I rarely if ever get truly political here, but I want to share my thoughts on current events and where they're heading. If there's ever been a locus for them, a central hub about which they're all spinning, as the current United States Speaker of the House has said, "All roads lead back to Putin."
Vladimir Putin started out as a KGB officer who was present during the fall of the Soviet Union. The events which transpired then, in addition to the decade of chaos in Russia which followed under Boris Yeltsin's presidency, affected him very personally. It is not a falsehood to call the man a Russian patriot if not a Soviet one. He became president of the Russian Republic about twenty years ago, and essentially never left regardless of the Russian constitutional term limits imposed on him. His rule over Russia was only briefly interrupted when one of his lieutenants was elected President and he took power as prime minister, but it was always understood that it was Vladimir Putin who was in control.
Since he took power in Russia, Putin has been manipulating things behind the scenes both domestically in Russia, and abroad. His express and apparent intention is the reclamation of territory and power for Russia which existed under the former Soviet Union. He has no interest in Communism, only Russian, and personal, glory. To this end, over the last twenty years, all institutions in Russia, including the press and the Russian Orthodox Church have become mere arms of the Putin led Russian government. Putin maintains a veneer of Russian Orthodoxy, while the Church and State ban every other expression of Christianity in the country as illegal. His government has blatantly attacked and seized territory from former Soviet states, including Ukraine and Georgia, which have been at least nominally independent nations for at least the last thirty. His government has been demonstrably behind assassinations of political rivals both at home and abroad, the silencing of dissident voices within Russia, and clearly racist, and discriminatory policies at home which he has attempted to export to other nations through the use of the internet and social media. His government has also demonstrably been behind the influencing of elections in Britain, the United States, and other European nations so that the outcomes favor his strategic short term and long term goals for himself and his country such as the withdrawal of the United States from NATO (something which the current US President has openly advocated), the dissolution of nuclear treaties with the United States, the removal of US forces from strategic places in Syria to assist Russian allies, the disruption of a US presence in South Korea as a deterrent to North Korea, the distancing of Great Britain (a key NATO member and military force protecting the rest of Europe) from the rest of the European Union and so on. His biggest win was when his strategy to use the United States' own simmering divisions to severely divide the populace using social media, plant a compromised businessman in the White House to act in the interests of Russia and not his own nation, and turn a previously anti-Russian political party into one which espoused Russian propaganda as gospel was wildly successful. If you don't believe any of this, all it takes is a perusal of news articles about Russia, Putin, and Russian actions on the world stage for the last five to ten years (which I've personally been keeping tabs on). Further, the foremost U.S. experts on Russia testified under oath things to this very same effect very recently. None of it is secret. All of it has been blatant, out in the open, and verifiable. Even the Russian state news broadcasts have been gloating about it (look it up).
Putin has been playing a long game of chess with the world since the Soviet Union's fall. That he thinks like a chess player is obvious. All of his recent achievements in the world stage can be seen as chess movements. Taking a pawn here, a rook there, oh look, he's got your queen now.
The thing about seasoned chess players, of which I am not one and I freely admit it, is that they always plot out there moves as many turns in advance as they are capable of, and they always have the endgame in view. While it seems Putin has already gotten almost everything his heart could desire, today, I saw a news article which had him saying that he could essentially wipe away the Russian constitutional term limits very easily. A reference to that his own term is coming to a legal end here sometime soon. And yet Putin has no intention of leaving office yet. If it were simply a matter of a corrupt politician just keeping power, it would be understandible. But Vladimir Putin is a highly disciplined man. Corrupt, yes, but highly disciplined and every move he's made has had a purpose.
So what is Putin's endgame? What unfinished business does he have which would keep him from leaving office just yet? What is his goal? If it would be merely to humiliate the United States in front of the world, then he has already accomplished it. And yet he remains. The game isn't finished yet.
It has been rightly said before that if Adolph Hitler had died before 1938 or 39, he would have been remembered only as a great German statesman and gifted orator who lifted his country out of the poverty of the Great Depression and post WWI reprisals to a prosperous, modern country and economy. We only remember him as an evil, anti-Christ figure because he didn't, and his endgame was allowed to play out costing millions and millions of lives.
Hitler was pursuing the Atomic Bomb, but the US got there first. Today, Russia already has a devastating nuclear arsenal which Putin is now legally free to rebuild without US or even world oversight. He now has tighter and tighter relationships both economic and especially military ones with China, Turkey, and other governments more congenial to dictatorship. His is openly pursuing and demonstrating new missile and weapons technologies which Russia is developing. His stated goals are the recovery of former Soviet territories and satellite states. Something he can't openly do with a unified NATO and a unified and powerful United States.
Yesterday, Donald J. Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives. No one expects the US Senate to remove him regardless of the evidence. But Donald J. Trump has been demonstrably only one of Putin's pieces in a very large, very long game of chess. Putin would have planned for the possibility of Trump only serving one term, one way or the other. Trump's first term is up in approximately one year from now. This means that, most likely, Putin's endgame strategy is almost in place and ready to be deployed regardless of who takes office in January of 2021.
