Hitler and Putin: A Tale of Two Authoritarians

Will Russia’s unconstitutionally elected president, Vladimir Putin, unleash a full-scale land war against Ukraine.

 

I can give you ten reasons for every possible answer to this question. Which is to say that, like everyone else trying to divine Putin’s “mind,” I don’t know.

 

But there is one thing that I definitely do know. Suddenly, we are all talking about war in Europe. The one thing that was supposed to have become “unthinkable” and “unimaginable” after the end of the Cold War and the rise of the European Union has become perfectly thinkable and quite imaginable.

 

And all thanks to Putin. If tomorrow’s headlines scream “RUSSIA INVADES ESTONIA,” we’d be shocked, but would we be surprised?

 

Don’t blame the thinkability and imaginability of war on the Ukrainians. All they did was remove a corrupt dictator and embark on building a democracy. The Ukrainians didn’t invade Crimea. Nor did they arm separatist republics with Russian soldiers and weapons. That was Putin’s doing and only Putin’s doing.

 

There’s a lesson here, and it’s not either of the ones that are usually drawn: that Putin is a power-hungry madman, if you’re his critic, or that Putin is a shrewd statesman motivated by raison d’état and Realpolitik, if you’re his backer. The real lesson is that dictatorships, especially fascist dictatorships built on the ruins of collapsed empires, are prone to do bad things, such as engage in imperialist wars.

 

I’ve made the comparison many times before (starting in the late 1990s, by the way), but it’s worth reminding ourselves just how similar Russia’s and Putin’s trajectories are to those of post–World War I Germany and Adolf Hitler. The point is not to score easy debating points or to shake Germans’ assumptions about the uniqueness of Nazi evil, but to demonstrate that there are deeper structural reasons for Putin’s aggressiveness and indifference to international norms.

 

Both Germany and Russia lost empires and desired to rebuild them. Both Germany and Russia suffered economic collapse. Both Germany and Russia experienced national humiliation and retained imperial political cultures. Both Germany and Russia blamed their ills on the democrats. Both Germany and Russia elected strong men who promised to make them grand and glorious again. Both strong men employed imperialist arguments about “abandoned brethren” in neighboring states, remilitarized their countries, developed cults of the personality, centralized power, gave pride of place in the power structure to the forces of coercion, constructed regimes that may justifiably be called fascist, and proceeded to engage in re-annexing bits and pieces of lost territory before embarking on major landgrabs. Both strong men demonized friendly nations. Germany’s strongman ended up starting a world war. Russia’s strongman—well, we don’t know what he’ll do, but please do notice that a rigorous pursuit of the comparison does not bode well for peace in Europe or the world.

 

Democracy matters. Dictators are more prone to war precisely because they can manipulate public opinion and ruthlessly pursue whatever warped visions they have without much resistance from institutions and elites. Democratic presidents don’t have that luxury—as a rule of course. That’s why democracies plod along. That’s why they muddle through. That’s why they’re the worst form of government, as Winston Churchill observed, except for all the others.

 

Ukraine’s democracy has at best been crummy and creaky for the last two and a half decades. It’s done far too little about reform and it’s been much too enamored of corruption. As a result, Ukraine has muddled along, sometimes muddling up, sometimes muddling down. Change is imperative, and, thanks to the Maidan Revolution, everyone in Ukraine finally knows it. Stasis is bad, possibly unsustainable, probably destructive. And yet, and yet: Ukraine remains a democracy, far more so now than just a few months ago. It’s searching for answers to complex questions, balancing far too many interests and sensitivities, moving much too slowly to satisfy proponents of breakthroughs (and that includes me).

 

But do take note of one very important fact. Amid all this democratic sludge, independent Ukraine has been pacific for the entire time of its existence. At the same time, when provoked, as in the past few months, democratic Ukraine has also demonstrated that it can fight to defend itself and its values.

 

Which goes to show two things: that, except for the likes of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Stephen F. Cohen, Marine Le Pen, and Aleksandr Dugin, even a crummy Ukrainian democracy is preferable to an efficient Russian dictatorship and that a war initiated by democratic Ukraine really is unthinkable and unimaginable.

Russian arms cargo en route to Middle East

The Dictator  (L) walks with visiting Putin's Lapdog and Ass Licker Lavrov (R)during their meeting at the presidential palace in Damascus, on February 7, 2012, in this official handout photo. UPI 

A Russian ship said to be carrying military equipment for Syria will arrive in St. Petersburg at the end of July for further loading, its owner said Monday.

Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports that ship owner Femco said the vessel was carrying helicopter gunships to Syria.

"At the moment the vessel (MV Alaed) is headed from Murmansk to St. Petersburg where it will be loaded up and will then proceed to the Far East," the company was quoted as stating.

The ship was turned back from the coast of Scotland recently after British insurers pulled the ship's insurance coverage. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned the cargo could be used to fuel the ongoing conflict in Syria, an allegation the Kremlin denied.

Russia, one of Syria's largest arms suppliers, has objected to formal action against Syria at the U.N. Security Council.

The Syrian government is accused of committing war crimes against its people though Moscow has said it believes a Syrian solution to the crisis is the best way forward.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday, however, that Moscow would accept what he described as a "technical extension" of the U.N. observer mission in Syria. It would be "a resolution that will not contain any substantive evaluations," he said.

