Copyright © 2021 Euromaidanpress.com

The work of Euromaidan Press is supported by the International Renaissance Foundation

When referencing our materials, please include an active hyperlink to the Euromaidan Press material and a maximum 500-character extract of the story. To reprint anything longer, written permission must be acquired from [email protected].

Privacy and Cookie Policies.

Vitaliy Portnikov: Putin caught in the Milošević trap 

Putin has very little choice… 

And everything started so well! The man with a forgettable appearance of a professional special agent, dwarfed by the chairs of his Kremlin office, could have fancied himself a genius strategist who decided to take revenge on the West for the shameful fiasco of the great empire and the unwillingness of all sorts of Obamas to respect Russia’s real mission in the world! If the West thinks that Russia doesn’t understand that it is being cruelly bullied, that they, despite various impressions of “spheres of influence” and common sense, are trying to steal Ukraine from it with the help of paid-for Maidan – they are mistaken!

He, Putin, is also a tough one! With a masterful blow he will turn over the board and rain chess pieces on the heads of inattentive competitors! He will destroy international law – and meanwhile he will not give any reason to suspect him in intervention against the neighboring countries, it is all its own former citizens, “the Crimea self-defense,” supported by mysterious “Green Men” with residence in Ryazan. He will raise hell in the east of Ukraine – but what are you saying, Russia has nothing to do with this, they are “federalization supporters” who invited to Donbas the most talented of Jack the Rippers from the neighboring country to aid the “Russian World.” And the tiger can have its tail pulled this way for a long time, without fearing any serious reaction. And to believe in his own genius, especially while his rating will only increase and skyrocket like a space missile.

The problem of all boring officials – and Putin, of course, is a boring official and not a politician – is their faith that everything in this world develops according to their plans and desires and not according to tendencies and historical logic. Putin’s predecessor, a similarly boring official, just much more talented and bloodthirsty, Slobodan Milošević, also thought that he will be able to fool the entire world and that they will allow him to do anything, until he got caught in his own Kosovo trap and became the enemy of both democrats and chauvinists, until he ended up in the Hague and died without hearing his sentence – and everything started so well!

Putin also got caught in a trap he set up for himself. The logic of his impression of the terrorists’ actions in Donbas was simple: to preserve the region as a hearth of permanent tension without deploying the regular departments of the Russian army there. But in order for paramilitary formations to be able to resist the Ukrainian armed forces, it is necessary to reinforce them with weapons. The further they go, the more modern it should be. And when modern weapons fall into the hands of idiots – I think few of those who heard interviews and phone calls between this zoo of Borodays doubt their idiocy today – they will sooner or later use it according to their own reasoning. Putin, as well as all of us, got very lucky yet. If the Borodays get weapons with the help of which they may be able to blow up some sort of Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant, they will do it without hesitating. So far they have downed a civilian plane, because they received the “Buks” in their hands. To be continued.

This is how Putin got caught in the “trap of Milošević.” He has very little choice. And this is not a choice between peace and war, as many might think. It is, in reality, the choice between understanding reality and unwillingness to account for it. Today Putin still has the opportunity to “rewind the situation,” step back from the confrontation with Ukraine, help destroy the mercenaries and find legislative opportunities to solve the Crimean issue. And he will become who he really is – a leader of a country which is not very well developed and not very rich, but too territorial expansive for normal development, that respects the recommendations of the civilized world to reform and overcome the challenges of the crisis.

If Putin decides to play Napoleon further, some time later he will be responsible for much more serious crimes of his clientele that today, he will become inconvenient both for the elite and the chauvinists and he will lose power. The honor of listening to the recommendations of the civilized world to reform Russia and overcome the challenges of the crisis will be handed over to someone else.

[hr] Source: Glavred
Translated by Mariya Shcherbinina

You could close this page. Or you could join our community and help us produce more materials like this.  We keep our reporting open and accessible to everyone because we believe in the power of free information. This is why our small, cost-effective team depends on the support of readers like you to bring deliver timely news, quality analysis, and on-the-ground reports about Russia's war against Ukraine and Ukraine's struggle to build a democratic society. A little bit goes a long way: for as little as the cost of one cup of coffee a month, you can help build bridges between Ukraine and the rest of the world, plus become a co-creator and vote for topics we should cover next. Become a patron or see other ways to support. Become a Patron!
Total
0
Shares
Related Posts