Among President Vladimir V. Putin’s motives for invading Ukraine, his view of himself as being on a historic mission to rebuild the Russian Empire has always loomed large. On Thursday, Mr. Putin went further, comparing himself directly to Peter the Great.
It was a new, if carefully staged, glimpse into Mr. Putin’s sense of his own grandeur.
Mr. Putin on Thursday marked the 350th anniversary of Peter’s birth by visiting a new multimedia exhibit about the czar in Moscow. He then held a town-hall-style meeting with young Russian entrepreneurs and opened it by reflecting on Peter’s conquest of the Baltic coast during his 18th-century war with Sweden.
Mr. Putin described the land Peter conquered as rightfully Russian.
“He was returning it and strengthening it,” Mr. Putin said, leaning back in his armchair, before hinting with a smile that he was now doing the same thing in his war in Ukraine. “Well, apparently, it has also fallen to us to return and to strengthen.”
Finland and Sweden, among other countries, should be more than a little concerned about Putler's delusions of grandeur. If anything, this should be used to add stiffness into Western opposition to the rebuilding of the Russian Empire under Tsar Vladimir III. If a weapon does not involve nuclear material to go boom, then it, as long as everything else, should be given to Ukraine. Rockets, anti-artillery radar, citywide air-defense systems, what ever they need. And as for our friends who have been unwilling to help the Ukrainians, well, we should make our displeasure known. (Are you listening, Jerusalem?)
For it should be abundantly clear that the Ukrainians are fighting a war that, if they don't prevail, will eventually spread to the rest of Europe and to Central Asia. CDR Sal had this to say:
...if you desire a long peace in the east you will need to ensure that Ukraine defeats Russia and sends her forces home to deal with their politicians.
Give Russia land or create another frozen conflict and war will be back sooner.
Either way, war will be back. It always is. Just pick your period of peace and your magnitude.
3 comments:
This is getting truly frightening. If the Newsweek story is correct about Putin having cancer, then he will be in a hurry to patch Pete the Great.
Remember when Saddam Hussein got his tail kicked out of Kuwait and back to Iraq he set all those oil wells on fire out of spite. Different despots but could use the same MO.
Same MO different pollutants. He's got nothing to lose if he tosses a nuke our way ...
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