Putin’s Trust Issues

The G7 is meeting. That’s the top global economic powers group. They have learned to cooperate over the last few decades. Cooperation to maximize economic balance of the global markets so good things happen to poor nations as well as wealthy ones. Keeping the balance healthy for as many people as possible.

Of course the collaboration is good politics for individual nations, too. More jobs, more stable economies, support for growth markets keyed to national strengths, and whatnot. More than the whatnot, however, is healthy balance of power among the nations.

Balance of power: which nations have a healthy condition within its borders? Which ones don’t? Which nations are likely to have problems governing their people and regions? Which of these difficulties will spill over into neighboring countries. And what of peace. That would be PEACE. An all-important issue for the entire family of nations. Peace is good for economies both local and foreign. Far flung or not, nations are mightily upset by war and small skirmishes anywhere they occur. Lack of peace is a problem for all to be concerned with.

And Putin knows this. Attempting to rebuild the image of strength and leadership in the post Soviet era without the soviet gulags, has been a large task for Putin. He rallies his people through propaganda and manipulation, shielding them from the facts of an open media and news industry. PR and propaganda are his replacement for news. And so he crafts an image of Russian power.

He follows with rattling the cages of peace/war throughout western Europe, eastern Europe, and the minor players on the eastern Asian region of Burma, North Korea and other smaller players. He allies himself with Iran and the mullahs. He performs war games throughout northern seas and buzzes his planes over Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Ukraine.

Worse, he wages war in Ukraine. Once wooing the world through the Olympics while he grew his invasion force to the Crimea, he spent that capital of goodwill for a cheap takeover of a cheap, non strategic land mass. But you see, it was a land mass that positioned him for his next target, Ukraine.

Poland, Ukraine and all of the ---Stans (Uzbekistan, Kaza….) are in his gun sights. And the G7 Powers know this well. They will take a stand for more economic sanctions targeting Russia and attempting to draw the bratty kid into adult behavior of responsibility and partnership.

Putin states that the West does not need to fear Russia. It can trust Russia. We don’t fear you, Putin. Far from it. The powers and artillery of the global community do not fear you because it has enough strength to beat you into the middle ages. And you know that. We won’t do that. Because it is a waste of time. For the time being you have nothing anyone wants. You could. You could sell your energy supplies, your culture, your art and your education prowess to the rest of the world. But instead you play childish games that demean not only you, but your own people.

They deserve better than that from you Mr. Putin. Much better.

If you are serious about trust, stop supporting North Korea, Iran, Burma and the Stans. Also, begin collaborative efforts with the West, China and Russia. Build peace Mr. Putin. Build PEACE.

You can do this by removing all Russian forces from Ukraine. While you are at it, restore Crimea to its rightful independent national status. It is not a Russian province. This is not the Soviet era. It is the era of Peace.

If you persist in this foolishness, your economic woes will get worse. You will further isolate yourself to a smaller and smaller corner of the globe. And you will find yourself without friends except for the weak and despotic tyrants. China will not talk with you. Why they even bother with you now I don’t understand. You are weak and are growing weaker. You know this. You know the lies you have told your own people to garner their support.

One day they will know the truth. Woe to you when that happens, sir. Woe.

Meantime the G7 will do its duty. Best you pay attention and act responsibly. No one wants to beat you over the head. No one wants to wage war. No. All the world community wants is to welcome you and your people into collaborative balancing of economic powers and political stability so we all can set about the business of building a stronger global community focused on improving quality of life for all. 

That, Mr. Putin, are the benefits of PEACE. You can thwart it, or you can enjoy it by joining with the rest of humanity. But will you? Only you can answer that question, sir.

June 10, 2015