a sham.
4
Sooner or later Both Putin and Trump will crash and burn; hopefully sooner.
But we have not addressed the central problems facing all countries, income inequality and unbridled greed.
Those who fervently believe in the Bible grant a pass to greedy politicians and the corporations who own them. They rail against immigrants taking "our" jobs when it's their own countrymen who have sold them out looking for the cheapest labor.
6
Several journalists from highly respected media sources are referring to this as a "covert" act. There was nothing covert about it. The proper word to describe it, in essence, is "clandestine". The perpetrators used a known and easily identified substance of Russian origin, so that the attack could be blamed on Putin.
1
These are dark and ominous times. The linkages between the Republican Party, the evangelical church, the NRA, white suprematists, Fox News and other conservative propaganda outlets and Putin’s Russia is simply frightening. We have mike Pence and mike Pompeo both ardent evangelicals and followers in the new Museum of the Bible along with military generals steeped in right wing Christianity working to direct the government. And we are seeing the rise of antisemitism. Are we heading into the 1920s?
Also I am concerned about Jill stein’s connections to Russia. This pops up every so often in news article but I have not seen it covered completely. There is something very fishy here.
5
Please, can someone tell me the difference between Putin's Russia, and Tsarist Russia?
3
Technology.
2
Russia under the tsars was much like now in the States where the rich own most everything. Putin has improved on that.
3
The "populist" love for Putin is just a knee-jerk, yet healthy reaction against the political correctness garrag enforced on the West's thought process over the last decades. Putin is just "a" weapon among others, like Trump and many in Europe. It's fair enough. So stop whining and endure like a big boy, media pandits !
Someone close to Putin has to be his undoing. Unfortunately it never works that way.
First Russia had problems with royalism, then with communism, and now with capitalism. Maybe it isn't the 'isms', maybe it's Russia.
Blaming communism for the problems with the Soviet Union is like blaming birds because you don't like crows. It has never been tried in a place with a history of good, or even reasonable governance.
But I'm not a communist. Places with reasonable governance never seem to get to the point where they need it. Instead, I'm just making a point about Russia. Their idea about how to run a country is different from ours. I suspect that the idea of fair governance is not part of their national mythology like it is in what we call the Western democracies.
While we have a right to complain about what they do outside of Russia, perhaps we should think differently about criticizing what they do internally. Their governance isn't what we believe is right, but they are not likely to fix it. Remember, their national mythology includes relentless interference from the rest of the world.
Perhaps if we could convince them that we are not out to destabilize their country, the might lighten up a bit, and then we can talk about an arrangement that works for both of us. Napoleon and Hitler both tried it the other way, and look how far it got them.
2
Russia is a gigantic country with vast empty spaces, big enough to make the US seem small by comparison. And those vast spaces have never really been filled with people, yet. People who live in such places or travel through them think differently about their homeland and how to survive in it.
2
I wonder what Winston Churchill would say about Putin. That he shows every sign of having designs on control over the West and, thus, the world?
4
Can Russia EVER be a democracy? There is simply no precedent, no model for it there. Even under a king or queen the English had at least some rights. Go back, way back, to the Russ, there is not an ounce of democracy there, unlike the Russ's cousins, who founded Iceland and had their Althing. Putin must be kept n check - somehow - but Russia will never be free.
3
Putin is a very powerful force and dangerous precisely because he appears to the West as amiable, pragmatic, well spoken and not dogmatic. He is telegenic. He telegraphs his leadership in a way that can be admired by both the Right and the Left. He is the anti Soviet in regards to how he projects his country. But he is brutal, veiling it in a velvet glove - daring the West to counter. He assassinates openly to challenge us. He is strategic, in Ukraine, Crimea, Syria - again daring the West to counter. We admire him as he exploits our weakness. And he knows why we do not confront him, because we not have the leadership that dares to call him on his behaviour. His meddling in the 2016 elections was, I believe, primarily to stop the only potential leader in the West strong enough to curb him.
5
Marcus Aurelius wrote in his "Meditation" "To expect bad men not to do wrong is madness." This would suggest that hundreds of millions of Russians and Americans are "mad" because they do not consider Putin and Trump to be "bad men." How can mere polemics in The New York Times and elsewhere cure madness on such a horrendous scale? We need new remedies and new voices - do they even exist?
3
“The real Putin model of government is nonideological kleptocracy,”
Sound familiar? This model is the brave new mantra of the Republicon party here and a spreading cancer in East Europe, Turkey, the Philippines. Italy may go next.
Putin’s progress proceeds apace.
Vote as if your life depended on it. It might!
6
Not a non-ideological kleptocracy, but a fat, right-wing, truth-clipping, falsely ideological kleptocracy is what we have here, now, in Congress.
4
Let us not fail to give credt for the promotion of Putinism in Europe to that would-be Houston Stewart Chamberlain of the 21st century, our very own Steve Bannon.
4
Putin knows full well that Western governments, beholden as they are to Wall Street and its equivalents, are willing to turn a blind eye to his corrupt and criminal actions, so long as he can contribute to keeping the money flowing.
He has deftly piggy-backed onto the extreme and ascendant right wing movement in the US with its anti-immigrant, anti-gay, etc., mantras, gaining much admiration in the US and elsewhere among right-wingers.
And of course, people around the world who dislike the US's hypocrisy and oppose its military actions around the world, delight in seeing someone take it down a peg. Or two.
Yes, Putin is having a grand old time messing with Western democracies.
But be careful what you wish for, world - replacing Western democracies with Putin-style autocracies may not be so enjoyable in the end.
31
Putin "threw moral and military support to Syria’s dictator in a brutal civil war." And just how does that compare with muddled American "policy" in Syria where we are allied with very questionable insurgent groups and where we have committed ground troops without Congressional authorization and with no clear objective or exit strategy?
7
American conservative support for Putin is a subject that needs more study. A year ago I discovered that support had shifted to increased support, but only by Republican voters (a YouGov survey). I concluded that this was partly the result of an early Russian propaganda effort to influence the "Echoplex", the isolationist right wing media. Because the system is isolated from most outside influence, it only accepts input from voices that agree with its predefined positions and opinions. Russian propaganda experts could easily manipulate messaging in the Echoplex, which I suspect they did as a test run for the future effort to split the country, and then to assist Donald Trump.
