What Putin Is Doing for America

What Putin Is Doing for America

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

First of all Trump supporters have probably whole heartily congratulated Putin for the excellent job he has done for supporting and ultimately making sure Donald Trump got elected. Why Putin has been doing so might be clear if we go back to the Regan-Gorbachev era, and find out Putin has been doing exactly the same as did Regan in 1980s. However, Putin might not be successful to break up the United States of America, as did Regan to break up the Soviet Union because America is not a Soviet Union.

President Ronald Regan had contributed significantly to the breakup of the Soviet Union putting a heavy economic pressure on the then President of Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev. President Regan asked Alan Greenspan: the then chairman of the Federal Reserve for ascertaining the economic status of the Soviet Union so that he could launch his highly hyped Star War program. The economic analysis Greenspan did based on the available economic data indicated that the Soviet Union would to the Regan’s Star War program. So, Regan used it as a tool to bend the then Soviet President Gorbachev.

Gorbachev started his political and economic policies called glasnost and perestroika for revamping the Soviet economy but it had been too little and too late. The then Prime Minister of Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev had initiated the opening of the Soviet Union in the early 1960s for reforming the economy but he was overthrown in a little coup Leonid Brezhnev had staged in 1964. What Brezhnev did during his tenure as the Soviet leader for about 20 years had been he went to Czechoslovakia to stop the Prague Spring in 1968, and he sent the Soviet military to Afghanistan to fight a war against the CIA-backed mujahideen keeping the Soviet economy stagnant or might be even sliding down. Thus, Gorbachev inherited the soviet empire minus almost any economic foundation to stand on.

However, Gorbachev shined as one of the influential leaders, and visited America several times, and interacted with the leaders of other world power. Gorbachev even earned the tile of “my friend” from President Regan. However, Gorbachev’s empire had been dwindling internally and internationally in the eyes of President Regan. So, in 1989 when the Germans tore down the Berlin Wall that had stood as a barrier between the two Germans the Second World War had divided Gorbachev had to be a mute spectator. He even did not dare to speak out against it not to mention about sending his military as Brezhnev did in 1968 to Czechoslovakia. That was the beginning of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Some of the hardliner members of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union attempted to overthrow Gorbachev in 1990 without a success. The then President of Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin rode on the military tanker on the Kremlin Square in Moscow in 1990 and stopped the Soviet Military from taking over from Gorbachev. It was a great victory for President of Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin. However, Gorbachev instead of hugging Yeltsin and keeping him as near as possible pushed him away provoking hostility.

Recently, in one of his interviews, Gorbachev said that he quit the office to stop the civil war. Probably, the civil war Gorbachev meant might be the possible uprisings against the communist regimes in the Eastern Europe, and probably, some of the Soviet Republics also might rise up against him, as did Boris Yeltsin after Gorbachev ignored to thank Yeltsin even for saving him from a coup.

Power hungry Yeltsin had been the instrument to break up the Soviet Union forcing Gorbachev to quit the office in favor of ending the Soviet Empire. As the President of the Russian Federation, Yeltsin needed to operate under the Soviet president Gorbachev. Removing Gorbachev from the office meant for Yeltsin having the absolute power of the Russian Federation.

The collapse of the Soviet Union gave Yeltsin the power to open up the Russian Federation to everybody willing to make money, and every INGOs including the Peace Corps volunteers to operate in Russia. Thus, Yeltsin pushed Russia to the level of the status of developing countries. Consequently, Soviet Union died not only politically but also economically, too.

Yeltsin also invited American experts in privatization of the state-owned factories, stores, industries and any other businesses Russia has inherited from the Soviet Union. Yeltsin made every possible economic policy so that his loved ones, favorites, and friends make quick money. Consequently, managers of factories, and other businesses turned into the owners. Overnight hundred of thousands of capitalists were born out of the state-owned industries and businesses making millions if not hundreds of millions of Russian poor.

Millions of Russian slid down the poverty line, as Yeltsin devalued the Russian currency as frequently as possible for making some people rich while making millions of Russian poor. Salaried and senior citizens in retirement were hit hard, as the money they received could not buy the minimum requirements for the livelihood.

Seeing the opportunity of making quick money, with a few million dollars, capitalists from all over the world rushed to Russia, and quickly made millions in no time. They quickly dismantled the factories and industries without setting up new ones. In no time, Russia became the source of raw materials and cheap oil. As a result, the Russian economy depended on the prices of oil and gas.

