Russia’s modern tsar Putin thrives in face of a weak West

Anthony Albanese meets Boris Johnson during the NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain. Picture: Getty Images

Anthony Albanese looks right at home dealing with world leaders. He mixes as easily with them as he does with people from all stratas of the community. Given the gravity of the Ukraine crisis, this is just as well.

The trajectory is only upwards for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as it is forever downwards for his adversary Vladimir Putin. Censorship is so pervasive in Russia, most Russians see Putin in a positive light. The odd display of his shirtless torso while he gallops around on a spirited steed reinforces the literal side of the strongman image. To see Putin in a positive light requires a denial of too many facts and situations where he has made an absolute bastard of himself.

Contrast this with Zelensky, who has become the hero of the free world. Indeed, leaders from all around the globe queue up to be photographed with him. To be on Zelensky’s side is to be on the side of the angels.

Most world leaders care about their reputation, but Putin has not a care in the world about his reputation abroad. To some extent he seems to glory in his repudiation by NATO and the US. Only a murderous thug such as Putin could take comfort from being regarded so poorly by his peers around the world. Putin seems to have his total focus on increasing Russia’s influence around the globe, and adding territory to his empire is a big part of his dream for himself and his country.

Vladimir Putin’s hold on power remains firm. Picture: AFP

No self-respecting oligarch can afford to offend him. The tsar giveth and the tsar taketh. Putin has his own way of dealing with anyone who dares to criticise him. His enemies have an unfortunate habit of finishing up dead or dying at the hands of Bulgarian hitmen. He has created a similar situation to that of Kim Jong-un in North Korea. No one dares to offer a syllable’s criticism of the boss. To do so is to end up in a distant gulag if you’re lucky.

Putin’s hold on power is as firm as it ever was. He outlasts his Western counterparts, who have to face real elections where there are no constraints on the ability of the opposition to campaign. “President for life” would be the most appropriate title for him.

Peter the Great had his son flogged to death for plotting against him. You can bet the scions of Putin have no ambitions that could conflict with those of their father in any way. They have a pretty good idea of what fatherly love means to him and they know it’s not much.

It is obvious that even senior ministers in his administration are not encouraged to engage with the press. Unless you are directly engaged with Russia you would not be able to name even three or four ministers in Putin’s government. I certainly could not do so. Apart from North Korea, it would be difficult to name any country more under the thrall of one man in the way things seem to be in Russia.

In Putin’s Russia, the rich thrive and the rest can please themselves. The average Russian is shielded from the light of day that access to a free press could provide. If you know no better you don’t strive to make things better.

The Russian winter was bleak enough to halt the territorial ambi­tions of Napoleon and Hitler. Now, Russia’s massive military arsenal would stop any invader. With nuclear weapons pointed at every Western capital, the death toll that such a conflict would bring is enough to suppress any chance of that conflict ever occurring.

Putin needs only to deliver relatively small incremental increases in living standards if he can convince his citizens the foreign threat is real. Putin has shown he has absolute faith in Western weakness by pursuing his strike into Ukraine.

Inevitably he will annex the area around Donetsk and then convince the mob at home that the prize was worth the cost. Few world leaders have ever had to explain why so many of their young men have to return home in body bags or in wheelchairs. Putin continues to thrive despite the huge human cost.

NATO is little more than a spectator in terms of its willingness to stand up to Putin. The Europeans have no heart for the fight and under Joe Biden the US is retreating even more into its shell than it did under the leadership of Donald Trump. This gives Putin every confidence and he grows bolder with the passing of everyday. My constant worry about this is that the Chinese are watching it all closely and wondering when they should attempt to take over Taiwan.

In Taiwan, which has been under the threat of a Chinese invasion for decades, there is a formidable array of the most modern planes and missiles. The Chinese would succeed eventually if they invaded Taiwan, but the price in terms of men and equipment would be way too high to make an invasion likely. It would be a similar situation to the embarrassment handed out to Putin, who figured on easily overcoming Ukraine’s forces in a couple of days. As the old saying goes, “The best-laid plans of mice and men do sometimes come asunder.”