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Understanding Putin [1]
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Date: 2023-01-23
Putin and Medvedev
They all live in fear that Putin will have them murdered
The following is a summary of a t-online interview with prof. of history Stéphane Courtois. It is a good perspective I thought worthwhile to pass on to American readers. The original German article is HERE.
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Putin is basically incompetent and yet unbelievably arrogant. His opinions about Ukraine, Europe, and the USA were all quite stupid:
+ Ukraine would not fight, and Kiev would be taken in a few days
+ Europe would do little while Putin's army rolled over Ukraine
+ The Americans would not help the "Nazi" regime in Ukraine
Putin sees everything with a KGB mentality. He believes only in the power of the state, a constant of Russian history and especially the Communist era. The KGB (now FSB) exists primarily to promote and protect state power. Putin has extended this system to include criminal organizations.
Before 1996, Putin was part of the St. Petersburg government. He worked with the local Mafia and became wealthy through graft.
Putin was part of a cabal of KGB officers who infiltrated the government of Yeltsin with the goal of taking power. Yeltsin cooperated to protect himself.
Putin deceived the West into trusting him and disarming themselves while he built-up Russian military power. He is paranoid about Western threats to Russia, and trusts only authoritarian methods to increase state security. This includes the jailing and murder of political opponents.
Putin's wars before 2022 (Chechnya, Georgia, Syria, Crimea, Donbas) met with little opposition from the West, leading Putin to believe he had a free hand.
Putin is like Josef Stalin, but not as smart. Stalin learned from his mistakes and maintained contact with reality. Putin has learned nothing yet.
Putin unfortunately believes in his distorted history of Russia and his vision of Russia's right to take Ukraine. The other E. European countries learned from their past Communist tyranny, but Putin understands nothing of this.
Putin is not threatened by other Russian leaders. They all fear being murdered. They outbid each-other to show loyalty to Putin.
Many Europeans do not understand why they should support Ukraine with adequate resources to win the war, and sooner rather than later.
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