Putin the Hero

As buildings, libraries and schools in the madrasa of Pakistan name structures and programs after their mega-hero, Osama bin Laden, as ayatollahs in Iran and mullahs in Afghanistan rise to the level of near deities in their world, noting how revered North Korea’s Kim Jung-IL is among his people and as Vladimir Putin’s popularity soars to new heights (given his hard stand on Ukraine and Syria) even as sanctions kick down the Russian standard of living, Americans need to understand that what and who we perceive as malevolent forces of global evil achieve heights of worship in substantial part because they oppose America and American values with such passion.

In the extremist side of Islam, opposition is born of messianic commitments to a singular and exclusive view of God and His laws to the exclusion of the very basics of Western notions of equality, freedom (including of worship) and democratic values. Those of this view of the Muslim faith who reject Islam are condemned to death for the thoughts. Stoning, beheading, cutting off arms of thieves, lashes and other forms of punishment seem brutal to us, and the fact that these harsh penalties can be imposed simply by reason of religious beliefs and practices are opening abhorrent to us. Still those who proselytize such extreme views become charismatic leaders, and movements like the Islamic State (and even more vitriolic factions) draw adherents and violent followers even from the West.

Still other societies value ultra-nationalistic conservatism, often under the iron hand of a leader with dictatorial or near-dictatorial powers. The notion of a single pragmatic “decider” is held in increasingly high regard by nations who have watched how the political and economic models of the West have shoved those nations into a seemingly endless recession just as the iron grip of the Communist Party in the People’s Republic of China has created what may believe to be the greatest economic miracle in recent memory.

Many admire a tough leader, able to react in real time without the lag of legislative interference or political opposition, crushing what some believe to be the slow erosion of social values though the expansion of individual liberties at the expense of what is perceived to be the greater social good. Such is the legacy of Vladimir Putin, Russia’s strongman president who relishes defying the Western world as he focuses on rebuilding, through conquest or political example/intimidation, Russia’s once glorious and vast Soviet empire. He is a hero to nationalist conservatives the world over.

To understand how powerful his draw has become even outside of Russia, one had only to look at one nation that suffered horribly under the yoke of Soviet domination, struggled to establish its own democracy and economic power in the post-Soviet era, and now finds a pull back to the Russian camp. Hungary. Long past is the memory of 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary, where many died as Russian troops crushed a rising revolution against a nation yearning to be free of the communist dictatorship that so many citizens despised. Times have changed.

“[A]s the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is commemorated Sunday, Hungary is a member of NATO and the European Union and Mr. [Viktor] Orban is in his third term as prime minister. But what was once a journey that might have embodied the triumph of democratic capitalism has evolved into a much more complex tale of a country and a leader who in the time since have come to question Western values, foment nationalism and look more openly at Russia as a model.

“After leading his right-wing party to a series of national and local election victories, Mr. Orban is rapidly centralizing power, raising a crop of crony oligarchs, cracking down on dissent, expanding ties with Moscow and generally drawing uneasy comparisons from Western leaders and internal opponents to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

“Some other Eastern European countries, especially Poland, have remained oriented toward the West and still harbor deep suspicions of Russia long after the Cold War ended.

“But Hungary is one of several countries in the former Soviet sphere that are now torn between the Western ways that appeared ascendant immediately after the fall of the Soviet Union and the resilient clout of today’s Russia. Money, culture and energy resources still bind most regional countries to Russia as tightly as to Europe. Mr. Putin’s combative nationalism is more popular here than what many see as Western democratic sclerosis.

“Mr. Orban has laid out a philosophical vision and justification for his authoritarian-leaning approach that suggests a long-term commitment to turning Hungary into something quite different from what the West anticipated when the Iron Curtain collapsed and the Berlin Wall came down. “In a speech this summer, Mr. Orban declared liberal democracy to be in decline and praised authoritarian ‘illiberal democracies’ in Turkey, China, Singapore and Russia.” New York Times, November 7^th.

What seems so clear to us, how we perceive this repressive regimes, is at odds with the beliefs, justified or not, by such a large segment of the population on earth. There are hundreds of millions of Muslims who appreciate and embrace modern democracy and like numbers of East Europeans and Soviet-era Asian nations that fee the same. But there are many who also have differing views. While it is hard to empathize with these harsh value system, castigating these beliefs seems to have become an ineffective underlying force in our foreign policy. We need to pick and choose our battles with much more selectivity and pragmatism.

While attending ceremonies celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall, for Soviet President, Mikhail Gorbachev – the man who presided over the end of the Soviet Union – noted his view of the new strained relations between Russia and the West: “Mr Gorbachev, 83, was attending an event at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate… The landmark was inaccessible during the Partition of Germany, and is seen as a symbol of the country's reunification.

“‘Bloodshed in Europe and the Middle East against the backdrop of a breakdown in dialogue between the major powers is of enormous concern,’ he said… ‘The world is on the brink of a new Cold War. Some are even saying that it's already begun… He said that the West, in particular the US, had succumbed to ‘triumphalism’ after the collapse of the USSR in 1991… For this reason the global powers had been unable to cope with conflicts in Yugoslavia, the Middle East and now Ukraine, he added.” BBC.com, November 8^th. Not that we should abandon our treaty and NATO ally Ukraine, but we really need to assess our policies of confrontation across the board and understand what we can and cannot change. Boycotting Cuba for years is an example of old policies, with no lingering benefit for the United States, that we cling to for reasons long past.

Instead, we need to learn the art of détente, diplomatic containment, the blowback of reactionary military responses, the willingness to allow other nations to select their own systems of governance and how to live with social structures that we find abhorrent. In short, we need to learn how to balance our true needs, practicality, and our commitment to stem genocide where we find it, with a foreign policy that still seems to need to dictate how other people live and should be governed… avoiding the backfire of our own failed efforts to force change “our way” where it will never take root.

 I’m Peter Dekom, and we seem to be likewise of the belief that our way is the best way for everyone, a notion that truly disturbs billions of people with contrary views.