Our world is at war,the man pulling the strings being Vladimir Putin,the president of Russia. For the longest time possible,putin kept the world guessing whether there’ll be a war in Ukraine or not.
Then one morning he decided to shock the world by invading Ukraine and dared the world to interfere, “If you interfere from outside you will face consequences greater than any of you have faced in history.” Where does Putin get this nerve from?
In 2008 he invaded Georgia, in 2014 he annexed Crimea, in 2022 he has put Europe in a spot. He has launched a multi-frontal attack on Ukraine; people are calling him the new hitler, the dictator who wanted to Unify the ‘Greater Germany’.
Putin is following Hitler’s playbook,He want to Unify his motherland thus has sent tanks and troops to Ukraine. Experts believe Putin picked dictatorial traits from a former boss.
He was once a deputy mayor of St.Petersburg.His boss was the city’s mayor,Anatoly Sobchak.Putin admired him and is said to have subconsciously picked his traits.Today Putin’s authoritarianism is out in the open. What’s in Putin’s mind? What has shaped his life?
Once Vladimir Putin was a KGB agent,a soviet spy agency. While he was training for it in 1975, his trainers found out that he had a flaw. They said he had a diminished sense of danger, meaning what may seem dangerous to you and I may not seem dangerous to Putin.
He acknowledges this in his biography and says back in his KGB days, a negative trait often ascribed to him was ‘lowered sense of danger’.The spy agency considered this a very serious flaw. Look at what’s happening now, Putin’s dangerous invasion in Ukraine.
Which leader today would dare send tanks into another country and unafraid of repercussions?he has been exhibiting this diminished sense of danger since his childhood. He was born in October 1952 in the soviet city of Leningrad, his parents belonging to the working class and living in a soviet-style apartment.
While most children picked humbled sports, Putin decided to pursue a martial art called Sambo.While most school boys dreamt of becoming a doctor or something glamorous, Putin dreamt of becoming a spy.
He first set foot into the KGB headquarters while still in his teens. Having graduated from Leningrad State University in 1975,he went straight to join the KGB where he mastered smokes and mirrors.
In his campaign biography he wrote a story where he chased death casually. Which person looking forward to lead a country will tell such a story to his voters? Which leader would project himself as impulsive?
Things have changed rapidly for him since the collapse of the soviet union. In 1991 he became the deputy mayor of St.Petersburg, in 1997 the Deputy Chief of the presidential staff, in 1998 the head of Federal Security Service, the new spy agency, successor of the KGB.
In 1999 he became one of Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, then prime minister and in 2000 the president. Russia’s reputation turned. Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s first president was corrupt, drunk and a laughing stock. He was too close to the west for Putin’s taste.
With the cold war resolval, its legacy remained and Putin, a former soviet spy could never get himself to trust the west. He could not ignore the fact that the North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO) was growing and many countries had become a part of this alliance.
Even back in 1999 Putin feared NATO would expand, going to include former soviet republics and ultimately surround Russia. He was frustrated that Yeltsin was not doing enough to contain the NATO.Putin dreamt of an independent, influential and feared Russia
Chechnya region gave him the opportunity to build that dream state,breaking away from Russia and declaring independence in 1991.Chechnya rebels had become a nuisance in Russia.
In 1999 September a series of blasts killed more than 300 people in 7 Russian cities while he was the prime minister. He began naming, shaming and blaming Chechnya on live television and vowed to avenge the blasts.
Reports then emerged that Putin might have conspired with KGB agents to plant the bombs to help his popularity. Russia went to war with Chechnya and approximately 80,000 people were killed and Chechnya was brought back to Russia.
Yelstin then suddenly resigned in December 1999 and named Putin as the country’s acting president. Putin knew this was coming and didn’t tell his wife, that’s how secretive he can be.
Reports say the Russian parliament had no clue of his plans to invade Ukraine. He asked for permission to send troops to foreign lands but the law makers never thought he would attack Ukraine. He never even needed the permission since he’s the commander in chief of the Russian armed forces and can send troops whenever he likes.So going to the parliament was a stunt and he likes stunts.
He’ve been seen fishing, arm wrestling, horseriding, hunting and copiloting. It seems he can survive the wild better than bare grounds. He’s talented, tough, controller of facts and the teller of his own story.
He have decided to send troops on a ‘denazification mission’, killing innocent civilians just because he thinks Ukraine and Russia are one and doesn’t let anything come between him and his motherland.
He’s been in power 22 years now and has gone to war thrice in the last 14 years..He has dragged Russia into many wars, meddling the affairs of its neighbors like Belarus elections. He has jailed those who didn’t align with him and silenced critics who challenged him. He’s recently arresting those protesting the war in Ukraine.
A 2020 vote made Putin Russia’s president for life. He will remain in power until 2036.
If you are looking to interpret the current war in Ukraine try reading it from Putin’s point of view.If you want to know what will happen next try gauging it through Putin’s eyes.