We are at war, but don't yet know it.
5
What Mueller will ultimately achieve is no chump change; taking down proxy president trump, and the entire Russian Federation of Putin and fellow Oligarch thugs will be something quite special to behold!
7
Putin doesn't ignore the new norm of the liberal democracies, he follows them. He carved chunk of Ukraine? But decade earlier liberal democracy carved chunk of Serbia, invaded Iraq on false pretences, bombed Libya. He tried to influenced American elections? But the liberal democracies tried influence Russian elections all the time, especially in 1996. They also influence elections in Serbia, in order to bring down Milosevic. They also collude with Ukrainians to rig the Ukrainian elections after the coup that was also supported by liberal democracies. Russia supports Syrian Government, but American support brutal Yemen Government that together with Saudi government brought humanitarian catastrophe to Yemen. The liberal democracies cried foul when Russia bombed Chechnya, but clearly didn't mind when Georgia bombed Ossetia killing The Russian peacekeepers. In the light of action of liberal democracies, this whining about how bad Putin is looks as hypocritical. You want other to follow the norm, you should follow these born first. You have no right to expect from anybody to play by the rules, when you can discard them as you wish.
8
Remember the neoliberal excuse: it's ok when we do it because we're fighting for democracy and freedom. If it doesn't come, we at least had good intentions.
Or something like that.
6
Without a doubt there are many reasons for the hysterical hatred of Putin which permeates the corporate media and national political culture, which this over the top rant by Mr. Myers typifies.
One main reason has to be the pain in having to recognize that whereas the leader of America the wonderful, the land of the free and home of the brave, the exceptional shining city on a hill, is an ignorant, reckless mendacious huckster and buffoon whom nearly everyone despises, yet the leader of Russia is obviously a shrewd and capable adult who has won the respect of his own people and people around the world. That unpleasant fact is so hard to take in. But, human nature being what it is, for many it seems that hatred of Putin serves to ameliorate the pain.
6
Right on the target.
2
By trying to commit murder in the British city of Salisbury, Putin has shown the world that he is pure poison and the time has come for the United Kingdom and the United States to go on the offensive against the little dictator's Mafia state. GCHQ, the British government's cyber department, has some devastatingly powerful weapons in its arsenal which could cause massive damage to Russian infrastructure. For example, GCHQ has the ability to hack into the computer systems that control Russia's desperately needed oil and gas production. Without those exports, Russia, already an economic weakling, would become a basket case and Putin's days would most certainly be numbered. Young Russians are already becoming restless. It is time the British government showed some spine and allowed GCHQ to exploit the Kremlin's vulnerabilities. Then and only then will Moscow's new Stalin realise how dangerous a cyber war would be for Russia, with only one winner, the West. Putin must be taught a lesson, because otherwise, like all tyrants, he will go on to commit even worse atrocities.
7
Is there any record of Putin publicly or privately discouraging deadly attacks on his critics?
1
The best this and other news sources could do is to scale back your coverage of Putin.I can hardly remember a day in the last 4-5 years where I didn't seen some kind of sensational coverage of the guy anywhere and everywhere: from PBS's Newshour w/ Jim Lehrer to Fox's Hannity, not to mention this paper. The majority of Russians do like Putin (today's elections are most definitely legit), but he is simply another strongman from a not-very-significant-anymore country on the outskirts of not-so-significant-anymore continent. Besides, like Kasparov rightly said, he is not doing anything that this country hasn't done to its opponents. Go anywhere in Chile, Nicaragua, el Salvador, Panama, or Grenada, not to mention Iraq, Afghanistan, or Yemen, and ask locals (not the elites, but the locals) what they think about the US... Why wouldnb't you, the NYT, actually do such an expose? Putin is definitely NOT the main (or even the major) world villain.
23
@Berkovitz
No offense. But you seem to forget the relationship between this current president and Vladimir Putin (not to mention all the traces of Russian cyber interference in the 2016 election), which if anything, warrants close attention.
Another thing.
This has nothing to do with whether Putin is a "world villain" or not -- but everything to do with preserving our right to live in a democratic society.
Feel free to go to any of the places on the map you have menioned -- but would you really want to live there?
Didn't think so.
3
All I am saying: let us look at ourselves in the mirror before criticizing others. Putin is not the main world problem, and/or the American one. We are ourselves.
@Berkovitz
Some of us who actually lived in Europe while it was divided by the Soviet Sektor, have a very clear image of who Vladimir Putin is, and just what he means to achieve, while most Americans continually downplay it.
So, sorry. I'm not buying into that excuse, because he means business.
And while there are many "main world problems" on the stage today, there's no doubt that Putin's authoritarian ideology definitely ranks among them.
2
What exactly is new in this article? It's such old news, you talk to Kasparov and Khrucheva, old reliable sources who won't share anything new either.
Not unlike WWII, which began with the unreasonable imposition of terms upon the Germans, as set forth in the Treaty of Versailles, this (next) war began following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the great disservice that Western Civilization did to crush the Ruble and the Russian people.
Of course, left-leaning MSM never saw it coming, as they only support the "news" and lack the incisive ability to turn it into Actionable Information. Such information is what the wealthiest people get, which is processed as Business Intelligence, that drives their operations.
BTW, as vehemently as you protest, you'll Never stop the manufacture of guns, ammunition, nor the pharmaceutical industry, nor Facebook, etc... To understand the Great Game, one has to have a command of a real language, comprehend history, geo-politics, demographics, the Hegalian Dialectic, and at least a smattering of information about global economic inter-dependency.
To soothe their great Emotional Distress, the sheeple get their daily dose of pablum on this platform and on TV, which remains an opiate of the masses. Buenas suerte!
5
It would have been helpful to have such concern before Trump got elected, but of course when Mitt Romney suggested Russia was a threat, liberals ridiculed him for being stuck in the Cold War. Now, all of a sudden, Russia is a danger, because it can be used as a weapon against Trump. If only liberals actually believed their own screeching.
3
It is cutthroat capitalism, with its crony aspect, that is the enemy of the American people, and both Russian and American billionaires are united in looting the public treasuries to make themselves untouchable royalty.
