Vladimir Putin’s Syria Moment

Vladimir Putin has an image throughout many circles in the West as a cold, calculating, autocratic former KGB officer, who seems determined to return Russia to its past glory that he believes was flittered away by previous leaders.

His conduct during the recent crisis in Syria has done little to disbar this image from the international image. He has continued to back Bashir-al Assad in his murderous rampage against his own people, as Putin’s own government offers the token words of condemnation required of any Western government.

 Many have blamed the decades of friendship that exist between the Russian and Syrian states.

I believe that Putin is missing a major opportunity to enhance his image both at home and abroad. Putin is known for his tough as nails, take no prisoners attitude. This guided him during the incursion into Georgia in 2008 and his rather fiery rhetoric against the United States wanting to be a dominant power.

 It would fit with his character to take this same line with the Syrian leader, yet he appears unwilling to do so. He would earn respect by showing that he’s willing to go after his friends as well as his enemies.

 By not doing this, he’s only confirmed the West’s fears that he’s nothing but a dictator dragging Russia back to the Soviet glory days.

Come on Putin, aren't you man enough to scare anyone outside of Eastern Europe?

The Reality of a Reformed Soviet Union

There’s growing concern among Senate Republicans in Washington that Vladimir Putin in seeking greater economic and political cooperation with former Soviet states is actually seeking to recreate the former Soviet Union.

I can’t speak to reality on the ground in Moscow, but I do know that the second coming of the Soviet Union won’t be quite like the first. The world has become a far more global place economically and socially. It isn’t so easy to just divide East-West and keep information out. I talked a little bit about this in Asia’s Censor Problem available in the archives. Russia needs the West as a trading partner for its’ oil and natural gas, so isolation as promoted in Lenin and Stalinist times, isn’t exactly an option.

 I keep hearing about how Russia is going to be rich as the West crumbles. Not necessarily, yes Russia has a large supply of oil and natural gas, but there going to have years of digging to get to the stuff. Furthermore, they’ve failed to diversify their economy so its’ not as fuel based. Until such action occurs, they’ll always be hostage to the commodities market.

If anything, Russia may accomplish Soviet Union-lite.