Corruption became part of the Russian bureaucracy. Yeltsin was the head of administration. He was standing on the shoulders of all corrupt ministers, bureaucrats and police and so on. The corruption had been so rampant and open; Yeltsin might be indicted and even convicted of corruption.

So, Yeltsin chose his most trustworthy, and a reliable man as his deputy to transfer power. Obviously, Yeltsin had secured firm words from Vladimir Putin that once power was transferred to Putin, Putin would not take any legal or administrative actions against Yeltsin. Thus, Yeltsin safely pass on his legacy to Putin without the fear of getting indicted for any misdeeds and corruption he had committed while in office.

Vladimir Putin inherited the third world Russian Federation as against Russia as part of the Soviet Union had been one of the superpowers. Putin had to accept this reality, and he had to uplift his country to the highest level as soon as possible. He mobilized whatever the leftovers of industries, factories and business to build economy, and quickly created many jobs and business opportunity for the Russians. He earned the blessings of the Russian voters in his first two terms.

Putin then turned his power to his faithful colleague Dmitry Medvedev for one term. Putin became his prime minister. However, most of the time, Putin ran the administration and the foreign policy. Medvedev’s presidency became the tail that wags the dog. Currently, Medvedev is the prime minister of President Putin.

In his previous incarnations as the president and prime minister, Putin had successfully consolidated his power muzzling most of the opponents sending them to jail or killing them even in a foreign country replicating the Soviet era power play, and put the economy back on the sound footing seizing the major industry such as the oil and gas industries privatized in the past.

Currently, President Putin feels that he has sufficient resources, and power to reclaim the superpower status Russia has lost after the demise of the Soviet Union.

First, Putin went to Ukraine: one time Soviet Republic, and reclaimed the lost Crimea. Actually, the West had created an environment conducive to Putin take the Crimea helping the mob of the street protestors to topple the elected President of Ukraine, and then install the government of the West’s choice chasing the elected president to Russia. Putin had every sort of excuse to send his military to Ukraine and snatch away Crimea from the Ukraine, and continue to occupy the eastern portion of Ukraine even today.

Emboldened by the easy win of Crimea, Putin went to the Middle East particularly Syria to challenge the West’s presence, and demonstrated Russia still holds power to reckon with. He sent his military planes to Syria to bomb indiscriminately, and even defeated the rebels that had occupied Aleppo for several years. President Barack Obama had complained that the Russian fighter jets had bombed the rebels rather than the ISIS. Thus, Putin made himself on an equal footing with Obama.

Putin then has to do to America what Regan did to the Soviet Union. Putin had been closely waiting for that opportunity to come up. When Putin saw that opportunity when white blue-collar workers supported Donald Trump who had the punch to knock out all other republican rivals and secured the nomination of the Republican Party for the president. Then, what Putin did for Donald Trump was the open secrete.

The irony is that while in the campaign trail, Donald Trump has openly asked Putin to interfere in the US presidential elections calling Putin to hack the emails of his rival Democratic Candidate Hillary Clinton, and exposed her in order to weaken and reduce her chance of winning the elections. This has been unprecedented in the American democratic history.

Thanks to President Putin of Russia, Donald Trump won the presidency. He is going to be inaugurated on January 20, 2017. Putin got what he wanted the divided America. White supremacists have been raising their heads. They want to fight for getting back their supremacy. That is exactly what Putin wants. He wants chaos in the American political life.

Putin also proved that the external forces could manipulate the American elections; make any most abusive candidate to win the elections. Putin wants to prove that the American elections are just like the Russian elections. He might be asking those guys that have said the Russian elections were rigged and have no legitimacy in Russia. This is exactly what Putin wants to prove to the then Secretary State Hillary Clinton that has said that the Russian elections held in 2011 were rigged and have no legitimacy.

According to Clinton, she earned the enmity of Vladimir Putin when she stood up for democracy and human rights in 2011, condemning the Russian parliamentary elections as “so flawed, so illegitimate, that it was embarrassing.” "This is not just an attack on me and my campaign, although that may have added fuel to it. This is an attack against our country. We are well beyond normal political concerns here. This is about the integrity of our democracy and the security of our nation,” Clinton said, adding that the Congressional probe “should be modeled after the 9/11 commission.” The alleged Russian actions, she told the donors, were “part of a long-term strategy to cause us to doubt ourselves” in the “historic struggle to prove that democracy and freedom operates well.” (Source: rt.com December 16, 2016)

Putin wants to reduce the influence of America on the world arena. President-elect Donald Trump has been just walking on the path Putin has been showing him with the bright light on the way. Trump has said that he would cancel the Trans-pacific Trade Partnership (TPP) believing to bring back the jobs lost to the foreign countries caused by the liberal trade among the partners. Trump has not realized the reality of the free trade creating jobs in America.

