Putin’s Russian roulette game laughs in the face ofworld leaders
RUSSIA is a country which has always interested me and the events of the past fortnight have once again highlighted the terrible consequences of having a dictator run a powerful country which is a law unto itself.
Geographically isolated, Russia has been one of the most formidable nations to grapple for power on the world stage over the past century. Its foreign policy reads like something straight out of a Bond movie, with poisonings, murders and weapons of mass destruction to the forefront of spindly, sinister narratives.
Vladimir Putin was re-elected in a landslide victory on Sunday having won over 75 per cent of the vote, with voter turnout at around 60 per cent. The one man who had a chance of causing a minor upset to this landslide victory, Alexei Navalny, was banned from contesting the election.
For a man from an impoverished communal apartment in St Petersburg to have such absolute power is amazing. The way in which Putin’s state wields this power is absolutely terrifying.
Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia’s posioning in Salisbury is just one outrageous example of the lengths Russia and its modern day KGB, the Federal Security Service, will go to in its bid to protect Mother Russia.
There have been countless suspicious deaths of enemies of the Russian state since Putin was named president in 1999, replacing Boris Yeltsin.
Putin’s tough guy, straight talking image immediately endeared him to a nation grown weary of clownish Yeltsin’s drunken antics; a country crying out for a strong leader in the face of an omnnipresent perceived threat from America and even Europe.
The emergence of oligarchs who got rich on Russian natural resources through ex- traordinary deal grabs in the 1990s, caused a schism in the country of 144 million people. The rich got crazy rich and the poor stayed poor. Putin took on some of the oligarchs, jailing Russia’s wealthiest man Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Anyone who questions his authority seems to end up in jail or dead.
Whether Putin has a direct say in any of the deaths or assassination attempts remains a mystery in a country which has always been mysterious to many.
Since he came to power, Putin has pandered to his followers, (and ego) by appearing shirtless and in carefully choreographed images heralding how strong and mighty he is; whether that involves appearing in judo attire or on horseback.
He has been the strong leader the country has been crying out for, but with voter turnout at only 60 per cent, despite allegations that people were told they would lose their jobs if they didn’t vote, along with inducements to vote and stuffing of votes at ballot stations across the country as witnessed by Navalny supporters, questions remain about how popular he really is.
Are Russian people afraid to voice their opinions against him? Certinaly, historically, this has been the hallmark of the country during the Communist era. The country’s literature and history, in fact, is rooted in stories of the cruelty of leaders, with violence used to justify national interest, of for entertainment even.
The killing of Alexander Litvinenko foreshadowed numerous other frightening incidents. Theresa May is garnering praise for her reaction, but the fox from the East will not be outsmarted easily. He is unplayable, as one pundit said last week. Russia truly is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.