Strength, Not War

He walks down the room with a swagger. He holds his head erect but a little loose. His eyes dart from side to side in a narrow arc. There is an imperial posture about his presence. Eyes are beady, however. Mouth is small and kept tight. His stature belies the contained rage somehow. Am I the only one sensing this?

The person is Vladimir Putin. The good fellow who cheerfully appeared throughout the Sochi Olympic Village displayed a steely personality soon thereafter. I might add this is the same steely persona displayed the last time Putin visited with President Obama.

There is a message here. There is a power struggle but among whom?

Not America. Not Obama. Not the American people.

I suspect it’s Putin being Putin for his own sake. Kindly recall the collapse of the Soviet Empire and Mother Russia laid low and humble, weak and broken, crumbling infrastructure, unpaid military, bankrupt banks, roads and bridges unable to carry common deliveries of food and basic supplies. Pensioners without benefits and starving. Hospitals in disarray, woefully inadequate as to size, cleanliness and technology.

Russia at that time was an embarrassment to the soul – their soul. And I think Putin.  I think he felt this excruciatingly. Very personal for him. He wanted to restore the Russian people’s pride, sense of worth and history. And his own.

And he has worked hard to make that happen. On the world stage, however, he is still weak. The vast empire’s army lay in ruins. Soviet bloc nations were once again free and independent. Those were rebuilding their lives, too, only this time for an eye to their own destiny, not Mother Russia.  Besides, Russia wasn’t their mother in any sense. Nor their father!

The Crimea is nearby Russian soil. It has long been a staging area for Russian military and naval forces. The world may be too near without the buffer of a broader Soviet territory. So Crimea is the present target, but a handy stepping stone to eastern Ukraine.

Once again we see history replayed by way of ancient animosities in the eastern European and Eurasian regions. Once again long held hatreds of power, influence and ‘religion’ rumble below the surface in hearts stone cold but warming for a fight.

How do Americans and other peace loving peoples relate to this?

Some rattle invisible sabers as though they know what to do with them. Others posture their political rants as usual. But others, those special others, calmly sit back and observe the drama unfolding on the world stage. Or pretending to?

The calm among us watch for motivation both long and short range. What is Putin really about? Is he a callous martinet strutting his stuff because he thinks himself special? Does he wish to reassemble the Soviet hegemony of the past in the region? Does he do this for himself or his people? And if the latter, does he really know what his people want and need?

Having lived through the Cold War I don’t want a return of it. Too much human capital was wasted. So too, standards of living, natural resources and national treasure. In recent decades we have turned our attention to peace and the long term future of mankind surviving with dignity and purpose. Why turn the clock back on that?

Yet politicians on the hustings and in their legislative roundhouses of power quickly assimilate the cry to battle. Senators McCain and Graham were Johnny on the spot! And with old, worn out phrases reminiscent of past political campaigns and losing ideology. 

Can’t they come up with something more worthwhile?  Can’t they see that Putin is not restarting a cold war with the USA? Can’t they see he is a weakened person striving to rattle cages and unsettle the world to prove he is not weak?  Just like a bully. Just like a puny thug. Boo! I’m not scared.

We need national unity so America can join world powers in maintaining the peace of the globe. This is not America’s fight. It is the World’s business to keep order. And we are a partner in that.

John McCain, don’t fall for the threats. Lindsay Graham, grow up and exercise your intellect. This is not a republican/democrat thing. This is the global community being asked to step up to the plate and collaborate to put down the playground bully.

Altogether now. No war. Don’t fall for it. And republicans, shush unless you have something nice to say for once!

March 10, 2014