Put in perspective - Village Magazine

7 2 March 2016

INTERNATIONAL

Put in

perspective

Money and machismo drive this

autocratic President, in the classic

Russian tradition

by Frank Armstrong

March 2016 7 3

sweknowwellinIrelandcashisone

ofman’sgreatesttemptations.It’sa

recurringtheme in Russia. Inthe

venalworld,forexample,ofFyodor

Dostoevsky’s'TheIdiot'(1869)most

ofthecharacterssuccumbtogreed.General

Ivolgindesiresmoneytosupporthisaddiction

toalcoholandtoallowhimtospendtimewith

hismistress.Lebedeviswillingtoputhishands

into a replace to retrieve a package that

Nastassya Filippovna has discarded, with

100,000roublesinside.InthesocietyofThe

Idiot,moneynotonlycreatesone'sfortuneit

alsoobtainsoneabride.‘Bids’forNastassya

Filippovna range from 75,000 roubles to

100,000tooveramillion.Money,then,isa

clearsymboloftheperversionofhumanvalues

inthenovel.

Russiafellintoasimilarstuporattheendof

theColdWarwhenexcessivewealthcorrupted

RussianpoliticsasBorisYeltsinamplylledthe

roleoftheIdiot,hispowersdeclininginahaze

ofvodkaastheplotunfolds.Itwasoutofthis

pitofiniquitythatVladimirPutinrosetopower,

theshortbutmusclyformerKGBofceremerg-

ingfromobscuritytobecomeprimeminister

andthenbeingelectedPresidentin2000when

Yeltsinnallylosthisreason.

TheUSembassycablespublishedby WikiLe-

aksin2010,revealedthatAmericandiplomats

consideredPutin'sRussiahadbythenbecome

"acorrupt,autocratickleptocracycentredon

theleadershipofVladimirPutin,inwhichof-

cials,oligarchsandorganisedcrimearebound

togethertocreateavirtualmaastate”.A2007

CIAreportestimatedPutin’swealthat$40bn.

Indeedtheone-timebiggestforeigninvestorin

Russia,BillBrowder,toldBusiness Insiderthat

Putinwasworth$200bn,makinghimtherich-

estmanintheworld.Heclaimed“thersteight

or10yearsofPutin’sreignoverRussiawas

aboutstealingasmuchmoneyashecould”.A

BBCPanoramainvestigationearlierthisyear

showedhehasa$1bnpalaceontheBlackSea

Coast.Fundsforitweredivertedfromthesuper-

rich who thought it would be spent on

healthcare.

But of course for most Russians, after a

decadeofbuoyancy,allisnotgoodonthecash

frontbecauseofUkraine-falloutsanctions,and

thecollapsingcurrencyandoilprices.TheRus-

sianeconomyshrank3.7percentin2015,and

4.1in2014inroublevalues,butindollarterms

itis40%belowpeak.Oilpricesreboundedin

earlyFebruarytoabove$35perbarrelbutthey

hadpeakedin2012atcloseto$110(whenoil

andgasconstituted52%ofgovernmentreve-

nue)andgovernmentforecastsarebasedon

€50.Realwagesfell10percentyear-on-yearin

December,the14thconsecutivemonthofcon-

traction.Russiaisrunninganunsustainable

budgetdecitofalmost5%.Soonakeythresh-

old will be reached where over 50% of an

averageincomeisspentonfood.

Putin’s dastardliness and vulnerablity to

exposéisevenmoredrasticonthesecurity

front.Forexample,ithasbeenallegedthat,pre-

sumably under the direction of Putin, the

Russian secret services, the FSB, bombed

apartment blocksinMoscowin 1999killing

almost300peopleandpinningtheblameon

Chechnyanseparatists.Ofcourse,Putinwas

abletousethewarinChechnyatogoodpropa-

gandistic effect but he may have created

hostagestofortune,eveninfurtiveRussia.

Such tactical ethical nihilism might have

appearedinanotherofDostoevsky’sextraordi-

narynovels,Devils(1872).Towardstheendone

oftheconspiratorsLyamshinisputontrialand

asked,“Whysomanymurders,scandalsand

outragescommitted?”.Herespondsthatitwas

topromote:“thesystematicdestructionofsoci-

ety and all its principles; to demoralise

everyone and make hodge-podge of every

thing,andthen,whensocietywasonthepoint

ofcollapse–sick,depressed,cynicalandscep-

tical,butstillwithaperpetualdesireforsome

kindofguidingprincipleandforself-preserva-

tion–suddenlytogaincontrolofit”.Destruction

and demoralising animates much of Putin’s

policy from Crimea to Ukraine, Syria to

Chechnya.Russiaconsistentlyoperatesstand-

ardsthataremoreindiscriminatethanWestern

militarypowers.

He must be dealt with

though he is slippery

and answers to no one

for his morality

7 4 March 2016

LastSeptemberPutinshockedtheworldby

weighingintotheSyrianconictwithairstrikes

againstrebel-heldtargets.Controversiallythe

primarytargetsdidnotseemtobeISIL.