The observer mission is part of an overall peace plan offered by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

THE DISGRACEFUL SHAME OF RUSSIA - The Stupidity, Ignorance and Appalling Conduct of Adolf Putin and his Sidekick Thug Minister Lavrov

BLIND RUSSIA

This article is from Putin’s Mouthpiece Russian Media

New massacre in Syria amid UN Security Council talks

The Syrian opposition claims government forces stormed Tremseh village in the province of Hama, killing up to 200 people. One activist said the majority of those killed were rebels while seven were civilians.

“An army convoy was on its way to the region of Hama when it was attacked by the FSA,” he said. “The army staged a counter-attack with the support of [pro-regime] reinforcements from [nearby] Alawite villages. The FSA resisted for an hour before it was defeated,” said an opposition activist named Jaafar, as reported by AFP.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that “several dozen rebel fighters were among those killed."

According to the UK-based group’s information, 40 of the rebels killed have been identified. They add that 18 were “summarily executed” and that 30 corpses were burned.

The so-called Revolution Leadership Council of Hama told Reuters that the village of Tremseh had been attacked by helicopter gunships and tanks, and was later stormed by pro-government militia.

Scores of dead bodies were scattered in buildings across Tremseh, Al Arabiya quoted opposition activists as saying. More than 150 bodies were piled up in the local mosque and the local school was allegedly destroyed too. These reports could not be independently confirmed.

State television, meanwhile, has put the blame for the massacre on “terrorists” and described the massacre as a “deliberate provocation”, adding that government forces only entered the village after residents asked for their help.

Damascus says the armed opposition massacred the villagers to swing public opinion against the government ahead of the forthcoming UN Security Council meeting, and make a case for foreign intervention before the UN Security Council.

The UN Security Council started a new round of negotiations on Thursday to discuss two competing drafts of a resolution aimed at breaking the diplomatic gridlock surrounding Syria as violence continued to rack the country.

The draft resolution, introduced by Britain, suggests a mission extension, but with harsh sanctions which come under Chapter 7. The latter allows the authorization of actions ranging from diplomatic and economic sanctions to military intervention.

If this draft is passed, the sanctions will take effect immediately if a ceasefire does not take hold within ten days and government forces do not withdraw heavy weapons from populated areas.

The second draft, proposed by Russia, opposes sanctions. Moscow says it will not accept the Western-proposed resolution. The UN has to agree on further actions by July 20, when the mandate for the UN monitoring mission in Syria expires.

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Timing of atrocities coincidental – again?

­The commander of the United Nations Observers Mission in Syria said that his team had confirmed there had been fighting in Tremseh.

Speaking to reporters in Damascus on Friday, General Robert Mood verified that the assault on Tremseh had been targeted, "involving mechanized units, involving indirect fire impact and involving helicopters. This is what we have seen from a distance of 5 to 6 kilometers [about 3 to 4 miles]."

The UN Syria mission team reported that they observed an “ongoing military operation” around the village, saying that they heard more than 100 explosions.

General Mood said that observers were ready to send a larger team to the village once there is a "credible cessation of violence and a local ceasefire."

Meanwhile, Reuters news agency claims to have obtained the UN mission’s ‘flash’ report , which says that the attack on the village was “an extension of the SAAF [Syrian Arab Air Force] operation in Khan Sheikhoun to Souran over the recent number of days," adding that "the situation in Hama province continues to be highly volatile and unpredictable."

Russia has harshly condemned the massacre in Tremseh and expressed its solidarity with the Syrian people, saying that “the immediate cessation of bloodshed and armed violence against the civilian population by all parties is necessary.”

In addition, Russia’s Foreign Ministry pointed to the fact that the latest atrocities “again” coincided with important discussions on Syria in the

US Security Council. It pointed out that the massacre in Houla on May 25, which claimed lives of dozens civilians, also took place during crucial negotiations in the UNSC. 

“Without prejudging the outcome of the investigation of the crime, on the conduction of which we insist, we would like to emphasize that we have no doubt that this atrocity is of advantage to the forces that do not seek peace, but persist in trying to grow on Syrian soil the seeds of sectarian animosity and civil conflict, those for whom the grief and suffering of the Syrian people do not mean anything,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich.

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‘UN should pass a resolution’

­Meanwhile, the Syrian National Council has called for a UN Security Council emergency meeting to discuss the massacre. It is urging UN observers to head to the site and document what happened there.

International peace envoy Kofi Annan has condemned the mass killings in the Syrian village, saying he is “shocked and appalled by news coming out of the village."

"This is in violation of the government's undertaking to cease the use of heavy weapons in population centers and its commitment to the six-point plan," Annan said.

He also said that UN observers were ready to go to Tremseh to investigate the massacre.

Harsh comments from the international community are also coming in.

“Reports of Traymseh massacre are nightmarish – dramatically illustrate the need for binding UNSC measures on Syria,” the United States’ UN Ambassador Susan Rice wrote in her Twitter microblog.

France says the UN Security council must acts and pass a resolution backed by the “threat of sanctions from the Security Council,” said French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero.

He said that France was assuming its responsibilities, indirectly criticizing Russia and China for being reluctant to support a resolution backed by sanctions under Chapter 7.

"This tragedy shows how much the first step towards a cessation of violence must be taken by the Syrian government," Valero said.