So, what designs of "unification" does Vladimir Putin have with some, if not all, the countries which were once part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics? You remember that country, the one which gave us Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev and Gorbachev?
This is the country that Kennedy and later Reagan stood up to; Kennedy during The Cuban Missile Crisis and Reagan calling it an "evil empire" , while other Presidents, well, they just wanted to play nice in the sandbox.
Now, Gorbachev was a "good communist" while the others were just, bad. I say this because he was smart enough to recognize the USSR was collapsing around him and decided trying to control the former Warsaw Pact countries was going to bankrupt Russia. He also knew that President Reagan was not going to back down. A deal which was beneficial for the survival of Russia was better than the continued arms race the USSR was destined to lose.
When Putin first came to power in 1999, he succeeded Boris Yeltsin who was ill from alcohol abuse and who "resigned" unexpectedly. In 2000, he was elected to his own term and was re-elected in 2004. In 2008 he was ineligible due to term limits outlined in the Russian Constitution.
He was appointed Prime Minister by his successor Dmitry Medvedev. They managed to change the constitution to allow him to run for a six-year term in 2012. Thus began the "tandemocracy" of the Putin-Medvedev reign. Make no mistake, while Putin says he is the leader of the United Russia Party this avowed Cold War Communist runs the country with the iron fist of the KGB.
The problems which have existed in Chechnya and Georgia, which were crushed by the hammer and sickle of the Russian Army, are the result of Russian dominance over these former Soviet states. These issues were heightened during Putin's first two terms and were not resolved during the interregnum of Medvedev.
Now, the same problems have surfaced in another former Soviet republic, Ukraine. This has been a chaotic time there but because Russia was the host country for the
- Vladimir Putin - Olympic Host (Photo credit: DonkeyHotey)
2014 Winter Olympics, Putin did not wish to incur the wrath of the world to his Olympics, which occurred against the Soviet Union in 1980 after their invasion of Afghanistan. These Olympic Games were about him. There were millions of dollars at stake in television and other revenue, American dollars, which Putin could not afford to lose.
The Ukrainian "revolution" came to a head just before and during the Olympics with the overthrow of Viktor Yanukovych this past weekend during the closing ceremonies.
You can be sure the “iron fist” of the Russian army will now be deployed by Putin in order to calm the violence in Ukraine using the excuse that the army was deployed
to kill the "coup d'état" in Kiev. If this went unaddressed by him, in his mind, his stature as a strong leader would be diminished in the court of public opinion.
Remember, this is a man who was a lieutenant colonel in the KGB and nothing will change his "whole world" outlook. His long term goal is to bring Russia back to a First World military superpower much like it enjoyed from 1945 to 1991 as part of Soviet Union, where it was first among equals.
Putin will stop at nothing to achieve this goal. He knows that President Obama is all bluster and no action and that Obama had weakened the US immeasurably since taking office. Putin did not react this way with President Bush because he respected him and feared him. He has no respect for President Obama.
Putin's philosophical view can be compared to Don Coreleone, “if you have the guts to challenge an adversary, first they will respect you and then they will fear you”. Putin has neither for Obama because, face it, Barry is gutless. This is not my opinion; this is a poll showing that 57% of all Americans feel this way.
You can be sure that Putin is not done with Ukraine, as I wrote in my commentary of June 26, 2013, "Chess, Anyone?"
Vlad is a shrewd chess player on the geopolitical chessboard. He will wait until the time is right and he will move his pieces to ultimately win the game.
Before Barry can even clear his throat, Vlad will once again checkmate the Ukraine. The goal is a reunification of the USSR, even under its former, nicer sounding, less belligerent name "Commonwealth of Independent States".
Before Barry is done, it could happen. It's only a matter of time before Vlad makes his move, the first of many to be made, starting with the "Breadbasket of Europe ", Ukraine.
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