Oligarchic capitalism looting the public treasury is the barbarian not only at our gates, but inside. It fights to kill true democracy, and above all, a free press, on its way to leadership of a our country. There is little difference from the criminals who run South American or Central American banana republics and the criminals who run Russia and strut about in our White House.
Russia lost to the barbarians, and America is fighting for its life. I am grateful that much of the press, from the NYTimes to MSNBC, recognize that.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
8
There are plenty of differences between South American countries and Russia. In Russia the criminal situation may be not great but could not be even compare with situation in many South and Central American republics. Buses of students don't disappear in the middle of the day, as it is in Mexico. Army is not involve in providing safety in Moscow as in Brazil, and drug lords don't fight on the street of the cities. The Government provide population with education, healthcare and retirement. Maybe, not a highest quality but definitely better than in many countries of Latin America.
4
“I do think these other leaders look at Putin and see not so much an inspiration but a type of permission,” - Garry Kasparov
Ditto with Trump. His fawning and corrupt cabinet members and other appointees are fleecing our country because they know they can.
5
“Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it,” Mr. Sater wrote in an email. “I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.”
4
It's worth reminding ourselves that as early as 2006, the Russian state was accused of murdering Alexander Litvinenko in London using intensely posinous Polonium.
Some of Putin's furty might be more recent but the reckless techniques he seems to endorse date back a lot further.
3
US obsession with Putin and Russia is remarkable. How many times has NYT (as all other western MSM, by the way) printed this article, with variations but in the same gossipy style?
Nothing started really when US in 2002 took the hostile step to cancel the ABM treaty. It was just a confirmation of something that had been clear all along: US wanted (needed) Russia as an enemy. NATO had already been expanded to the Russian border in the 1990s when Russia was subdued, economically and otherwise.
Myers' article follows the prime maxim for Putin bashing: "make an intense effort not to really study and understand the subject your writing about". And that's a real achievement since Putin openly communicates more than most world politicians, producing lots of stuff for a curious journalist to scrutinize.
8
Here's an idea. When history repeats itself, which invariably it will, we'll see what Sweden does when Russian interests return to appropriating its former Baltic states (who are now members of NATO).
Good luck with that.
2
Lars, you are absolutely right.
2
As a Leftist, and an American living in Poland, I'm an always confounded by some of the Left's love of Putin. The demographic is similar: white, male "socialists" in Western countries seemingly finding something of an "ally" in Putin. Why? RT has been effective at illuminating Western ills from a Left-esque prospective, although we have had Democracy Now and Amy Goodman for years before the Kremlin's Fox News rolled out. These mainly white, American, British and Canadian men love Putin as a counterbalance to US hegemony, and they overlook Putin's own racist (white nationalism in Russia, the Front National, Trump, etc), sexist (legalizing domestic violence in line with Eastern Orthodox Church) and homophobic policies; as noted Putin opportunistically pursues these both domestically and abroad. More troubling is Jill Stein's cozy relationship with the Kremlin and RT (I am a registered green). Putin is supporting anti~immigrant parties in Europe because he seeks to sow division, violence and chaos in the West. I'm against US imperialism, and I'm also against Russian leaders who promote hate, kill their enemies abroad in sovereign nations and invade sovereign nations, that's imperialism too.
5
The madness of all this is that from what I see in western Europe, a staggering number of people still see Putin very favorably, ignoring everything he has blatantly done to undermine the stability of the EU for the past decade. Most astonishingly (and this says a lot about how people are attracted more to superficial symbolism rather than substance) Putin is very popular among self-described leftists, socialists and former communists in Europe, who see him as a continuation of the communist Soviet Union - completely ignoring the fact that his regime is a blend of populism and xenophobic nationalism that has nothing in common with the old Soviet order apart from the authoritarianism.
Putin seems to have pulled the amazing feat of appealing both to nostalgic post-communists and to rabid, frothing extreme right-wingers and nationalists in Europe, while also becoming the darling of the American right (and sadly of the current ignoramus-in-chief at the White house) here at home.
38
You don't have to be sitting in western Europe to see this madness -- it's also plenty visible from way over here.
Especially to those already familiar with the pro-Soviet film script, and those who have already lived through it.
What's happening now, is nothing new.
The Cold War never ended.
3
The same can be said about the Africans or the South Americans: there are quite a few (a minority to be sure, but a sizeable one) who still look at the US with hopeful admiring eyes, despite all our country did and does to undermine their economies, sovereignty, and sometimes security... weird how people on all continents want to believe in a “benevolent big bro”, isn’t it?
2
Granted. The "benevolent big bro" is not without fault. But it certainly didn't push through a totalitarian agenda the likes of what we see Russia (China and Iran) now doing.
Think about it.
2
Just as Trump reflects the worst aspects of the American people, Putin personifies the shortcomings of Russians. They still have a serf mentality and thus feel more secure when they have an autocratic leader, no matter how despotic he might be. Their nationalism is frightening.
3
Sure, Americans know better what is best for Russia and the Russians. As they knew what was best for Iraq. And for Afghanistan. And for Libya. And for Syria. Apparently and invariably the best is always to have their countries turned into failed states, their homes destroyed, their loved ones murdered, themselves left homeless and destitute. Putin did not do that, US did. What Putin did do was to the mindless and bloody American dominance over World's affairs. And the people of that World will be forever grateful to him for that. And the formerly unchallenged masters of the universe will spew hatred and lies toward him, but to no avail - their murderous rule is over and will never return. And we will owe the new global order free from unjust violence and exploitation to the man who challenged and confronted the old criminal order first - Putin.
5
I can't believe my eyes: how come you completely ignore the fact, that while the U.S. after failing in all their foreign escapades withdraw from there with shame, Putin with no sense of guilt attaches to Russia all the areas they attacked - northern part of Gruzia (Abkhazia and South Ossetia), Chechnya (which never wanted to be a part of Russia, but was simply attached in bloodshed wars), a substantial part of Moldova, all eastern Ukraine (Donbas), Crimea,... Not speaking about 22-year military occupation of Czechoslovakia.
2
Wonder what the people in Crimea and Ukraine would say.
