Global South

Does Russia ride a Paper Tiger?

“weak leaderships bring calamities on nations”

Amb. Bhadrakumar explores the deeper psycho-geopolitical questions we all ponder. The western assessment is that “Putin shies away from taking tough decisions.” Russia was bearded in their own den, shown by the perpetrators of the strategic bomber bases attack to be perhaps riding a paper tiger, and are now under Judgment.

This aggression on a central pillar of their national security would neither have been tolerated by the old soviet cadre, nor dared by their enemies.

Commensurate hell would already have visited the US strategic bases, at minimum. What is going on? There cannot be business as usual when the very survival, much less credibility of Russia is on the line. How did events get sliced incrementally to this point, after so many red lines were cheekily breached by the West?

He also notes Orange has been dissembling. A leopard does not change spots. His lack of heart in Gaza demonstrates the emptiness of the clutch of words over “saving lives” in 404. All this is not new to us, nor surprising in the amoral imperial core. And no Emperor wants to be the one left holding the stinky bag when the music stops in 404.

But this is really about Russia, and the putative “US-Russia relationship”, the lunge for an elusive mirage which risks snatching defeat from the jaws of Victory, if more unbelievable red line after red line are breached without consequence for the ultimate puppet-masters.

“There is something very wrong with the way Russia is governed today” to have allowed events to escalate to this prior unimaginable threshold. Mere tit-for-tat retaliation cannot now suffice; a rethink and deeper engagement with the opposing US authorities is required. Otherwise Russia will be bled white, and inside her walls, with impunity.