thepoliblog

Putin’s Place in History

Official portrait of Vladimir Putin (2006). This file comes from the website of the President of the Russian Federation and is copyrighted.

History will deem Putin to have sabotaged and delayed Russia’s development into an open, equitable society that can achieve its full potential.

Putin will be called

– Yeltsin’s biggest blunder

– Defender of Kleptocracy

– Defender of dictatorial regimes that oppress and stifle their own people

Let’s consider each of these, in turn.

– Yeltsin’s biggest blunder

A previous post noted that Russia is at present like a Centaur:   human above the  waist, all brute below.  A deranged Centaur, whose brutal part fears and hates its human part, and strives to keep it on a tight leash.

So-called “Old Centaur”: centaur teased by Eros (missing). Grey-black marble, Roman copy after an Hellenistic original. From the Villa Adriana near Tivoli, 1736. Currently in the Capitoline Museums, Palazzo Nuovo, first hall, great hall. Photographed by Jastrow (2006).

Putin has delayed by more than a decade the Centaur’s transformation into something fully human.

Thin-skinned and scared inside, Putin stifles Russia’s best citizens, its most conscientous and brave citizens, its only true patriots, blocking them from contributing to its improvement.
Not long ago his boot came down on the rock group Pussy Riot.

The rock group performance artists Pussy Riot, photographed 11 January 2012 by Igor Mukhin

Today, with puppy-like eagerness to please his master, a corrupt prosecutor now levels ludicrous charges against Alexei Navalny, a brave blogger.

Alexei Navalny in Moscow, 26 May 2012, photgraphed by MItya Aleshkovskiy.

The ludicrousness of the charges is deliberate.  It is part of Putin’s intended message, as was noted by Fred Hiatt in the Washington Post.

– Defender of Kleptocracy

Instead of protecting Russia from the mafia, Putin protected the mafia from Russia.
Instead of protecting courageous Russian patriots, Putin looked away when they were persecuted and killed.
A recent example was Sergei Magnitsky.

The grave of Sergei Magnitsky, 27 June 2012, photographed by Dmitry Rozhkov.

Putin could have stopped the persecution of Magnitsky.

Putin could have ordered an investigation into stealing by government officials  from the Russia nation, based on Magnitsky’s discoveries.
Instead he looked away while Magnitsky was falsely charged, arrested, tormented and killed by corrupt generals, judges, police, and doctors.
The names of the thieving generals are known.
The names of the corrupt judges are known.
The names of the police who ordered the beating and the names of the police who conducted the beating are known,
the names of the malpracticing doctors are known, at least to the ‘authorities’.
None of the culprits have been charged, nor punished, nor even admonished.

Russia Putinesca is not a tasty or nutritious dish for most Russians, only for the kleptocracy.

– Defender of al Assad’s murderous regime in Syria,and of Khamenei’s murderous regime in Iran
Quite apart from any questions of national interest, it is not in Putin’s interest to see autocrats be challenged and overthrown.
It is in his interest for the world to contain as few open societies as possible.

Putin will also be remembered as being opinionated, but uninterested in facts and in the world at large.  He never grew intellectually, nor morally.

Putin will be remembered as an autocrat, and as a person whose foreign policy was driven by envy.