VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
Krievijas valdības vadītājs, kurš līdz šim ar skarbu valodiņu sev tik centīgi kultivēja "cietā rieksta" tēlu, vienreiz jūtas pagalam neērti. Turklāt ar sava preses sekretāra palīdzību to neslēpj no pasaules publikas.
It is amazing how swiftly a new crisis can knock into perspective one which dominated discussion only a short time before. Just a few weeks ago we were debating whether the west was heading for a new cold war with Russia, or a new Crimean war over Ukraine, or a new Great Game in central Asia. Then the markets began their decline, and Georgia and its possible consequences were swept aside.
Some of the many victims of Vladimir Putin's foreign and domestic policy will be curious to know which aspects of judo's philosophy the former President finds so meaningful. Well, Vlad? Is it the disavowal of aggression and the disqualification of anyone indulging in such? Is it the bit about repudiating tactics that rely on brute strength? Or is it the emphasis on gentleness, from which the term judo is derived?
Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister, has let it be known that he would prefer it if streets were not named after him or statues erected to him. The immediate occasion for this expression of modesty was a proposal by the pro-Moscow Chechen leader to rename Grozny's main street in his honour.
As sports go, judo is an invigorating way to combine muscle-honing exercise with the opportunity to break several important bones in your body. Which is why judo can appeal so strongly to the sort of politician who already has demonstrated his virility by flaunting his toned naked torso on a fishing trip, perching at the wheel of a giant racing truck, tracking a tiger through the Siberian forest, and sending his tanks into neighbouring territories. Politicians such as Vladimir Putin.
Now that the Republic of Georgia has been moved off the front pages, it is time to assess what was really behind Russia's heavy-handed invasion of that pro-Western fledgling democratic country.
In the first presidential debate, Barack Obama said that he and John McCain "agree for the most part" on issues regarding Russia. But while both were tough on Russia, their consensus, such as it is, is hardly the result of shared clarity on U.S. policy toward Russia. In fact, neither candidate has outlined a policy that would overcome the current confrontations with Moscow and make the world more secure. The big question is how they expect to change Russia's behavior.
When I tell people that Russia is not only the largest country in the world but that Siberia alone is bigger than the United States (including Alaska) and Western Europe combined, they gasp. They wonder at the scale and diversity of Russia's landscape. They are entranced by reports of witches who communicate with forest sprites, shamans who worship their ancestors, and at mountain horsemen who believe that the campfire over which they heat a kettle of tea is sacred and who therefore rebuked me for kicking at a stray log. It all seems so very unRussian.
The formal rehabilitation of Russia's last tsar, Nicholas II, might seem a curious turn of events under the watch of Vladimir Putin, the man who mourned the collapse of the Soviet Union as the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th century. But might it be just the latest move by Mr Putin to harness the power of the monarchy and the Orthodox Church to a post-Soviet nationalism?
