Putin, with power to change Russia’s image, picks bullying for strategic vision

Vladimir Putin has been elected president of Russia for the fourth time. Having garnered 70 per cent of the vote, he has everything he needs to change Russia's image. PHOTO | AFP 

In Summary

• Putin’s involvement in Syria, a country that has no special trade advantages or strategic importance, was precipitated by his desire to spite the West.

By TEE NGUGI
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Vladimir Putin has been elected president of Russia for the fourth time. He has always been a popular figure in Russia because he advocates a virulent Russian nationalism, whose agenda is to reclaim the country’s glorious past.

And yet in his 18 years of stewardship, the economy has stagnated, corruption has remained widespread, freedom of Russians has diminished, and his foreign policy and adventures, exemplified most gruesomely by Russian involvement in Syria, have neither improved Russian influence across the world nor improved the world’s opinion of Russia.

Compare and contrast with Russia’s neighbour, China. While it is true freedom for Chinese has remained restricted, China’s economy has continued to grow at an astronomical rate, moving millions out of poverty every year.

China’s governance, though authoritarian, provides a predictable stability. Corruption remains minimal. China’s flexing of its military muscle in the South China Sea worries countries in the region, but China has avoided getting embroiled in any armed conflict.

In the past, Right Wing American ideology painted China as the next mortal enemy of the world, but Americans and the West now prefer co-operation, not confrontation with China.

The world now thinks of China as a disciplined, driven country, eager to fulfill what it believes is its destiny — to be the wealthiest, militarily most powerful, and technologically most advanced country in the world. As a result, Chinese influence around the world continues to grow. (An aside to Africa: Moving the begging bowl from the West to China is not policy. Rather, study shows China was able to accomplish so much within a relatively short period of time).

Russia, a country that once inspired the world through its literature, music, ballet, science, Sputnik space odyssey that made Yuri Gagarin a household name across the world, the country that had the audacity to challenge the capitalist model (though the alternative model it offered was tragically flawed) has been, by every measure, a power in decline.

Putin wants to make Russia great again but seems not to have a strategic plan. His vision of a new Russia is not grounded on justice and freedom. It does not offer an economic alternative to ultra-capitalism that has gifted the world’s riches to a few billionaires.

Instead, he has been accused of allegedly meddling in the US 2016 presidential election. His regime has been suspected of eliminating dissidents abroad and at home. He continues to bully Georgia and Ukraine.

His involvement in Syria, a country that has no special trade advantages or strategic importance, was precipitated by his desire to spite the West. Russian and Syrian troops have committed gross war crimes in that country, and the Syrian people will never forget Russia’s role in those crimes.

Most dangerous man

Western news media have always portrayed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as the most dangerous man on the planet. This is because the North Korean regime survives by mobilising support by precipitating a crisis. Therefore, there has always been fear that the dictatorship could launch a conventional or nuclear attack on its neighbours as a logical continuation of its policy.

But dictators are often cowards with a morbid fear of losing power and, consequently, their lives. Kim Jong Un would never attack South Korea or Japan because he knows such an action would be the beginning of the end of his regime and himself.

Putin on the other hand has the nuclear weapons and the military hardware to risk a major war with the West. Recent incidents also seem to paint him as reckless. Take, for instance, the recent poisoning of a former Russian spy in the UK, Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

The poisoning exposed many innocent people to the deadly nerve agent Novichok used in the attack in the town of Salisbury. This happened a few months to the World Cup in June, an event that Russia could use to change how the world views it.

Might Putin be, in fact, the most dangerous man on the planet?

Russia gave the world Fyodor Dostoevsky, Alexander Pushkin, Igor Stravinsky, Mikhail Baryshnikov.

She showed the world the meaning of fortitude by stopping Napoleon Bonaparte outside Moscow. She prevented Adolf Hitler from winning the Second World War. She supported Africa in her anti-colonial struggles, and offered scholarships to thousands of Africans. Russia pioneered space exploration, etc.

Now her humanist traditions, her courage in the face of impossible odds, her contribution to making the world a better place are overshadowed by the image of a tottering and bullying power. Putin, having garnered 70 per cent of the vote, has everything he needs to change that image.