1
Putin is the 'Ugly Russian' in charge of an oligo-pluto-kleptocracy, who carved out his popularity by shamelessly muzzling the press and jailing anybody who dares criticize him however constructively. There are no human rights in Russia (akin to other despotic governments, like China and Turkey). Not that these United States are 'angels', they have their story of abuses too, especially when 'W' invaded Irak on false pretenses, and the current fiasco and abuse of Trump's reign. One need only read Naomi Klein's 'The Shock Doctrine" to be appalled at the universality of human graft. Still, we live in a democracy, with unique values that include freedom (but license, when guns's profusion is considered), justice (however imperfect) and relative peace in society. That we gave up defending human rights, shaking hands with despots while doing business with them in spite of them filling their prisons with political dissidents and journalists is shameful indeed. Remember the biblical saying 'Who soever is innocent, may throw the first stone'? I guess we have our hands tied down, and no excuse to show for it.
2
Dictatorships always end up as failures. Like the others, Putin's contrived and illegitimate rule will also end up in the dustbin of history.
3
Putin was KGB. He believes in power. Power is his politics.
Reduced by the break-up of the Soviet Union - California is twice the economy of Russia - his real power is diminished and illusory but he projects a far more grandiose personna through media, bombast and cruelty.
Putin is both punk and bully , and grotesquely insecure about his ultimately marginal importance .Sound familiar?
5
West needs to accept that every country has the right to its own way. Japan has its own way, Israel its own, Algeria its own, Turkey its own, Russia its own. Stop telling other countries how to live. People can choose where and how to live themselves.
4
Putin and Xi are actual threats to US democracy. Turning a blind eye to world despotism leads to greater threats. It is a small world and you good intentions are not reciprocated by these nations. Sometimes flower power isn't the answer.
3
Such men in history led armies to victory and begot more children than their opponents. We all descend from them. No wonder we are so attracted to them. We expect them to lead us into victories in the 21st century as well.
2
Putin helplessly cannot escape the severely limited, restricted mindset of a U.S.S.R. bureaucratic, state functionary. We all know how that evolving "experiment" in corruption and control eventually worked out. His audacious cyber warfare against the West will result in a retaliatory, sanction-based economic disaster for Russia. Favored oligarchs will abandon him, the governed will feel betrayed by his offered "bargain", modern consumerism for autocracy, and he will probably end up exiled in Switzerland, luxuriating with his stolen, state billions. Another ambitious authoritarian will take his place.
1
What if Trump is literally Putin's Manchurian Candidate puppet in the White House? What if he is going to cause a ruinous trade war to wreck our economy FOR Putin? What if he's deliberately doing nothing to block Putin's access to our electrical grids, our nuclear power plants, etc.? And, for dessert, what if he will give us Putin's coup de grace by going to war with either or both of North Korea and Iran? These are all much more than possible, and they can all be done by the President alone--no matter how much Congress and the public don't like any of them. If Putin and Trump care nothing about the future of the Republican Party, much less his own, and just want to wreck America as an end in itself, everything listed could easily be accomplished well before the 2018 elections. And all could be lustily cheered by Fox, Rush, and the rest.
1
Mr. Myers has written an excellent summary of Putin’s methods. He says that Putin “offers no coherent or comprehensive ideology,” but Putin does seem to have a favorite “philosopher”. Timothy Snyder describes him in a NY Review of Books article “Ivan Ilyin, Putin’s Philosopher of Russian Fascism”. A couple telling statements:
“Thus this Russian philosopher … came to imagine a Russian Christian fascism.”
“In the last few years, Vladimir Putin has also used some of Ilyin’s more specific ideas about geopolitics in his effort translate the task of Russian politics from the pursuit of reform at home to the export of virtue abroad. By transforming international politics into a discussion of “spiritual threats,” Ilyin’s works have helped Russian elites to portray the Ukraine, Europe, and the United States as existential dangers to Russia.”
17
I see in Putin, with an 80% approval rating, a return to the "Cold War". He, and now most Russians see themselves as a recognized leader on the world stage. The U.S. in the meantime is treading water, or losing ground.
Putin will do what he can to undermine the potential talks with North Korea. Will continue to play a dominant role in the Mideast and harass those countries neighboring Russia. In the meantime Trump will do little to stop their aggressive behavior, other than a tweet or two.
Putin having the backing of 80% of his people is formidable. And we have a President with an approval rating that floats around 40% or less.
3
Just when people gushed over the USSR as effective and ascendant, it was actually gasping and dying. Russia today is also a failed state supported by gas/oil production with an ultra thin margin at the top stealing everything it can. It has no guiding philosophy for other nations except to reduce themselves to poverty and allow dictators to pillage their land. I read of no mass immigration to Putin's authoritarian gulag but I hear the US "wants" to build a wall to control mass immigration to its shores. You decide.
What baffles me most is that some people are willing to follow Trump in America and Putin in Russia as the new Pied Pipers in their respective countries. Sooner or later, this fever will break and rational thoughtful people will take control again. The rule of corrupt liers cannot endure forever. Darkness will eventually be followed by dawn and the light of the day.
2
Just who does Steven Lee Myers have in mind when he states that Putin is a hero for those on the left?
No-one could plausibly defend Putin from the left.
Myers is using a false equivalence in this case, as if those on the left are just as mistaken as those on the right.
1
This piece could be titled The Poison Trump Spreads: Putin is simply the mirror image of Trump, and the listed new generation of leaders with a dictatorial bent might as well tale their cues from our "president" as from the Russian strongman.
1
I think we should look at ourselves in the mirror before we criticize Russia or Putin. he is at least trying to preserve the Westphalian state.
1
While foreign authoritarians should not be ignored, Trump & his domestic aut
horitarians pose an imminent threat to our democracy. We need a blue wave to support Mueller's investigation & prosecution of authoritarians who would steal our democracy.
1
Mr.Putin and Mr.Trump are not leaders of the future.They desperately want to return to the past.Mr.Trump dreams of steel mills and coal mines full of men toiling in unsafe underground tunnels.Mr Putin dreams of the glory of the old USSR with Stalin brutally presiding over a vast empire.We are well into the 21 st century which is challenged by diversity and technological advancement.The answer to this challenge is not single minded dictators who are predictable and able to showcase a past that people remember with some nostalgia.
