*никогда
(nik-og-da)
The Russian word meaning NEVER
As we enter the New Year, so will Putin enter his 20th year as President. The Kremlin portrays Putin as a savior: a leader who lifted Russia off its knees after the years that followed the Soviet Union’s decline.
And nearly 20 years after Boris Yeltsin handed him the presidency, and with three full terms behind him, Putin seems stronger than ever despite the effective propaganda from the West against him.
Putin’s been in power for as long as many Russians can remember and since before many were even born. He won the last presidential election with over 75% of the vote.
Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin unnerves the West with warnings about the hypersonic weapons and missile shields that Moscow is developing, reminding us of the days of MAD* (Mutually Assured Destruction) between the two Cold War superpowers and the ‘bluff’ of America’s ‘Star Wars’ programme.
Russia now has real influence in the MENA region for the first time in its history while it embraces Crimea ever closer to counter the CIA’s gambit of seizing political power in – what has become a total fascist regime – in Ukraine.
His detractors say Putin’s losing his connection with the Russian people. Don’t believe the West’s ‘Newspeak’.
Putin has in just 20 years raised Russia’s profile on the global stage to a century or more high. That said this contradiction exists in his personality; Putin has shown signs of empathy in many ways, in his old age. Many even would love to see Putin made Tsar! Fanciful to say the least. For that to become a distant remote possibility one needs to understand Putin’s sensitivities, his empathy and feelings that requires him to constantly show the people of Russia he still deeply cares about ‘his subjects’. He loves his Country!
From December 26th in the Moscow Times:
“The speaker of Russia’s parliament raised the possibility of changing the constitution as speculation grows that the Kremlin is considering ways to allow President Vladimir Putin to remain in power beyond the end of his current term, when current law requires him to step down.”
Some recent polls show Putin’s popularity is waning but, as Mark Twain once wrote, statistics are pliable.
In his first two terms, in 2000-08, Putin was “in a blessed situation, There was ample money, the economy was buoyant with high world oil prices fueling strong GDP growth, and Western preoccupation with terrorism, among other things, meant a “permissive international system” for the then relatively unknown Russian President.
The country was in a “serious stagnation pit” and any additional Western sanctions could make it much worse, according to a former finance minister. He said new sanctions could restrict technology transfer with the West; a development that would dampen hopes for the kind of breakthrough the President has been seeking.
With or without new sanctions, Putin’s stated goal of doubling GDP by 2021; around the time he may start revealing his plans for what comes after 2024, when a constitutional limit of two straight terms seemingly bars him from Office.
In the past, Putin has persistently managed to avoid blame for Russia’s woes, with State-controlled media helping him pin setbacks on the usual suspects – the West, his cabinet, and incompetent or corrupt lower-level officials.
The Russian economy is not in recession now, as it was in two years following the 2014 oil-price plunge and the onset of sanctions over aggression in Ukraine, remember caused by the CIA’s takeover of the Ukraine.
Warranted or not, Putin’s hand is seen everywhere in the world. Paranoia!
But almost every move Russia has made beyond its borders since 2014, or been accused of making, has brought criticism, accusations or condemnations from the West.
In Syria, Putin is accused of propping up a bloody dictator; in Britain, of committing a chemical-weapons attack yet now Putin has an opportunity to praise America for its military withdrawal from Syria and with hope also from
Afghanistan. It’s all rather confusing is it not. The truth is there if you look.
As for religion, as usual, it to is a problem. It exists within the Orthodox Christian leaders caused by the Ukraine meeting on December 15 to form a new, unified church free from Russian claims of supremacy “a church without Putin,” as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko put it.
Of course, some analysts say Putin especially encourages a siege mentality and whips up anti-Western sentiment to both bolster his image and draw attention away from problems within Russia itself. And why not? That is exactly what Western countries do.
Lest we do, let us never forget the hugely successful WORLD CUP staged last summer in Russia.
The bottom line of today’s global politics is we (mainly US and UK) must learn to develop our mutual interests with Russia, not bait Her into a nuclear war. Now that IS MAD!
The post When is MAD not MAD? ANSWER: Никогда appeared first on The Duran.
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