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Putin Shows Signs of Clinical Paranoia
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
September 10, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Talking about beefing up his nuclear arsenal,
61-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to play victim to U.S.
and European Union aggression.
While not one inch of Russian land has been encroached upon by the U.S. and EU,
Putin’s feeling under attack by the
West. When he seized Crimea March
1, he can’t comprehend why the world community has any reservations about
Russian aggression. Test-firing a
new intercontinental ballistic missile and working on new conventional weapons,
Putin said he wouldn’t enter into a new arms race, citing budget constraints. Putin acts clueless why NATO would
develop a new rapid deployment force or the so-called “spearhead” when many
former Soviet satellites raise concerns about Putin’s violation of Ukraine’s
sovereignty and territorial integrity.
All Putin sees is the West encroaching on Russian territory.
When the Soviet Union disbanded Dec. 26, 1991, it wasn’t easy for
Soviet-loyalists like Putin to accept the independence of former satellites. Of all the former Soviet republics,
none was coveted more than Ukaine, viewed by some as the cradle of Russian
civilization. Putin went over the
deep end only one week after hosting the Sochi Olympics seizing Ukraine’s
strategic Crimea peninsula. Putin’s
so invested in controlling Ukraine that he can’t stomach Ukraine’s leaning
toward NATO and the European Union.
When a pro-Western coup toppled Viktor Yanukovich Feb. 22, Putin went on the
offensive seizing Crimea, home to Russia’s warm-water Black Sea fleet. Putin rejects the U.S. and EU sanctions designed to express outrage over his decision to
violate Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Putin doesn’t get that
U.N.-recognized states value their sovereignty.
No one in the West has demanded the Putin return Crimea to 48-year-old
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Western powers have asked Putin to get his troops and military hardware
out of Ukraine or near its border.
Calling Western sanctions for seizing Crimea “hysterical,” Putin blames the West
for toppling Ukraine’s pro-Russian government.
Whether admitted to or not, Putin’s been the aggressor seizing Crimea and
threatening to take more Ukrainian territory. Former Soviet states recall Putin’s invasion of Georgia, seizing South Ossetia and
Abkhasia Aug. 7-12, 2008. Because
the U.S. and EU didn’t respond with sanctions then, Putin got bolder March 1
seizing Crimea. “We have warned
many times that we would have to take corresponding countermeasures to ensure
our secsurity,” insisted Putin, pretending Russia was invaded by the West.
Putin’s world
view of being persecuted by the West doesn’t match the reality on the ground or
consensus of world opinion. Because
he feels encroached upon by the West, he takes defensive measures. “I would like to underline that we
only take retaliatory steps,” insisted Putin, referring to his decision to annex
Crimea. Putin viewed the Feb. 22
coup in Kiev as an attack on Moscow.
If Vladimir had any respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty, he wouldn’t have
taken the coup as a personal attack.
Putin refuses to accept that no one in the West is interested in
encroaching on Russian territory.
When he attacked U.S.-backed Georgian President Mikheil Saashkavili Aug. 7,
2008, it was over the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan [BTC] pipeline that bypassed the
Russian monopoly of petroleum and gas sales to Europe. Putin sees economic independence of
former Soviet satellites as a threat to Moscow.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Deputy Defense Minister
Yuri Borisov insist that Russia will develop the nuclear and conventional
military capability to stop NATO news “spearhead” rapid deployment force.” What Putin refuses to accept is that
the so-called “spearhead” is to stop Moscow from seizing land in NATO countries
like the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Announcing a ceasefire with
Poroshenko Sept. 4, Putin hoped to avoid more punishing economic sanctions
designed to impact Russia’s petroleum and defense industries. “Ukraine has made no concessions
with regards to its territorial integrity,” said Poroshenko, despite ceding
Crimea to Russia. Poroshenko can’t
win Ukrainian respect until he gets Putin to give back Crimea. Offering Southeastern Ukraine’s
cities like Luhansk and Donetsk more autonomy doesn’t reverse losing Crimea.
Putin’s perceptions of Russia under attack by the West are as twisted
as his belief that Kiev’s Feb. 22 coup was an attack on Moscow. If Vladimir doesn’t respect the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of former Soviet satellites, he can only
see the West as attacking Russian interests.
Pushing for more sanctions against Russia for violating Ukraine’s
sovereignty and territorial integrity, 60-year-old German Chancellor Angela
Merkel was the first to question Putin’s state-of-mind. Merkel questioned March 4 whether
Putin was “in touch with reality,” regarding his March 1 seizure of Crimea. Judging by Putin’s recent remarks
about the West encroaching on Russia, it looks like he’s suffering from
paranoia. If he sees himself as
always under attack, it’s easy to see why he’s always counterattacking. Foreign leaders haven’t been able to
reach him and reel him back in the mainstream.
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