38
We are too good and much too quick at demonizing other leaders. Without much of an understanding of a country's culture we create "thugs" out of popular leaders who pose no direct threat to us. We just cannot understand why they do not admire our system of governance and allow them to develop on their own. Forgetting how long it took our liberal democracy to develop, we never hesitate to scold Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, to name a few, for failing to discover their own Jefferson, Lincoln or Roosevelt fast enough.
We can be like an annoying parent whose children always disappoint. We even have a UN Ambassador who like an elementary school teacher says she will "take names" of those delegates who misbehave.
This does not mean we should condone targeted assassinations, whether they are done by Russia, Israel or the United States. As for interference in elections, given the global nature of communications. we are going to have to rely on the intelligence of our own voters to discern the difference between truth and lies. That might be difficult when we have a President who cannot seem to make that distinction for himself.
3
I believe a big part of the reason for this "poison" is fear of technology-induced change.
Technology has become a far greater threat to national borders than armies.
Militarily, we can now drop bombs from planes through windows and send missiles with nukes thousands of miles; we can use unmanned drones to assassinate people; and we can easily use germs and gas to kill millions.
Our enemies have armies of hackers who can disable our water systems and electricity grids; hack into our financial systems and steal without recourse; get Facebook and others to sell them data on tens of millions of us; and craft an organized program of propaganda and completely fake communications to influence an election.
And even putting aside our enemies, our entire way of life has been altered by technology. Our stock market is now hardly tied to the businesses traded on it at all--computers trade billions of shares based on formulas, driving huge movements in the markets (that's how the Mercers, financiers of Cambridge, made their money); Facebook, Microsoft, Google and others essentially harvest our personal data and then slice, dice and sell it to the highest bidders; And we are now seeing the rise of A.I., which promises to become more and more human-like.
So why do people feel like they want somebody strong who can navigate all of this? Why do they not seem to care about democracy or governance ideology? They want a strongman to counter the loss of control driven by technology.
2
We see confusion about Russia today, on the allegedly patriotic Right Wing, as a lingering result of our Cold War propaganda that targeted the ideology of “Godless Communism.” Since Communism is no more, Trump supporters don’t see the ‘Russian Problem.’
But propaganda aside, the "Soviet Union" was just an iteration of the cyclical Russian Empire. A Russian superstate would have re-emerged in Europe in the 20th Century even without the Bolshevik Revolution. So the Kaiser feared when he pre-emptively attacked Russia to begin WWI. Decades earlier, Otto Von Bismarck had analyzed the innate drivers of Russian expansionism, particularly the supra-national Orthodox Church, which Putin has revived in post-Godless Russia. Bismarck also counseled the futility of war against Russia.
Historically, Russians view domination of Eurasia as their ‘Manifest Destiny.’ That national craving, and its underlying geopolitical drivers, do not depend on any ideology, nor on any one leader. Putin or no Putin, Russia is still Russia. We may be over-personalizing the Russia issue, feeding Putin’s over-rated mythology.
We don’t need to obsess over Putin per se. The U.S. still has the advantage over Russia (which Trump suspiciously doesn’t want to use.) We just have to do as Bismarck advised, as President Obama did when he ousted Putin’s puppet government in Ukraine: deploy U.S. superpower to obstruct and perpetually harass Russia, but never attack. Our goal is to maintain our upper hand.
1
Thanks for the article. I can now see the origins of where Trump actually came to be able to say that Putin is a good man- despite Putin's history of repressing domestic opponents, invading the Ukraine, siding with Assad, the butcher in Syria, and poisoning people in the west. I hope our constitution will survive and Trump will be gone in 2020 at the latest.
2
Putin could not have succeeded without the help of amoral American capitalists. Just as "American" companies like Apple are more than willing to abet Chinese censorship and policing, the West has been a eager repository for Russian dark money. Just ask our President, or any of the developers that have properties on West 57th Street in NYC. One unforeseen outcome of the Mueller investigation will be just how complicit American and European banks were in smuggling cash out of Russia and hiding it in real estate.
2
Putin has been pushing the envelope for some time and has finally gone to far. I suppose his "voters" might have some sort of slavish devotion to him and are incapable of being embarrassed about his antics. Russia continues to be a third world country with nukes with no change in sight. Back to containment. Can't decide who is more tiring in the daily psychic drama, Putin or Trump. Victor Orban could also join in.
1
Tribalism, nationalism, patriotism are greater forces than globalism because narcissism, selfishness are components of human personality and cannot be eradicated. They can be diluted or redirected depending on numerous forces that are easily weakened by today's technology etc.
Having lived in a Europe once divided by a Wall and the Soviets, this revelation about Vladimir Putin comes as nothing new.
In fact if anything, this should serve once and for all as proof to those still in doubt, that the Cold War never ended.
It has never been a secret that Mr. Putin will resort to every means in the KGB Handbook to restore Russia to its former glory as a superpower, and as an ex-Intelligence officer, he is primed to do just that.
It's also no great secret that Mr. Putin has designs of never leaving office until that is achieved -- and quite possibly, not even then.
All of this portends badly for not only Europe, but the rest of the world as the race heats up among Russia, China, and probably Iran for which country shall achieve total dominance, and the place recently vacated by the United States under Donald Trump.
For all intensive purposes, today's Russian elections are a sham since the outcome is so totally predictable.
But that's no reason to take one's eyes off the ball, because sooner or later it will be rolling into everyone's court.
2
The final Kasparov citation at the end of this article can't be overstated. Alas, it begun more than 40 years ago with the Nixon deal with China--> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon%27s_1972_visit_to_China
As Mr. Myers suggests, and the nature of Vladimir Putin's rule supports, "perception is more important than facts." Maybe so for the short-term but not for the long term. Perception can feed public tolerance only so long as the human life behind the perception is tolerable.
Russia's crumbling economy, void of diversification or innovation, combined with its emerging demographic collapse and endemic corruption will eventually erode the country's quality of life to the degree that its people will rebel against its arbitrarily oppressive control.
it is impossible to know how long it will take for the allure of perception to break down, but it will break down and the entropic process will be ugly.
