5 minutes agoIf Putin were a woman...
Periskopi(4 years ago)
(4 years ago)We live in the era of a weak expert on gender issues, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has contributed little to this confusion. Speaking to German media between G7 and NATO summits late last month, he declared: “If Putin were a woman, which he certainly is not, [...]
We live in the era of a weak expert on gender issues, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has contributed little to this confusion. Speaking to German media between G7 and NATO summits late last month, he declared:
If Putin were a woman, which he certainly wasn't, but if he were, I don't think he would have started a mad war. If you want a perfect example of toxic maleity, that's what he's doing in Ukraine”.
Many hope that this would be more of a reputation for a career politician. Because if Johnson and his G-7 colleagues really believe this madness, then the West is in even bigger trouble than it seems. Vladimir Putin is not trying to be more like Rambo.
Among other heroes of Russian history, he is trying to imitate Catherine the Great. As the most successful of an X - century line of rulers VIII, mainly women, who expanded the empire of Peter the Great and made Russia the greatest land power in Europe, Catherine conquered Crime and Western Ukraine during her rule.
She won all the naval battles in the Black Sea, and was mercilessly crushing the uprisings within the country. After setting up one of Poland's former lovers as king, she annexed most of this unfortunate country as she shared it three times.
Americans hoping to look beyond stereotypes to understand Putin's outlook must spend little time sitting on the couch watching the film “Ekaterine: The rise of the Great Catherine” This series, carried out with official financing of the Russian Information Ministry, and presented in Russian but tweeted in English at “Amazon Prime”, enables viewers to see Russia the way Putin wants them to see it.
It offers more information on the Puttinistic way of thinking than all the G-7 leaders' assumptions. In this series, Catherine brings down her unfortunate husband, Peter III, and secures her power by ordering the killing of a new former Emperor, and by reaching Peter's murder through her loved ones.
When he ascended to power, Peter, an admirer and imitators of King Prussia, Frederick the Great, withdrew Russian troops from Berlin, and gave great territories to Frederick, in hopes of building an alliance of values with Russia's former enemy. Like the Jelcinian-era liberals, he tried to provide Russia with a modern Western-style constitution, and make Russia a European country in general.
The hero who helps Katherine assume the throne an officer from the Russian occupational forces in Germany, disgusted by Peter's terrible weakness in the face of Western arrogance, can remind Russian viewers of former KGB agent Vladimir Putin, who was returning home to a chaos-ridden post-Soviet Russia from his base as an agent in East Germany.
In later episodes of the series, Catherine continues to suppress the local opposition and defeat Russia's eternal enemies in the west and south. All of Putinism's current beliefs, presented as eternal truths for Russia and its country in the world, appear in a series that is as entertaining as educational.
All other countries hate and seek to destroy Russia. Discussion over “values” in international relations is a cynical fraud with which the hostile West seeks to confuse and disarm Russia. Russia is also threatened from the inside.
Greedy officials, populist discontent and contenders for power would break Russia apart if the right space were left. Foreign enemies are eager to join forces with local ones, constantly aiming to weaken Russia. Corruption is chronic; no government can eradicate it.
However, some corrupt officials are loyal to Russia; others are agents paid for by foreign powers. Only a strong ruler, excluded from the restrictions of traditional morality, and armed with a powerful internal security device that is free to use tough measures, can keep Russia safe.
The burden of absolute power, and the necessity to make difficult and often ugly decisions that kill the soul, isolate the ruler. But keeping that burden, and making those ugly decisions, is the highest form of sacrifice. The people offer themselves to the ruler; as the ruler renounces the hope of private happiness for the people's sake.
But that doesn't always work well. Catherine's armies faced many obstacles because of the cosmic corruption, poor leadership, and often the technological superiority of her enemies ' weapons. There was never enough money in the state treasury.
But successful rulers do not give up when moving ahead becomes difficult.
They, and the Russian people with them, insist on a long, ugly fight. This is the picture that Putin has to see in terms of their current situation, and on a considerable scale, this is the way he is likely to see himself.
Those who do not understand their enemies must prepare for defeat. As long as G-7 leaders allow gender stereotypes to cloud their brain, Vladimir Putin may still hope to achieve a victory in Ukraine. /The Wall Street Journal/ Translation: Journal “Albanian”/
