Left: Hitler announces the Anschluss of Austria on the Heldenplatz, Vienna, Austria on 15 March 1938. (Image: Wikipedia)
Right: Putin speaking in occupied Sevastopol to celebrate 18 March 2014 anschluss of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine conducted by Russian military and special forces. May 9, 2014 (Image: kremlin.ru)
Many who hear Vladimir Putin’s most outrageous statements or see his most aggressive actions are inclined to say he is living in a parallel reality; but in fact, Vitaly Portnikov says, the Kremlin leader constantly monitors reality to see just how far he can go. That reality suggests to him that there are few limits and that he can pursue his agenda with impunity.
Vitaly Portnikov, Ukrainian political analyst and writer
No matter what Putin says or does, the Ukrainian political analyst says, many in Russia and the West instead of standing up to him and taking effective action to block what he says or does want to avoid breaking with him and seek some new agreement. Putin sees all this and acts accordingly.
He is “careful” in his actions, Portnikov says.
“He studies what will be the level of responsibility to which he will be held. And if there isn’t any, then he goes further and with greater confidence. That is how it has been in Russia since his coming to power.”
He watches how society and foreign governments react and when they don’t, he feels free to do more.
Thus, his military aggression against Ukraine followed one against Georgia and now his using Russian gas as a political weapon in Europe has followed that. But instead of thinking up truly effective sanctions, many in the West want to avoid breaking with Putin and instead seek new agreements with him. Putin and his entourage see all this, and to what should be the surprise of no one, act accordingly.
The Kremlin leader is laughing at the West and at his own society and reveling in his ability to do anything he wants without negative consequences, Portnikov says.
“He hasn’t gone out of his mind. In that regard, all is well with him. It is we who have gone out of our minds if we continue to permit this.”
We have only ourselves to blame and we live in a parallel reality, the commentator concludes, “if we allow him to laugh for twenty years of rule and threaten and then have no doubt that his rule will last forever.”
Read More:
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- Putinism is the post-industrial form of fascism, Skobov says
- Newly-elected Russian Duma likely to be the last one way or another, Yakovenko says
- Will German court’s decision on Nord Stream 2 stop Putin’s project?
- Putin better reflects underlying Russian values than does the opposition and his system will thus outlast both, Pastukhov says
- On historical unity in a prison of nations: Ukraine’s Institute of National Remembrance Head strikes back at Putin
- If anyone wrote Russian history the way Putin writes Ukraine’s, Putin would be outraged, Travin says
- Putin views Ukraine as “the anti-Russia” and the struggle against it as his mission, Shevchuk says
- Putin’s essay on Russia and Ukraine about far larger issues than that, Yavlinsky says
- Putin’s fixation on Ukraine is demagogic, delusional and dangerous
- Putin’s new article – ‘ideological justification for a future war,’ Pastukhov says
Tags: Failed Western diplomacy, Putin, Putinism, Russia, Russia's confrontation with the West, Russian aggression, Russian gas, Russian militarism, Russian military threat, Russo-Georgian War of 2008, Russo-Ukrainian War (2014-present), Western appeasement
