On Russia and the Legacy of Putin.

In last night’s Putin post I asked the question: ‘just how bonkers is he capable of becoming?’ This morning came the hint of an answer. Riled by the damage to one of his favourite bridges (possibly through the action of an enemy he created) he gave vent to his tantrum by murdering yet more Ukrainian civilians and leaving even more innocent people suffering the pain of bereavement.

This sort of thing was not unusual during the Middle Ages, the European Dark Ages, and for centuries before that. It still happens in more backward parts of the world today, but the rest of us feel we have gone beyond it. We don’t do that sort of thing any more. At the end of WWII we brought the United Nations into being in the hope that it would ensure a more peaceful future in which states could co-exist in an atmosphere of mutual respect. And we gave the power of veto to five countries which made up the Security Council, which, by a supreme irony, included Russia.

So where does the present situation leave Russia? It leaves it mired in the dark detritus of Putin’s mindset. Let’s not forget that the capital of Russia is geographically in the continent of Europe, and after the fall of the USSR the rest of us Europeans gradually learned to accept and embrace Russians as fellow beings. Russia became seen as a modern, sophisticated state where we could finally feel safe and welcome if we wanted to visit the grandeur of St Petersburg or the curiosities of Moscow. Putin is now taking it backwards to a state where it is once again reviled as place of darkness and aggression, dominated by the bestial instinct to grab territory through violence and cruelty.

Is that fair to Russians? Probably not. It seems there are plenty of them who oppose – mentally at least – Putin’s mediaeval machinations. But there are also others who back him, either through their own inner darkness or a blind belief in the propaganda he spews out, much of which is simply irrational. What I’d like to know is: Which side predominates.

And what of Putin himself? Who knows? His latest action suggests he is sinking into something no better than a rabid dog, and what do we do with rabid dogs?