A Post Putin Era
From T.S.Khanna, Alamo, CA
Russia’s political culture has been shaped by its past Czars and Dictators. They turned Ukraine into the crucible of cataclysms: Ukrainian language banned, books confiscated, intellectuals and patriots murdered, peasants starved to break their resistance during the Stalin rule in the 1930s—a persistent effort to eradicate Ukrainian identity to submerge it into Russia.
Putin is the product of that culture and is repeating the same evil. The stock of reasoning and possibilities of resolving public issues under dictators is limited to the use of force. People under dictators become cult-oriented and believe in them and obey them without questioning. They are not familiar with the range of possibilities in resolving public issues peacefully in a system-oriented democratic society. That is why perception of the same facts is different by dictators and, unfortunately, perception is reality in politics.
Putin’s perception of “self-defense” as the cause of this war is contrary to the world’s perception of Putin’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine. Putin’s perception of reality is that Ukrainians do not have a right to exist and their genocide is moralized, whereas American perception of reality is that “…all men are created equal”.
Collectively, people have a limited rational capacity. To make up for this deficiency, persons in governing positions in a democracy are trained in using prudence displacing pride and prurience. They imbibe characteristics of Aristotle’s “temperate man”. Putin never had that benefit. He frequently threatens the use of Nukes while others, even better equipped with Nukes, exercise prudence in their choice of words and actions.
Putin has cleared his mind of the sins of atheism by rehabilitating Orthodox Christian Churches demolished under the USSR era. However, he still seems unfamiliar with the basic tenet:
“Do unto others as you would be done by”.
Putin is not aware that this war is epoch changing and having an effect reverse of what he intended. Ukraine has been consecrated by the brave Ukrainians who sacrificed their lives for the country’s sovereignty and by those innocent defenseless civilians mercilessly massacred by Putin’s forces and buried in mass graves.
Now there is no going back. The world bestows an honorable remembrance to the resolute Ukrainians whose valor against Putin’s outnumbered forces made them immortal in public memory. They have enshrined Ukraine as the citadel of European democracy——a pilgrimage for freedom lovers.
For sight, we need eyes; for insight, we need factual knowledge and rational analysis of facts with cause and effect. With our limited knowledge of facts about the secretive-opaque Putin’s government, it seems next few weeks are critical for Putin.
It is time to start planning for rebuilding of Ukraine by using the personal assets of Putin, his cohorts, and his oligarchs, estimate at $ 300 billion. They possess these assets illegally by denying the benefits to the Russian citizens.
