Putin’s War

 Alright, democracy isn’t perfect, but it is a great deal better than what Putin is offering the world.

Putin is not just at war in Ukraine, he is also doing his utmost to destabilise pretty much every western democracy.  Russia’s attempts to spread misinformation during elections is pretty well documented.  We have all heard about it during British and the United States elections, and you can be certain that it happens in European and other countries too.  It has got to the point where a number of organisations that I know of, make particular efforts to screen internet traffic for anything that can be traced as coming through Russia.  Monitoring Russian (and I’m including other countries here too that are supported by Russia) internet traffic is not an attempt at censorship, rather Russia’s unseen information and economic war is everywhere, and in my opinion is just a small part of deliberate attempts to undermine the fabric of modern society.  We should all be aware of, and worried about this.  Putin et al seem to be doing their upmost to stir up trouble wherever and whenever they can.  If he really meant what he frequently says about not being interested in any Western territories, then why go to all this effort….but then, he also assured the world that he had no interest in invading Ukraine!

Putin hasn’t even bothered hiding his contempt for western democracies.  The piece below, taken from Wikipedia, is only one thing amongst many.

I had read somewhere too that Putin had, rather ironically, offered to fund a forum which would essentially teach the west how to do democracy.  Unfortunately, I cannot find the link to this now, but I will add it if I can.  Given the fate of many of Putin’s critics, this one sounds pretty far fetched.

Putin isn’t just spreading his influence on-line.  I’ve listed below just some of the places in the world where trouble has flared in the last year or three.  Many of these conflicts have stretched the West’s resources in one way or another.  The regimes that are being supported are universally repressive, right wing, or both.

Myanmar – The military regime there is supplied and supported by Russia and China.  Results include not just the repression of its own citizens, but also the ethnic cleansing/ expelling, genocide of the Rohingya community there.  The UN doesn’t come off well from the lack of meaningful influence it has had in situations like this, and it has undoubtedly had a severe economic impact on poor countries like Bangladesh which received the expelled Rohingya’s.

Syria – Again, Russia backed this crumbling regime with military support, and even more direct intervention with Wagner mercenaries and Russian pilots.  The results can still be seen if you look for them but are now rarely reported on our TV’s.  If you think of one of the great divisive issues in most European countries these days; illegal immigration, there are great surges of people that move when these conflicts start, and Europe is one of the largest destinations for these unfortunate people.  This divisiveness suits Putin’s agenda very well, as does the cost to countries who receive immigrants.

Sub Saharan Africa – Many of this large grouping of countries used to be under French influence from colonial times.  As in Syria, Russian boots are on the ground in a large proportion of these countries, especially where there is trouble as in Sudan and Chad.  Repression and war in these countries also fuels illegal immigration, as mentioned above.

Israel/ Palestine – Iran supports a number of terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, but who supports Iran?  Yes, pretty much anywhere there is trouble in the world, there are links back to Putin.  For ex-colonial countries of European nations, it is probably normal to want to expand their own sense of freedom and identity by reducing the influence of the countries that used to rule there.  Putin exploits this in places like Myanmar and India to expand his own influence and weaken the west.  Somehow, in all this he also manages to either excuse or ignore Russia’s own empire and colonial past.

I’ve only given a few examples here and of course there are many other destabilising influences in the world.  Climate not being the least of these.  My point is that Russia and to some extent, China are using any bad world situation for their own ends, and they are even creating many of these situations too.  Increasingly, many in the west seem to think that this might even be a good thing, and that Putin would be a good alternative to our own bickering governments!  Personally, I think they are wrong, very wrong.  At least here we get a chance to vote for an alternative government.  Just look at what happens to the opposition in Russia!

If you think this view is wrong, paranoid even; go for it, tell me why I'm wrong.