1
"Mr. Putin has come to embody [...] post-ideology..." and “[Putin] gives people something solid to hold on to in a world that is becoming intangible... He’s tangible. He’s real. He represents a sense of nationhood.”
With all due respect to the author, he ought to see the contradiction here: how can Putin embody "post-ideology" and give people... ideology? The "real" of Putinism might be kleptocracy, but the desire Putinism satisfies is ideological through and through. Same dynamic holds for Trump (and it won't go away when Trump does). If we don't understand this, we're in trouble.
2
Putin is merely proof, as is Xi, that the US understanding of what a successful leader should be, is not a universal value.
If one would take the time to step out of the bubble and ask the people in the countries these autocrats govern, one could learn that Putin and Xi simply deliver what their people want.
These politicians simply deliver for their country and their people.
Which is the reason why these leaders will be re elected any time.
When Putin took over, Russia was a mess and the social security system was more of less gone.
People wanted stability, medical services, infrastructure and an environment in which business is possible, and pensions.
Just like the Chinese.
They care much less about political freedom and a million parties to choose from.
Especially the latter is for most Russian and Chinese of no concern as they can see the endless bickering and blockades Western democracies demonstrate.
And they got what they wanted.
They got a leader that allows them to do their business, live their lives and have a chance for a pension in their old age.
Which is why Putin, Xi and to a lesser extent even someone like Assad will win elections over any Western endorsed politician.
We have a saying here in Singapore that puts the issue in a single sentence: "Let them play politics as long as they provide what we need to do business and live a happy life".
On most parts of this planet Western style democracy is over rated.
11
Right, and if you run against Putin and are a serious threat you are murdered or "disappear" as has happened to Putin's political opponents.
Putin and his "Government" are simply a Kleptocracy whose sole purpose is to enrich him and his cronies and maintain power.
As a world leader the only area where Russia "leads the world" is corruption, where it is tied with Nigeria as being the most corrupt country in the world, just edging out Pakistan.
2
And who was a serious threat to Putin? Nemcov? The great politician with support of 3%? Zhirinovsky had higher rating than that and he is still alive. Communists had higher rating than that and still alive.
1
Putin provides what the Russians have always wanted, national security and the sense of being a great power, even though Russia has traditionally lacked the industrial and civil base required to project power and sustain the burdens of a world leader. In this context the Yeltsin years must have been profoundly humiliating.
Putin gives the Russians a sense of greatness by careful historical stage management; the Presidential Guard in the uniform of the Imperial Preobrazhensky Guard Regiment, the brilliantly restored Kremlin palaces state rooms, video of Putin giving some functionary an order to set right some wrong. And oddly enough, older Russians still seem to believe their problems will be solved if only they can see the Czar/President.
But like the Czar, Putin is working within severe limitations; a relatively small industrial base that makes nothing the world wants except arms and oil, and an enervating and wasteful level of corruption and official incompetence.
And like the Czar, the regime will be tolerated so long as Russians believe the costs are worth the benefits.
1
Due to the the fall of the Soviet Union, Russians had lost a significant part, if not all of, their national identity. Putin restored a sense of national identity by cultivating Russian nationalism. It seems large parts of the population of any country need such a thing. So, this is one thing he got right.
I think one of the biggest mistake of Putin is the following. Modern society is extremely complex. There is no other way to make it function in an orderly fashion than by the rule of law to regulate all important public interactions. For example, there have to be reliable rules that govern all interactions in business. In particular the political process must be goverened by law. These rules must be reliable in the sense that they can be enforced by an independent and neutral judiciary. Otherwise one has a contant high level of disorder, chaos and corruption. Putin does not seem to steer his country in this direction. (Nor does China, for that matter.)
15
You left out what is perhaps the most important national leader with no regard for the rule of law, Donald Trump.
1
It's the social alienation causing betrayal of the democratic elite, accentuated by the failure of the globalisation project that's perhaps the reason why oppressive Russian system and its strongman Putin have begun to capture the attention of the world, making Putin the role model for the emerging authoritarian leaders, and his aggressive nationalism a template to follow in rest of the societies passing through Chaos and disarray.
7
As a Polish-American, I have my own long list of gripes with Russia, including the murder of several members of my wife's and my family.
Now on to Putin's and other right-wing thugs’ popularity. What they have in common is that they all instill into their followers a sense of belonging and purpose.
Out modern liberal societies have perfected making people superfluous, and AI is taking this dangerous trend to a new level altogether. Most humans do not mind being used and work hard under harsh conditions as long as they feel needed by the society.
My last remark is a serious warning to all who want to live outside of Trumpism, Putinism, Erdoganism, Deterteism, etc. We must somehow reinstate a sense of belonging and purpose in young people. More financial affluence is NOT equal to increased happiness. The US is a good example of this truism. On other other hand, and tragically, the young high-schoolers in Florida have found their powerful social calling...
133
Yes. Good points all. We need to make America good again. People do need context and instinctively resist abstraction.
3
The high-school movement may offer hope, but youthful idealism is something that can easily be perverted. Young minds are all too susceptible to manipulation and we have some powerful tools available to do the manipulating.
I think the anti-gun demonstrations will generate a cohort of young political activists. That may mean the end of the influence of the NRA and, possibly, their Republican stooges, but there are dangers in awakened young people surging out into the world lacking the ability to evaluate information and little or no understanding of historical perspective.
The last time this happened we got the Silent Majority and Richard Nixon. This time, the outcome could be worse because of the powerful tools available to manipulate public opinion.
5
Great is not always good but good is always great. Take that #MAGA
1
Hmmm. A family values man who has a love child living with his mistress in Switzerland — just the kind of guy the Right would admire.
Putin is a murderer and a thug, nothing more or less. That wannabes like Trump admire him tells us that they must be undone in order to preserve our democracy and safety.
109
Every member of NATO and the European Union must impose the most stringent sanctions on Putin and the oligarchs who supporters him. Confiscate their money and make them person non grata.
1
What accounts for Trump's servile kowtowing?
The admiration Trump is vowing?
A treasonous lack
Of response to attack
On our votes that Trump is allowing.
