Putin the Humanitarian Despot

Dignitas News Service ^ | August 28, 2014 | Paul M Winters

[dignitasnews]

Better than other world leaders, Russia's Vladimir Putin has mastered the language of meaningless intention. In a world where nearly every companies mission statement includes calls to "make the world a better place" and meaningless advocacy groups spend the bulk of their contributions on "spreading awareness," modern civilization has increasingly shown itself willing to disregard results and reward those who display "good intention," without concern for what roads this leads to. For his part, Putin has successfully gambled on western gullibility by endlessly uttering the term "humanitarian" to any number of his despotic maneuvers.

While the world watches in disbelief and western leaders fumble for answers, the Russian strongman continues to stay two and three steps ahead because he recognizes the feckless nature of his foes. He need only look at the political maturation of America's current President to successfully calculate that he is dealing with an Administration composed of politicians who have built a career out of patronizing their constituents with well-intended platitudes as a substitute for substantive policies to improve their lives.

Hook, line and....

Around the world we watched as a military transport and invasion plans took place not right under our eyes, but right before it. Despite the calls and warnings of the Ukrainians and independent journalists across the globe, Putin's declaration that battalions of trucks rolling past the border were "humanitarian convoys" meant to provide aid and much-needed supplies to so-called "people's republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk. He furthermore employed the same propaganda tactics perfected by Western apologists of Hamas, ISIS and Islamic radicalism to paint the Kiev Government in the Ukraine as the aggressors, as the aforementioned groups have done with Israel.

Sinker

Even as images of Russian regulars fighting alongside "separatist militia" are presented to us, the willingness of the western "apologensia" to defy reality persists. Just hours ago, the New York Times will only go as far as to state that "Ukraine Asserts Russian Invasion and Reinstitutes Draft." Even as President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel wax poetically about "increased sanctions" one cannot blame Putin for viewing these as idle threats which may cause him temporary aggravation but appear to do nothing to deter his course of action. Why would he not count on their lack of will to prevent him? After all, after effectively annexing Donetsk and Luhansk, much of the western mainstream press perpetuated the myth that these events were not a Sudetenland-like precursor to further aggression.

As USA's George W Bush and Great Britain's Tony Blair exited the stage, western priorities shifted toward a strategy which favored appeasement, fence-mending and hashtag diplomacy in hopes of tempering global criticism of the war on terror. That this criticism was fomenting and given legitimacy by the very forces which thrust President Obama into power is a bit of irony apparently lost on those who are charged with guarding the interests of the free world. Whether it be in Syria, Nigeria, Venezuela, Ukraine or Iraq, all crisis' are met with words, all threats are dismissed and all tyrants are given a verbal lashing at press conference with little tangible response thereafter.

Vladimir Putin may be despot, but is no fool. He is a very clever and sophisticated man who perfectly gauged global sentiments and western weakness to box his opponents into a corner. Recognizing their overwhelming desire to de-escalate tension at all costs, he has adopted their use of language to beat them at their own game. After the ruse of "humanitarian convoys" set the wheels of war into motion, he then upped the ante by showing his "gentle-goodness" by ordering pro-Russian rebels (of whom he previously claimed not to have influence over) to provide "humanitarian" corridors so that overrun and encircled Ukrainian troops could exit his territory. Troops of course, that we wont even categorically say are fighting, according to the New York Times.

75 years ago another despotic aggressor bent on global domination successfully played on the naiveté of western liberal leadership with forceful overtures of peace which distracted from his obvious preparations for war. As Adolph Hitler did in Czechoslovakia, Vladimir Putin seems to be well on the way to doing in Ukraine. His form of "humanitarian despotism" was successful to establish a launching pad for further adventures in Donetsk and Luhansk. Let us hope that our leaders find the resolve to stop this madness before it extends to Kiev...and possibly beyond.

Commentary by Paul M Winters Editor in Chief, Dignitas News Service

Sources:

NewYorkTimes DailyBeast GlobalResearch Reuters Twitter BreakingNews

[elhombrelibre]

Well said.

[Mentallo]

The USA uses some sort of ‘human rights” and “fighting for democracy” as fig leaves for self vested interests and empire building.

Is Libya or a Iraq a better place after the US went in there or worse? Even if all these wars are done for the best intentions - that is the worse reason of all because that is what paves hell.

I rather the world be ruled by a pirate king than some noble do gooder to be honest.

To quote CS Lewis:

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”