Russia Resurgent
Since the fall of the USSR, Russians have been painfully aware that world attention, once riveted tensely on her, quietly and quickly wandered off as that country became a source of bemusement in its struggle to adapt to a version of democracy that failed to live up to capitalist gains, leaving the country in a shamble of dashed expectations. Since then there has been a single world power source with the removal from the world scene of the Clash of Titans and Russians have felt the snub keenly.A succession of ignorant, aggressive, and just plain stupid strongmen (with the notable exceptions of Nikita Kruschev and Mikhail Gorbachov) both before and after the dissolution of the USSR helped to ensure that Russia would clasp to its needy bosom the eventual ascension of a man of determination and a certain level of foresight, one who took over the shattered remnant of a badly faltering economy in an atmosphere of rampant corruption and chaotic lawlessness after the failure of the clownishly inept inebriate Boris Yeltsin.
Here in Vladimir Putin Russians have a man of determination and fortitude, a man whose mordant wit has endeared him to Russians, because under his watch social disorder and economic chaos have been transformed bringing national pride back to the people. Now there are rich Russians and a burgeoning middle class, with a wealth of purchasing options available in markets that once were bare of anything but the essentials of life.
The exploitation of gas and oil resources has brought swagger back to the state, with Mr. Putin demonstrating to his neighbours, once an integral part of the Soviet Union, just how much they still depend on Russia. Russians desire above all a leader who can demonstrate he rules with an iron fist. And Mr. Putin is more than happy to oblige. As a former KGB apparatchnik he knows all about the usefulness of discipline and the practicality of demonstrated responsibility.
Amazingly, this man has a 80% approval rating among the population. Little wonder he felt confident in 're-arranging' Russia's constitution to allow him to stand for a third 4-year term if he so desires, and by all indications he may very well do so. He earned the public trust by his tough decisions to wrest power away from the oligarchs, recreating government's institutions, and crushing Chechen terrorist armies.
So what does he care if the outside world looks askance at his championing of Iran and ushering into that country advanced weaponry, along with assisting it in its search for nuclear supremacy in the region? Iran, after all isn't threatening Russia, and Russia has enjoyed very good relations with Iran for centuries. And if Russia chooses to engage Hamas, which doesn't represent a present Islamist terror challenge to it, unlike the Chechnyen Islamists, that's her prerogative; let others whose existence Hamas threatens look out for themselves.
But doesn't it rankle still that the United States flaunts its uni-power state of influence in the world? There was a time that Russia's influence during Iron Curtain days ranked right up there with that of the U.S. So when Mr. Putin made his statement in Germany pointing out that the U.S. has an undeserved vision of itself as living in a uni-Polar world where it could make decisions affecting the rest of the world in a most adverse way he felt both justified and supported by the facts on the ground.
His apologists say he was only stating the obvious, that Mr. Putin is not really aggressively pursuing a policy that would put Russia at odds with the U.S. and the European Union, but merely that he feels confident in speaking his truth that reason will prevail. Just an admonishing chat between friends. That his position (and that of China) on matters such as North Korea's nuclear ambitions and grievances with the U.S.; Iran's growing isolation as a result of its nuclear standoff with the UN and its threats against Israel are merely incidents of perspective.
Much like his unease and outright rejection of the explanation coming from the United States that their positioning of anti-ballistic missile defence systems on the territory of the USSR's former satellites, pointing actually in Russia's direction is not quite what it seems, but rather a defensive move against Iran's future aggressive intentions. And then there's the matter of that colossal snub Russia was given in the matter of NATO membership while she sits by and watches as former satellites are brought into NATO with great fanfare.
Who can doubt that Russians sincerely want to be friends of the West? They most certainly do. They're defensive because they're always being sidelined, always being held in suspicion - and just incidentally for good reason by and large. It's not easy having one foot in the world of the west and the other in the orient; you never quite know where you belong, continually being tugged one way then the other.
And Russians are as proud of themselves as other countries are of their past glories, traditions, heritage and future. There will always be incidents that set us at odds with one another, and Russia has proved amply by past performances throughout the centuries up to the present time that she cannot be fully trusted. There's still a tad too much of the ghost of tribal vengeance and aggrievement in her makeup.
On the other hand, it seems the better part of valour to recognize that the world has too much to forfeit when we keep marginalizing the interests of powerful allies in our common search for security. We badly need cooler heads to prevail.
Labels: Political Realities
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, March 04, 2007
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