Suddenly we see what it is to be European. Putin has done us all the favour of highlighting our peaceful democracy common denominator, in fact the very thing that until now has restrained us from reacting earlier.
Time after time the Kremlin was given the benefit of the doubt in the hope they would come around and now they finally and totally blew it.
There is a certain amount of comedy in this tragic circus and a striking simularity to other autocratic regimes in whatever century you care to look. Flag waving politicians and their mastering of the political platform by blatant mendacity are unfortunately too often successful, but in a democracy reality eventually comes around and bites them in the backside. It did with Trump and it will with Johnson. The rather enticing alternative for any politician wishing to avoid that fate, at least in the short term, is to become a selected leader rather than an elected one. Manipulating the electoral system, restricting the right to protest or harnessing the judicial system with legislators holding the reins are just a few of the things to be found in the would-be autocrat´ s tool box. The next step is the taming of both the truth and the people through propaganda and censorship; effective to a certain degree and honed to perfection by the use of draconian punishments on anyone who doesn´ t toe the line.
So far so good you might think if you were a Putin, although this is where the trouble starts. It all gets very cosy in that leadership bubble that filters out all the traitorous negativity aimed at ruining the country. History is re-written not only to make everybody feel better but also in the belief that it will be a recipe for winning the future. ”We won WW2, we beat the fascists and we´ ll beat them again, our army is the greatest, Ukraine is not a country, Ukrainians will welcome us as liberators.”
If Putin had left it at the feel good stage and satisfied himself with having gobbled up the Crimean Peninsula and not been seriously held to account for it, he might have had a future. He didn´ t leave it at that and worse for him, he began believing in his own make-believe world. It might be argued that he knew he wouldn´ t be hailed as a liberator by the Ukrainians but there can be no doubt he was convinced that Ukraine would be fought down in a matter of days.
In a less autocratic country, somebody might have told him that the Russian army was not fit for purpose, unless that purpose was the indiscriminate slaughtering of civilians by shelling them from a distance. Somebody might have told him that Ukraine is not Syria and unlike Syria, Ukraine is a European democracy with an elected president and that there is every chance they will fight like hell. Somebody might have told him that, like the Soviet Union in 1941, the Ukrainians will be defending their homeland. Somebody might have asked him the follow up question, ”What will that make us?”
Putin went down that rabbit hole and is now so far down, that his propaganda machine is saying Ukraine is shelling its own cities, ”Tut, tut look at Mariupol,” she said on Russian state television standing in front of a picture of the flattened city. This is as Orwellian as it gets and I suppose Putin and his mate Lavrov are hoping there are enough patriotically stupid people in Russia who will believe that Ukrainians are killing their own women and children. I do not know. What I do know is that when the truth comes out and it will, there are going to be a lot of Russians realizing why their country has suddenly become a pariah state in Europe and why the mention of the word Russian will, for at least a generation or so, conjure up images of Mariupol and Russia´ s war of aggression.
The bravery of the Ukrainian people and their fight for democracy will live on, forever casting a shadow on Russia´ s aspirations to grandness. The world-wide condemnation of this imperialistic war and the imposed sanctions will have serious consequences for Russia, economic as well as for Russia´ s standing in the international arena. Cosying up to China for survival, comes at the price of servitude.
That is one hell of a legacy the would-be Czar of all Russians has bequeathed on his people.
It is said Putin is obsessed with the fate of Muammar Gadaffi. No smoke without fire!