Trump also has said that he would dismantle NATO rather he would make the partners pay for the services rendered. That is exactly what Putin wants. Once NATO is weakening, Putin could move on to the western frontiers. Putin has been very concerned with NATO moving eastward closing to the Russian border once Ukraine becomes the member of NATO. Former Soviet Baltic Republics have already been the EU members. So, Donald Trump has been on the right track for Putin.

After the election victory of Trump, democrats supporting for Hillary Clinton, and republicans supporting for Donald Trump have been on the head-on collision. They are in a fighting mood. Democrats would not surely allow Trump to run his administration smoothly. Trump himself has been creating an environment conducive to make his administration chaotic.

Trump’s son, daughter and son-in-law have been actively participating in the selection of the cabinet members of the Trump administration. Trump has said that he would turn over his businesses to his kids so that he would not have a conflict of interest when he becomes the president. However, it has remained in words only.

Trump’s opponents, and the interest group including his vice-president-elect Mike Pence might be for Trump committing one mistake after another for making him liable to the impeachment. This is not what Putin wants but it might happen despite Putin’s not liking. Putin certainly wants Trump runs the muddled administration.

Putin might need to pay a heavy price for his meddling in the American elections. He would not be able to repeat the collapse of the Soviet Union in the American soil, as America has the deeply rooted democracy that would save it from the breakup of its union whereas the Soviet Union had the dictatorial system of governance with the repression of the majority of the people including the laborers who were supposed to be the dictators in the governance. For Putin it would have been better to institutionalize the democratic institutions in his Russia rather than attempting to reestablish the lost honor of the Soviet Union.

The president (Obama) said he had warned Mr Putin of serious consequences at a summit in September. A month later, the US accused Russia of meddling in its democratic process. The president has promised a "proportional" response to the hacking of the Democratic Party and of emails belonging to defeated presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman. He appeared to suggest that the US could go on the offensive with its own cyber muscle, stating: "Whatever they do to us, we can potentially do to them." (Source: BBC NEWS December 17, 2016)

Even though President-elect Trump might be friendly to President Putin, America still might fight against the Russian interferences in the American political life. Democrats are everywhere: they are in the Senate, in the House of Representatives, and in the judiciary. America has the legal base to bind the unbridled president. Impeachment of the president might be the final result. Talks about the possible impeachment of President-elect Trump have been already in the media. Democrats would hit hard Putin whenever they would have a chance to do so.

The Kremlin's response came as Mrs. Clinton attributed her election defeat to Russian hacking for the first time. She told party donors that President Putin had a "personal beef" against her for describing Russia's parliamentary elections five years ago as rigged. She also cited the release of a letter by FBI director James Comey as having lost her close races in key states. (Source: BBC NEWS December 17, 2016)

"Putin publicly blamed me for the outpouring of outrage by his own people, and that is the direct line between what he said back then and what he did in this election," Mrs. Clinton said, quoted by the Times. "This is not just an attack on me and my campaign, although that may have added fuel to it. This is an attack against our country. We are well beyond normal political concerns here. This is about the integrity of our democracy and the security of our nation." (Source: BBC NEWS December 17, 2016)

President Putin might be very happy for some time to come but what he is facing from the American democrats is quite uncertain. Surely, Putin is riding high but how high he could go before falling down remains to be seen. Putin has been spending his resources lavishly on unproductive businesses such as meddling in the American presidential elections, and on fighting the civil war in Syria for its president that should have gone long before Putin helped him, to regain Aleppo, and in Ukraine for the rebels that want to separate part of Ukraine and join it with Russia.

President Putin would be well off institutionalizing democratic institutions such as the opposition in the parliament, the independent media, independent judiciary, and corrupt free administration. However, he has been doing just opposite of everything. He has destroyed the opposition in the parliament, killed the investigative journalists, highly influenced the judiciary, and nurtured the corruption in the administration. These are all done for the Putin’s continuity as the president at the cost of the common Russians.

December 25, 2016