Never since the 1962 Cuban crisis have we faced the same danger of an annihilating world war. The criminal regime whose collapse Putin sees as ‘the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century’ was the menace then. Putin’s own criminal regime is the menace now.
However, conservative media and social networks are brimming with demented panegyrics for Russia’s provocations in Syria.
Putin is being depicted as a fighter of terrorism, striking blows for Christianity and international law. According to today’s useful idiots, the term ungratefully coined by Lenin to describe his Western fans, Putin pursues not a single selfish objective.
Onne finds Putin’s aversion to terrorism hard to believe. He’s a proud and unrepentant officer in the satanic organisation that murdered 60 million in the USSR alone. “There’s no such thing as ex-KGB. This is for life,” said Putin, for once truthfully.
Putin’s ascent to the Kremlin was precipitated by his alma mater blowing up blocks of flats in Russia, blaming it on the Chechens and bombing their capital Grozny flat – even though Russians made up 80 per cent of the city’s population.
When the Chechens fought back by taking hostages, Putin countered their terrorism with his own. When in 2002 Chechens took hostages in a Moscow theatre, Putin’s men pumped poison gas in, killing, in addition to the 40 terrorists, 140 hostages.
Two years later the Chechens took over a school in North Caucasus. Putin’s troops opened fire, killing 385 hostages, most of them children. The Chechens got away.
Throughout its reign the KGB junta fronted by Putin has murdered, roughed up or imprisoned hundreds of political opponents. In the process Putin pioneered nuclear terrorism, so far on a small scale.
Hence trusting Putin’s supposedly altruistic motives in Syria is hard. Easier to discern are his real motives, falling into several categories.
Economic. Russia’s economy heavily depends on the export of hydrocarbons at the highest possible price.
Even when oil prices were sky-high, those who derived the greatest benefit were members of Putin’s ruling elite made up of the KGB/FSB and organised crime. Most others lived in abject conditions. (Suffice it to say that 25 per cent of Russian dwellings have no sewerage, and 20 per cent no plumbing.)
Now, with oil prices low, pushing them up is the only way to avert disaster, but that’s easier said than done. The fracking revolution in America and the slowdown of China’s economy have combined to keep the demand for Putin’s oil down. Since the law of supply-demand hasn’t yet been repealed, the only way to bring the price back up is to distort the supply.
Hence Russia has a vested interest in converting the Middle Eastern chaos into an all out war, spilling into the Arabian Peninsula. Fanning the Sunni-Shiite conflict, which is the effect of Putin’s air raids, serves that purpose perfectly.
Strategic. Putin’s media are making no secret of the conflict’s nature. Russia isn’t fighting for any particular group. It’s fighting against what they call ‘the Anglo-Saxon world’.
Russia’s greatest ally in the conflict so defined is ‘Death to America’ Iran and its assorted Shiite stooges, such as Hezbollah.
Obama has already cleared the way for the ayatollahs to develop nuclear weapons, which will present a mortal danger to Israel first and the West second. Yet the on-going conflict makes it impossible for Israel to launch an attack similar to the 1981 Ozirak raid. Doing so now would put Israel in the untenable position of appearing to be an Isis ally.
In addition to conscripting 150,000 new recruits, Putin is moving into Syria sophisticated electronic jammers and surface-to-air missiles. Since Isis has no air force, and mobile phones represent its most sophisticated electronic gear, this confirms whom Putin sees as Russia’s real enemies.
Geopolitical. Russia’s aggressive wars have finally turned her into a pariah state. This means she has to seek new geopolitical advantages against the West.
Turning most of the Middle East into her de facto dominion would serve this end nicely. Russia would acquire strongholds on the Mediterranean, something she has sought throughout her history.
Psychological. The Russians traditionally identify fear with respect (boitsa, znachit uvajayet is the Russian proverb to that effect). And respect has been in short supply historically and especially lately.
This always rankles Russia’s despotic rulers (the only kind the country has ever had). Yet Putin’s aggression against the Ukraine turned him overnight into an internationally marginal figure, respected only by his coterie of useful idiots.
Hence the desire to earn respect by fostering fear. And what can achieve that end better than creating a danger of world war, triggered either deliberately or accidentally?
One can only regret that the craven inadequacy of our own governments has pushed so many otherwise good people into the ranks of useful idiots. When one side in a conflict doesn’t even realise there’s a war on, the result is predictable.