Vlad the Impresser

Since taking Crimea this winter, Vladimir Putin has been compared to Adolf Hitler by former Secretary of State, and possible Democratic presidential candidate, Hilary Clinton while Russia has been described as “America’s number one geopolitical foe” by former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney

Neither depiction is remotely accurate, nor is the national media’s handwringing about the United States and Russia returning to their old Cold War crouch.

Even President Obama’s description of Russia as “a regional power” isn’t entirely accurate. Russia has a role as a great power on the world stage, but it needs to get its house in order.

At the moment, Russia only aspires as it grapples with economic troubles, official corruption that hobbles effective governing, and political struggles that have frustrated Putin to the point of imprisoning members of the Moscow punk rock group Pussy Riot, whose offense are songs such as “Punk Prayer - Mother of God, Chase Putin Away!”

Pussy Riot on Red Square

Russia is a massive country, the largest in the world with 143 million people living in nine time zones spread across 6.5 million square miles that stretch from Eastern Europe to the western Pacific Rim. Its culture is a rich tapestry that has brought the world great literature, music, art, science and thought.

America stands alone as the world power with the largest economy and the most powerful and highly technical military the planet has ever seen with bases, troops, ships and aircraft strategically situated around the globe.

Both nations do have enough nuclear weaponry to snuff life on Earth, but they also have – one can really only hope and pray – leaders who clearly understand such an engagement is pointless. In truth, Russia and America need each other on a range of domestic matters, from economics and energy to security and arms control.   

How the Crimea crisis ends is anyone’s guess, though it seems likely to be less spectacular than how it started. The last century has shown change comes to Russia not gradually, but in shock waves – from imperial dynasty to communism; from communism to federal republic – that leave no time to assemble real social and political structures that establish stability for growth and progress.

Stalin walking on a Moscow sidewalk in the late 1920s.

If there was a Russian leader who compared to Hitler it was the mid-20^th century communist leader Joseph Stalin, ruthless to the bone. He ruled Russia, or what was then the Soviet Union, from 1922 until his death in 1952. Hitler ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945 when his plan for world conquest crumbled above him while he hunkered down in the Führerbunker in Berlin to end it with a bullet.


Neither man was born in the country they led – Hitler was an Austrian; Stalin was a Georgian. Their native countries straddled the divide between east and west. Both men were blood-thirsty dictators who brokered no dissent. They ordered thousands of people murdered and were responsible for the deaths of tens of millions more.

Putin, who was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, doesn’t even pale in comparison, but he understands that power is perception; that unless people perceive you or your country as having power or being powerful you got nothing.

"Putin, The Man" aboard the Pyotr Velikiy battlecruiser.

Until a few years ago, Putin projected power not by mobilizing troops along the Russian frontier or invading Poland, but by widely distributing what I call “Putin, The Man” photos – there’s Putin handing out big hunting knives to the soldiers fighting in Chechnya; Putin sitting bare-chested next to a tiger; Putin the sea captain; Putin the fighter jet pilot.


The Russia leader seems to have an outfit for every “Putin, The Man,” photo op, from a white judo robe with black belt to black biker gear for rides on his Harley-Davidson. Would Putin really risk access to the parts he needs for his Hog, if he was “America’s geopolitical foe?”



Top Gun in a SU-27 jet fighter.

While Hitler and Stalin dressed to resemble military leaders of awesome power, Putin dresses like he’s bucking for the role in the “The Most Interesting Man in the World” Dos Equis beer commercial. He dresses to impress not just the world, but the Russian electorate.


After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, ending 69 years of communism, Russia was in political and social turmoil. It struggled to establish stabilizing political and social structures, but was led by the unpopular Boris Yeltsin, an overweight, white-haired man who often appeared drunk and who Russians viewed as a weak leader compared to then American President Bill Clinton.
 

"The Man" riding his Hog.

The “Putin, The Man” photos helped Putin’s popularity, and has given Russians and the world the perception of a powerful leader. But images can’t overcome the reality that despite the incursion in Crimea, Russia and Putin still have many social, political and economic issues to address in their own country.