24
So … okay. One can hardly disagree with the examples of non-Western, non-“Liberal” kleptocracy and buccaneerism by which Mr. Myers paints Vladimir Putin. Given the arc of Russia (for centuries), writ very large for over 70 years by the Soviet Union, such a development can hardly be surprising to most. He’s not about to change, unless we successfully play catch-up with HIS election, astoundingly causing HIM to lose the election in a way he can’t hide on Sunday. CIA doesn’t appear to have the hand-size any longer to essay such feats – and Europe (with the exception of Britain when not compromised by moles) never had the chutzpah.
We can’t change Putin’s Russia by frontal assaults: the forces of light have been trying to for centuries without making a dent. His nuclear arsenal makes him a player who cannot be treated as a mere nuisance, unlike Kim Jong-un or Iran. The inter-threaded economic interests that have evolved with Russia and the West make draconian sanctions difficult if not impossible. He’s unlikely to give back the money, or cease to poison the occasional Russian malcontent – predictably, in London.
Perhaps most significantly, Russians who risked their lives and those of their families by overthrowing the Soviet Union are RATHER getting on and probably don’t have the energy to attempt yet another Yeltzin-like coup.
So … where’s the beef, Mr. Myers? You’ve framed reality fairly well; but, then, most of us understood the Russian reality without the summary.
2
Lest I be accused of pointing out the millimeter-thick usefulness of the kvetch without suggesting a solution myself, let me presume to try.
Such a solution won’t be led from Europe, although they would need to be involved in the implementation. Given the intransigence of Russia and its super-regional heft, as well as the rise of über-nationalistic, ultra-right parties throughout the European continent that could have more interest in feeding at the Russian trough than opposing it, that leadership needs to come from us … perhaps in concert with China, in its own interests, since it certainly has cause to raise an eyebrow at the re-emergence on the world stage of its northern neighbor.
A path needs to be defined along which Russia can arrive at a universally respected place – not respected solely for its military might and its potential for cybernetic damage and destruction, but for what it holistically contributes to the forward movement of a prosperous humanity. Incentives need to be developed that ease a Russian commitment to that path – economic incentives, participatory incentives, even realistic incentives that reframe domestic governance to the extent it CAN be reframed.
Trump is hardly the president to conceive of such an initiative, but he could be the president to charge others with defining it, then SELLING it to Russia – for precisely the reason so condemned by so many: his refusal to lambaste Putin as much of the world and almost ALL of the Western press has.
3
Perhaps the US would do better to side with Russia against China. Once we use China against Russia, we are in an isolated bad position.
7
Mark:
We could do that, too. But Russia still needs to evolve; and, coming from a basically European frame of reference rather than a Asian one, and the mischief they're into at present, I wouldn't want to put off finding a way of enticing them onto a path of evolution, using whatever help we can find to do so.
China is a cookie of VERY different fortunes.
1
The power of the oligarchs is what our conservative superrich dream of, except that it is limited by a powerful state they do not control. If Putin were a figurehead under their control, the form of government and organization of society would be their ideal. But he is the master of the oligarchs as well as their defender against any other source of power.
13
That's exactly what happened with Hitler and the German oligarchs who supported him and brought him to power. They forgot about the socialism part of National Socialism.
9
Pathetic propaganda just like the American voices of the Cold War. Some of it is true of course, but truth used as a spice to make the distortions palatable. All written by the "former Moscow bureau chief."
Distortions?
The US also avoids just such international organizations (International Criminal Court), and for the same reasons, that they'd be used as political tools against it.
"Mr. Putin has come to embody the post-ideology, post-fact age of reality television and “fake news” that all the world is experiencing." He did not start that. He followed a model, invented by FOX news here and Berlusconi (owner of near all the television in Italy who made himself leader, and used that to enrich himself to billionaire status and to protect his riches).
He offered to join the West, and was rejected, with Bush neocons preferring war, including the Iraq War, and NATO expansion to the borders of Russia. So whose fault is that?
He fought with Georgia? Georgia (just weeks after a visit from US neocon leaders) attacked Russia, an act of lunacy. They are very fortunate that Russia entirely withdrew from all its wartime advances.
Ukraine? Russia's better economic offer was rejected, based on corrupt payoffs, then the European offer was withdrawn and Ukraine left with no deal. That episode was used to try to take the main Russian military base in its south, meaning to turn it into a NATO base. Ukraine is fortunate it did not suffer worse for its corrupt dealings. It still might.
34
I don't think anyone was crazy enough to try to turn Sevastopol into a NATO base. That would have started WWIII!
Though I can't really blame Putin for not trusting a vital Russian national interest to NATO common sense, I applaud President Obama for pouncing on Putin's forced error. It is Putin's fault and Putin's failure that he backed the pig Yanukovych, giving Obama an opening in Ukraine, which Obama seized, as was his duty as President of the United States.
If Putin was half as smart as he wants us all to think, Obama would have had no play in Kiev.
Yanuckovich was an elected President in elections that were certified as Democratic by international community. He was up to re-election in 1.5 years. The West could wait, but prefer not to. Supporting the coup, Obama clearly showed that the West could not care less about democracy when it doesn't suit them, it prefers back-door negotiations to put in power 'their' guy. Such disrespect for rules, allowed Putin to annex Crimea with mass support of Russians. Why should Russia play by the rules, when the West doesn't?
2
A very rare voice of reason -- the all-encompassing MSM campaign of anti-Putin and anti-Russia hysteria has metastasized to an extent that the most outrageous lies are taken as given truths, even in the absolute absence of verifiable proof.
2
Vlad artfully plays the perception of western decadence to his fellow Russians whilst he builds his own book amongst the worlds oligarcati, no need to list them here, trump loves them, they feel the love , and their momentum grows.
We must spread word of this supranational movement if there’s to be any chance of nipping this in the bud.
Like in the Second World War, the good guys won, but it took a lot of time, blood and treasure. Let’s not go there again.
11
OK, I get it, every tribe of American politicians needs an enemy to focus people's anger and distract them from its own lack of effort on their behalf. So while the Republicans rail about welfare mooches and disease-carrying illegal immigrants the "liberals" have chosen Russia as their bete noire.
