Putin Sharpens
Sabers; Heralds New Jihad
In the final analysis, Vladimir Putin again demonstrated his
undying commitment to actively defend Russia, rebuild its military and
political strength, and restore the holy Russian empire even if it means a
Russian jihad.
In a three-hour press conference (almost 24,000-word
transcript) yesterday that served as a stage for his soliloquy about the past,
present and future of Russia, defiant and assertive Putin warned countries near
and far that he will not tolerate any military, physical, economic, literal or
cyber encroachment against Russia. With deception and outright lies that
Russian reporters in attendance were expected to swallow, Putin pressed his
case that Russia has been encircled by enemies since the fall of the Berlin
Wall that have been ceaselessly trying to vanquish Russia. Invoking typical
Russian chest-beating chauvinism, he brazenly declared that he will not allow
any country to declaw what he called the Russian bear.
Putin conveyed this and similar thoughts in the same
evenhanded tone that he used in the summer of 2013 to warn Ukrainians that
their efforts to join the European Union would lead to a catastrophe.
His most ludicrous explanations about current events surfaced
when he spoke about Ukraine. It should be recalled that in February 2014, one
week after the conclusion of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia invaded
Ukraine – first Crimea and then the southeastern corner of the country.
Putin sees the evolution of these events differently. Indeed,
he admits there is a battle in Ukraine but it is a “punitive operation.” An
operation that Russia did not initiate and in his mind it did not invade
Ukraine. The punitive operation was launched by Kyiv against the population of
southeastern Ukraine – meaning Russian-speaking Ukrainians.
“Russian public opinion holds that what is now happening in
southeast Ukraine is actually a punitive operation, but it is conducted by the
Kyiv authorities and not the other way around. The self-defense fighters of the
southeast were not the ones who sent troops to Kyiv. On the contrary, the Kyiv
authorities amassed their military forces in the southeast of Ukraine, and are
using multiple rocket launchers, artillery and fighter jets,” Putin fabricated
in the course of his response to a question posed by Roman Tsymbalyuk of the
Ukrainian news agency UNIAN.
The Russian public could consider the war in Ukraine as a
punitive operation because of the sparse amount of true information that is available
to them. They may glean something from the Internet, they may hear mothers’
bereaved laments about their KIA sons or they listen to Putin and Lavrov’s
propaganda.
Putin’s masterful lying flew in the face of accumulated data
that testifies that Russian mercenaries, sent from Russia and Chechnya, seized
southeastern Ukraine after successfully invading and annexing Crimea. Afterward
they were reinforced by Russian regular troops, tanks and artillery.
Putin’s fairy tale about what sparked this punitive action
stems from his denunciation of the EuroMaidan revolution, which he calls a
coup. I’ll give him that much. Evicting, ousting, expelling, or just getting
rid of his lackey Yanukovych was a coup. His sudden and longed-for departure
set Ukraine on a better course toward stability.
After Yanukovych wisely fled Ukraine, Putin said the new
government’s leaders did not take into account southeastern Ukrainians’
disagreement with Yanukovych’s departure and the country’s new course. If
anyone disagreed with it, it was the few Russian-inspired rabble rousers that
ignited a full-scaled bloody Russian war vs. Ukraine for all the world to see.
There was never any noticeable discontent in eastern Ukraine. As I’ve written
in the past, Russian-speaking Ukrainians gave their lives during the EuroMaidan
revolution and today are revered for being martyrs of the Heavenly Hundred.
“Instead of at least trying to engage in dialogue with them,
Kyiv started by sending law enforcers, the police force, but when that didn’t
work out, they sent in the army, and since that didn’t work out either, they
are now trying to settle the issue by using other forceful methods, the
economic blockade,” Putin said.
Actually, the so-called men in green without insignia who
landed on Crimea and seized the Ukrainian peninsula soon began appearing in
southeastern Ukraine ahead of mass infiltration by Russian soldiers and tanks
from Russia. Some news sources reported recently that they’ve been seen in
Belarus.
Putin said in the so-called press conference that a military
solution will not bring peace to the region. He calls for dialogue but as with all
previous instances of dialogue with Russia, they terminated with Russian
subjugation. Even discussions about ceasefires have ended with Russian violations.
Probably in Putin’s view Tsymbalyuk had the obnoxious temerity
and integrity to pointedly ask the Russian despot: “It’s an open secret that it
is Russian servicemen and Russian militants who are fighting there. Question:
How many Russian servicemen and units of equipment have you sent there, and how
many of them have been killed in Ukraine? What would you as the
Commander-in-Chief say to the families of the Russian servicemen and officers
killed there?”
Putin’s closest response was to say “all those who are
following their heart and are fulfilling their duty by voluntarily taking part
in hostilities, including in southeast Ukraine, are not mercenaries, since they
are not paid for what they do.” Someone armed this rabble with automatic
weapons, APCs, tanks and surface to air missiles like the one that brought down
the ill-fated Malaysian airliner killing some 300 innocent men, women and
children.