The only real question now is how many lives are going to be lost before the world wakes up and realizes what it allowed to be unleashed once more.
Vladimir Putin started out as a KGB officer who was present during the fall of the Soviet Union. The events which transpired then, in addition to the decade of chaos in Russia which followed under Boris Yeltsin's presidency, affected him very personally. It is not a falsehood to call the man a Russian patriot if not a Soviet one. He became president of the Russian Republic about twenty years ago, and essentially never left regardless of the Russian constitutional term limits imposed on him. His rule over Russia was only briefly interrupted when one of his lieutenants was elected President and he took power as prime minister, but it was always understood that it was Vladimir Putin who was in control.
Since he took power in Russia, Putin has been manipulating things behind the scenes both domestically in Russia, and abroad. His express and apparent intention is the reclamation of territory and power for Russia which existed under the former Soviet Union. He has no interest in Communism, only Russian, and personal, glory. To this end, over the last twenty years, all institutions in Russia, including the press and the Russian Orthodox Church have become mere arms of the Putin led Russian government. Putin maintains a veneer of Russian Orthodoxy, while the Church and State ban every other expression of Christianity in the country as illegal. His government has blatantly attacked and seized territory from former Soviet states, including Ukraine and Georgia, which have been at least nominally independent nations for at least the last thirty. His government has been demonstrably behind assassinations of political rivals both at home and abroad, the silencing of dissident voices within Russia, and clearly racist, and discriminatory policies at home which he has attempted to export to other nations through the use of the internet and social media. His government has also demonstrably been behind the influencing of elections in Britain, the United States, and other European nations so that the outcomes favor his strategic short term and long term goals for himself and his country such as the withdrawal of the United States from NATO (something which the current US President has openly advocated), the dissolution of nuclear treaties with the United States, the removal of US forces from strategic places in Syria to assist Russian allies, the disruption of a US presence in South Korea as a deterrent to North Korea, the distancing of Great Britain (a key NATO member and military force protecting the rest of Europe) from the rest of the European Union and so on. His biggest win was when his strategy to use the United States' own simmering divisions to severely divide the populace using social media, plant a compromised businessman in the White House to act in the interests of Russia and not his own nation, and turn a previously anti-Russian political party into one which espoused Russian propaganda as gospel was wildly successful. If you don't believe any of this, all it takes is a perusal of news articles about Russia, Putin, and Russian actions on the world stage for the last five to ten years (which I've personally been keeping tabs on). Further, the foremost U.S. experts on Russia testified under oath things to this very same effect very recently. None of it is secret. All of it has been blatant, out in the open, and verifiable. Even the Russian state news broadcasts have been gloating about it (look it up).
Putin has been playing a long game of chess with the world since the Soviet Union's fall. That he thinks like a chess player is obvious. All of his recent achievements in the world stage can be seen as chess movements. Taking a pawn here, a rook there, oh look, he's got your queen now.
The thing about seasoned chess players, of which I am not one and I freely admit it, is that they always plot out there moves as many turns in advance as they are capable of, and they always have the endgame in view. While it seems Putin has already gotten almost everything his heart could desire, today, I saw a news article which had him saying that he could essentially wipe away the Russian constitutional term limits very easily. A reference to that his own term is coming to a legal end here sometime soon. And yet Putin has no intention of leaving office yet. If it were simply a matter of a corrupt politician just keeping power, it would be understandible. But Vladimir Putin is a highly disciplined man. Corrupt, yes, but highly disciplined and every move he's made has had a purpose.
So what is Putin's endgame? What unfinished business does he have which would keep him from leaving office just yet? What is his goal? If it would be merely to humiliate the United States in front of the world, then he has already accomplished it. And yet he remains. The game isn't finished yet.
It has been rightly said before that if Adolph Hitler had died before 1938 or 39, he would have been remembered only as a great German statesman and gifted orator who lifted his country out of the poverty of the Great Depression and post WWI reprisals to a prosperous, modern country and economy. We only remember him as an evil, anti-Christ figure because he didn't, and his endgame was allowed to play out costing millions and millions of lives.
Hitler was pursuing the Atomic Bomb, but the US got there first. Today, Russia already has a devastating nuclear arsenal which Putin is now legally free to rebuild without US or even world oversight. He now has tighter and tighter relationships both economic and especially military ones with China, Turkey, and other governments more congenial to dictatorship. His is openly pursuing and demonstrating new missile and weapons technologies which Russia is developing. His stated goals are the recovery of former Soviet territories and satellite states. Something he can't openly do with a unified NATO and a unified and powerful United States.
Yesterday, Donald J. Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives. No one expects the US Senate to remove him regardless of the evidence. But Donald J. Trump has been demonstrably only one of Putin's pieces in a very large, very long game of chess. Putin would have planned for the possibility of Trump only serving one term, one way or the other. Trump's first term is up in approximately one year from now. This means that, most likely, Putin's endgame strategy is almost in place and ready to be deployed regardless of who takes office in January of 2021.
The only real question now is how many lives are going to be lost before the world wakes up and realizes what it allowed to be unleashed once more.
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