Miklos Radvanyi writes for Townhall.com about the Russian strongman’s approach to his regime.
[T]he creation of the amateurish incompetence of the 20th century Soviet Union cum Russia that has given the delusional appearance of greatness to both have left an irreparably deep political as well as economic abyss that has poisoned the mentality of their inhabitants with the delusional uncertainty of a better world. Having been ill-prepared for any meaningful change in their lives, they voted in the March 26, 2000, presidential election to embrace an insignificant former KGB goon as the unlikely liberator of their incurable misery. The thus elected Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin inherited a woefully indoctrinated population in incompetence and corruption who could transform itself to no discipline of freedom. Moreover, historically lacking a centering force in politics, Putin has enjoyed a limitless scope to shape the already dying Russia to his own extremist image. Finally, his May 7, 2000, inaugural speech that promised a “new century” full of democracy, Westernization and economic prosperity was quickly annulled by his infamous February 10, 2007, Munich speech, in which he called for the overthrow of the democratic order led by the United States of America. Since then, the President for Life Putin has become a traditional Russian tyrant whose ubiquitous connivance as well as unambiguous hypocrisy has led to aggressive revanchism disguised as Pan Slavism, which in turn have led to the annexation of sovereign territories in Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine.
Definitely, the enormous onus of leading a practically defunct Russia to a productive reconstruction has been too much for President Putin. Claiming to be guided by Napoleon Bonaparte as his historical role model, he has no real future conception for Russia and the rest of the world. What is constant in his paltry worldview is his violent fluctuation between the present isolationist reality and the old fallacious glory of the wicked Russian tyranny. This inward looking or myopically illiberal conservatism also explains his mental imbalance that is the key to President Putin’s propensity for political imperilment.