An article in Time magazine by Timothy

SnyderarguedthatthemotivationforRussia’s

interventioninSyriawastoturnEuropeintoa

‘refugeefactory’,compelledtoaccommodate

many more beleaguered victims than have

alreadyarrived.Thisisbasedonthecredible

assessmentthatthePutinviewsthestabilityof

theEuropeanUnionasathreattoRussia.He

willalsohaveappreciatedtheopportunityto

create a client authoritarian regime in the

Middle East and to play to a growing anti-

Islamic galleryinEurope,particularlyin the

formerSovietUnion.

Ironically,PutinstartedasacentristinRus-

sian terms. However,he was threatened by

nationalist support for electoral protests

againsthisregimein2011-12,andnowbyeco-

nomicinstabilityandpublicpoverty.IfPutin

failstodeliverinUkraine,thereisaprobability

ofachallengetohisauthorityfromamoreradi-

calnationalistagenda.

ConfrontingPutinmaybethegreatestgeo-

politicalchallengethatEuropehasfacedsince

theendoftheColdWar.Machismo,personal

and political, is a big part of his schtick.

Whetherit’sbare-backhorse-riding,descend-

inginadeepwatersubmersible,posingwitha

massivepikehe’sjustcaughtoratigerhe’s

tranquilised,ordrinking24-year-oldvintage

winewithBerlusconihe’snotnotablyaliveto

hisfemininesite.It’sHaugheyforthetwentieth-

century,goneglobal.

Hedivorcedin2014andisnowlivingwitha

fecundgymnast.

Man-on-ManbuddyofTrump.Antagonistof

EltonJohn.Scathinglyself-righteousdenierof

anyconnectionwiththecharacteristicpolo-

nium poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in

London,despitethendingofaformerEnglish

judgethathehad“probablyauthorisedit”and

thedeadman’sallegationthat“thehowlofpro-

testfromaroundtheworldwillreverberate,Mr

Putininyourearsfortherestofyourlife”.

But above all he must be dealt with. The

approachneedsperhapstobeconditionedby

awarenessthathewasanoperative”witha

lowered sense of danger”, according to the

analysisofhisformerKGBemployers.Lastyear

heremarked:“ftyyearsago,thestreetsof

Leningradtaughtmethatifaghtisinevitable,

youhavetohitrst”.Butinordertoactouthis

violent predilections, a perceived political

affrontisrequired.Pretextsforviolencemust

beavoided.

InparticularPutinmustbegivennoexcuse

for further intervention in Ukraine which is

treatedasa domesticconcern,indissoluble

fromRussia:Putinviewstheformerterritoryof

theSovietUnionasRussia’sinheritanceand

crucialtohersecurity.TheEuropeanUnionthus

must manage the difcult task of helping,

wherepossible,theUkrainianpeopletoover-

come the endemic corruption there without

giving the impression they are seeking to

expandintoitsterritory.

FurthermorePutinisslipperyandanswersto

nooneforhismorality.Henowengagesinsys-

tematicdoublespeakinhischaracteristically

carefullycraftedpublicutterances.

Forinstance,indealingwithSyriaheargues

that its sovereignty including its territorial

integrityshouldberespectedyetheagrantly

ignored that principle when annexing the

CrimeafromUkraineandfomentingrebellionin

Donetsk.

For the moment the risks to Putin of his

unscrupulousness are manageable - his in-

again-out-againdouble-actwithMedvedevhas

lefthimwithaholdoverpowerinRussiathatis

simplyunassailable.Forexample,sanctions

couldactuallyhavetheeffectofbolsteringhis

power,asoccurredinSaddamHussein’sIraq.

Aboveallweshouldrefrainfromlazyhistori-

calanalysisinourassessmentofPutin.Heis

not‘thenewHitler’againstwhom‘appease-

ment’ is misguided, who only knows the

languageofbullyingorbeingbullied.Thechal-

lengePutin’sRussiaposestoEuropeandglobal

peaceanddevelopmentisunique.

InthefaceofthedangerposedbyPutinwe

musthopethatEuroperetainsitsmoralunder-

pinning.KeepingtheEuropeanhouseinorder

isthebestwaytoconfrontPutin.Amongthe

importantglobalobjectivestheEuropeUnion

shouldpursueisrepairingthedamagetointer-

national law caused by the illegal US–led

invasionofIraq.Thiswasanunmitigatedstra-

tegic mistake and the anarchy that has

descendedgavePutinaconcomitantstrategic

opportunitytointerveneinotherstates.

The European Community was born as a

peaceprocessandaneconomicpoolingafter

30yearsofhorricwars,andhascontainedthe

destructiveforceofnationalism,withinitsbor-

ders.Ithasalwaysbeenabalanceofidealism

andtough realism.It is the latterthatmust

underpinitsdealingswiththeutterlyunideal-

istic,quintessentiallytoughRussianpremier,

VladimirPutin.

INTERNATIONAL

Putin is “worth $200bn,

making him the richest

man in the world”