Tsymbalyuk also asked about the fate of Ukrainian military
pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who was clandestinely kidnapped by Russians and
imprisoned in Russia, as well as other prisoners of war.
Putin preposterously replied that Savchenko is being held on
charges of calling in an air strike that killed Russian journalists. She is a
soldier in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and therefore a prisoner of war. Despite
numerous photographs showing Russian journalists with their press insignia
clearly visible on their apparel shooting at Ukrainians, Putin denied this has
ever happened, saying “You can see in this audience the colleagues of our
journalists – they are also your colleagues – who have died in the line of duty
in southeast Ukraine. I want to stress that they did not take part in fighting
for any of the sides, and they were unarmed.”
Putin then explained: “According to our law enforcement
agencies, Ms. Savchenko called in artillery fire via radio. If it is reliably
established during the pretrial investigation and the subsequent trial that she
was not involved and is not guilty, she will be released immediately. But if
they prove that she was indeed involved in the journalists’ murder, a Russian
court will issue a proper ruling, as I see it, and she will serve her sentence
in accordance with the verdict. However, no one has the right to hold anyone
guilty of a crime on account. I mean that Russian legislation includes the
presumption of innocence. So we’ll see how the pretrial investigation proceeds,
and what conclusions the Russian court will make.”
In the last parliamentary elections in Ukraine, Savchenko
was elected to the Verkhovna Rada from the Batkivshchya Party. Today, Lt.
Nadiya Savchenko can expect to be hauled into a new Russian kangaroo courtroom
and be tried on one or another trumped up accusation and convicted just to
satisfy Putin’s goals and minions. That’s presumption of innocence Russian
style.
As for the other Ukrainian prisoners of war, including film
director Oleh Sentsov and at least 30 others, Putin said they are being held on
suspicion of terrorist activity. Is this what all ethnic Ukrainians in Russia
can expect? All of them will be dubbed terrorists, arrested, tried, jailed and incarcerated
according to a new criminal code that criminalizes ethnic agitation.
The onetime KGB officer’s explicit clarification about
Russia’s defensive posture and warnings not to tread on it emerged during this
answer to a Russian reporter’s question about Crimea. The questioner asked if
Russia’s annexation of Crimea led to the country’s economic problems but Putin
explained the seizure of Ukrainian territory from another angle. Paraphrasing
Hitler’s policy of lebensraum, Putin said Russia needed to do that to protect
itself. Using the bear as a recognizable symbol of Russia, he elaborated: “You
see, if we continue the analogy, sometimes I think that maybe it would be best
if our bear just sat still. Maybe he should stop chasing pigs and boars around
the taiga but start picking berries and eating honey. Maybe then he will be
left alone. But no, he won’t be! Because someone will always try to chain him
up. As soon as he’s chained they will tear out his teeth and claws. In this
analogy, I am referring to the power of nuclear deterrence. As soon as – God
forbid – it happens and they no longer need the bear, the taiga will be taken
over.”
Rhetorically questioning if it was justified for America to
seize Texas from Mexico in the mid-19th century, Putin said the west does not
allow Russia to do the same, noting: “And then, when all the teeth and claws
are torn out, the bear will be of no use at all. Perhaps they’ll stuff it and
that’s all. So, it is not about Crimea but about us protecting our
independence, our sovereignty and our right to exist. That is what we should
all realize”.
Putin did not overlook NATO’s role in Russia problems. He
said, “Didn't they tell us after the collapse of the Berlin Wall that NATO
would not expand eastwards? But it happened immediately. Two waves of
expansion. Is that not a wall? ... It’s a virtual wall,”
Putin went out on a limb and assured Russians that their
national economy would rebound after the ruble went down the drain this year
but offered no quick remedy for a deepening financial crisis. He’s banking on “trust
me” and apparently Russians will. He blamed the economic problems on external
factors and said the crisis over Ukraine was caused by the West.
He belittled the effect of the punitive sanctions instituted
for Russia’s war with Ukraine, saying that they contributed about 20-25% to the
problems
“Rates of growth may be slowing down, but the economy will
still grow and our economy will overcome the current situation,” he said. “I
believe about two years is the worst case scenario. After that, I believe
growth is imminent.”
Putin weighed and measured every word that he expressed in
the press conference with laser precision. His words should not be belittled,
scoffed at, or overlooked. He definitely meant to say that he will defend
Russia’s right to expand territorially in order to protect its independence.
Even his literary metaphors have insights about his
mentality and mission. For example, this paragraph from his press conference
which speaks about who he will tolerate:
“After all, the line that separates opposition activists
from the fifth column is hard to see from the outside. What’s the difference?
Opposition activists may be very harsh in their criticism, but at the end of
the day they are defending the interests of the motherland. And the fifth
column is those who serve the interests of other countries, and who are only
tools for others’ political goals.”
Remember, it’s about Russia protecting its independence, its
sovereignty and its right to exist at all costs.