But, seriously, is Vlad even a tiny bit relevant to us in the US? Are we really so worried by his $125,000 in Face Book ads (in an election cycle in which the Koch brothers raised and spent over $1,000,000,000? Are we really so appalled by his "annexation" of the Crimea, a peninsula with a population that is over 90% ethnic Russian and that had never been part, at any time in history, of an independent Ukraine?
Russia has NEVER been a democracy. It emerged from prehistory as the holdings of Swedish warlords, was enslaved by the Mongols, enserfed by the Tsars, reduced to regimented subservience by the Communists, and sold out to the highest bidders by Yeltsin and his American consultants
Vlad's no worse than any of what the Russians have had to put up with in the past.
We have our own problems. Let's quit pretending he's anything we need to waste our time on.
21
But, seriously, is Vlad even a tiny bit relevant to us in the US?
No, unless you consider cyberattacks on our infrastructure and nuclear plants to be of any concern.
50
And why does he waste his energy on cyber attacks? The Second Cold War we have promoted. Just make peace. That is the only cyber-defense anyway.
11
"and sold out to the highest bidders by Yeltsin and his American consultants" - that is key to me. Consultants who, you can be sure, all wanted a piece of the action and even control in what resulted. No different than the other American interactions with Russia in the 20th century. So why should there be any love for America in Russia?
6
Nonideological kleptocracy indeed! This wealth creation model is operating everywhere in various forms, some more benign ( with tax lawyers) than others ( gangsterism). The past 25 years of globalization has allowed a distorted model to gain the upper hand. Once people realize that the "gig ecomomy" for the majorty, and offshore bank accounts for the connected, is a trap sending them back to the 19th century they will (hopefully) turn on the corporations and governments that have given Putin and his ilk their time in the sun. Sooner, the better!
45
Hear hear!
More: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/16/putin-lies-action-...
"The error here is to assume that Moscow’s attitude to evidence and due process is the same as that of nations still governed by the rule of law. But in Putin’s Russia, lying has long been a routine and integral part of statecraft. No matter how copious the evidence, Putin will think nothing of denying it. In 2014, he swore there were no Russian troops in Crimea. ....
"That same year Moscow waved aside evidence relating to the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine. It continues to block investigations into the use of chemical weapons by its Syrian vassal, Bashar al-Assad. Putin denies hacking the 2016 US presidential elections, in the face of colossal evidence. And of course he denied any role in the murder of Litvinenko, though he did later ensure the killer got a seat in the Russian parliament, thereby granting him immunity from prosecution.
"What meaning does “due process” have when dealing with such a regime? Moscow would not cooperate in good faith with an investigation"
"issue yet more denials, wild counter-accusations ... and obfuscation – ... army of bots and online enablers. ... the fog of doubt and confusion that they believe undermines the west’s confidence and strengthens them. This is the Putin modus operandi: spread doubt until the public grows exhausted and concludes that the truth is unknowable."
40
Trump has successfully followed the example of his mentor: "spread doubt until the public grows exhausted and concludes that the truth is unknowable."
4
Putin has endured and thrived because he knows how to appeal to citizens' pride. Most Russians lead hard lives, but still feel connected to their country and its long history. Putin serves himself first, but reaches people by conveying convincing messages of national pride.
Putin, like other authoritarians, is ruthless. But intimidation alone does not account for Putin's lasting power. He is a master of propaganda and maintains a narrative that his success is Russia's success.
60
Authoritarianism ascends across the world, not only in Russia, but also in China's newly-removed term limits, Turkey, the Philippines, and so many other places, aligned everywhere with right-wing nationalism. It threatens to permanently supplant the values of freedom, truth, and human rights across the world: 1984 incarnate. Hope is not yet entirely lost--much of the world has not yet succumbed--but this is an exceedingly dangerous time. And it is precisely why the United States must serve as a beacon and a barricade, forging strong alliances and pushing back against the darkness. Instead, we allow ourselves to be distracted with circuses and petty partisanship.
32
You are right snd we are listening and ready to get to work. Spread the word.
1
The West can completely ruin Putin's Russia economy in a year, not more. Yes, the Russians take pride in ability to survive in crisis. But in modern times that would not last long. Putin will suddenly look weak and incapable and the aura will be gone in an instance. But the West will never do it because a) the corporations want the Russian market and to use the abundance of natural resources and b) Putin is the perfect scarecrow and blame-for-all when the politicians in the West want peoples' attention somewhere else, not at home. He is useful to the West and no one in America or Europe really cares, that he is harmful to his own people or Eastern Europe as a whole.
11
How exactly can we ruin him. Sanctions, oil, !
Let’s do it!
We do care but the Russians have to solve their Putin mess themselves even if it takes time..
Complete nonsense. If West could do it, it would have done it long time ago. The reality is West cannot hurt Russia. Neither economically nor militarily. That is why it is so mad with Putin. This obscene bacchanal of Putin-hatred is nothing but a manifestation of West's impotent anger and realisation that the old order is gone forever and so soon will be the good and easy life that it brought with it.
3
Ain't nothing here but pure unabashed greed--Putin is likely the richest man in the world at this point.
The only real difference between him and Trump is that Vlad is considerably more facile at using the levers of power to distract people both inside and outside his nation from his vacuuming up of wealth, and that facility involves casting himself as the strong right hand on the tiller of the Russian ship of state, guiding it through the treacherous waters of cosmopolitanism and effeteness. His ability to position himself as a bulwark of world order against a rising tide of chaos is a major reason for his popularity among the many who have problems with ambiguity.
Of course, while he may give lip service to this as a guiding philosophy, I don't think for a minute he truly believes a word of it--this is all about grabbing as much as possible for himself and his cronies. No wonder Trump loves him--in Putin he sees a fellow avaricious grifter, and a more effective one at that.
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We live in a dangerous age characterized by Putin's authoritarian leadership. He shrugs off criticism and accusations of lawless behavior because, frankly, there are no consequences to suffer.
With the sycophant GOP in power in Congress, Trump wants to try Putin-ism here. We -- the people -- need to force Trump out of the White House and power. If we do not stand up for freedom and democracy, then we deserve to lose our rights and privileges.
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While foreign authoritarians should not be ignored, Trump & his domestic authoritarians pose an imminent threat to our democracy. We need a blue wave to support Mueller's investigation & prosecution of authoritarians who would steal our democracy.
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