Of politics and men: Vladimir Putin

Politics was defined by the ancient Greeks as the study of the proper organization and purpose of the city-state for the promotion and fostering of virtue for the well-being of its citizens. More specifically, their core philosophy was that governments exist to foster a good life for the people and those elected as community leaders did so because of their good character and virtues. Throughout mankind’s history, however, leaders of various stripes emerged and evolved to initially rule as beloved populist leaders, but over time, as absolute power took hold, some eventually became greedy despots to their fellow men.

The world is not short of leaders. Leadership is power, and power is an elixir that man instinctively seeks. And with unrestrained power comes greed. Some have been true to the Aristotelian model of a democratic form of government chosen by the people for the greater good. While some have taken the path of a dictatorial demagogue being ostensibly for the people but in actuality solely for the autocrat to remain in power. The world hails the former as champions of democracy while the latter exemplifies the ugly side of man seeking desperately to perpetuate their power over their oppressed citizenry.

Inevitably, however, change happens as the oppressed’s misfortunes mount over time. Mostly violent and bloody, but on rare occasions peaceful and bloodless. Our nation’s non-violent People Power revolution is one such moment we Filipinos can be proud of.

There are some leaders currently on the world stage who bear watching as their hold on power evolves.

One such leader is Vladimir Putin of Russia, who continues to be vilified internationally for the untold misery he has wrought on the people of Ukraine, and only very recently for the not totally unexpected mysterious death of his most stringent and vociferous critic, Alexei Navalny.

A former KGB intelligence officer, the largely unknown Putin, who was the Director of the Federal Security Service, had his first taste of power in 1999 when President Boris Yeltsin appointed him as Prime Minister. He gained popular support because of his largely successful campaign against the separatist Chechnya rebels and was able to parlay this to the presidency of Russia when Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned. He quickly asserted control by abolishing the disparate 89 regions, republics, and regional governors, reconfiguring them into seven federal districts, each headed by a chosen representative.

Inevitably, however, change happens as the oppressed’s misfortunes mount over time.

Required by the constitution to step down in 2008, he successfully engineered the election of his subaltern Dmitry Medvedev to the presidency with Putin stepping down to assume the prime minister position. After a hiatus of four years, Putin was reelected to the presidency in 2012 amid a growing protest movement against his leadership and suspicions of his widely rumored plan for a lifetime presidency. His third term saw a spate of imprisonments, assassinations, disappearances, and targeting of citizens and NGOs identified with the opposition.

In 2014, living up to his campaign promise to restore the old glory of Russia, Ukraine’s Crimea was forcibly annexed, triggering alarm bells for the NATO countries and the US, fearing a repeat of history that led to World War II and the post-WWII Cold War era. Thus began an on-again, off-again invasion of Ukraine, which today has flared into a full-scale hot war going on its third year.

An astute politician and a clever social media practitioner, Putin’s foray into Ukraine and his butting heads with the US and its allies apparently continues to have the support of the majority of the Russian populace, notwithstanding the reported growing hardships of everyday life due to the economic sanctions imposed by the West.

The Ukrainian conflict does not seem to show any signs of slowing down. And for as long as Putin is able to grind the war to a long-running tortuous continuous stalemate, keep his domestic opponents at bay, and avoid a disastrous economic debacle, he will likely remain in power for a long time to come.

Putin is undoubtedly a man who has mastered the art of politics.

Until next week… OBF!

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