Masterfully done times two— Tsar Putin

© 2016 Peter Free

 

31 December 2016

 

 

As a rational mind, I respect displays of skill wherever they arise

 

With the end of the mostly feckless Obama Administration, we are seeing Vladimir Putin wrap up his probable tactical checkmating of the United States in:

 

(a) Syria

 

and

 

(b) with regard to President Obama's grandstanded (and geopolitically foolish) recent expulsion of Russian diplomats and intelligence gatherers.

 

Where the American leader dithered and frequently blow-harded his way into wide-spread strategic impotence, the Russian "Tsar" danced more agilely than one would expect a frail and economically weak "bear" to be capable of doing. The Russian leader frequently exhibits tactical brilliance.

 

That said, I am not  yet convinced that Putin's tactical mastery slops over into its strategic equivalent.  With the possible exception of the People's Republic of China, the world stage seems to be empty of genuine strategists.

 

 

The moral? — Watch and learn, "Grasshopper"

 

President Obama brought a smart brain to the world stage. But he almost invariably managed to short-circuit its intelligence. His alleged penchant for principles-ignoring pragmatism turned out to be a euphemism for short-sightedness and (occasionally demonstrated) sheer bone-headedness.

 

The United States' Libyan fiasco synopsized the misguided totality of the Obama presidency. Understand what went wrong there, and you have a pretty good guide to grasping what went "not right" everywhere else. It is difficult to be an effective leader when one lacks both moral center and coherent purpose.

 

It is not enough, in my estimation, to defer to the world's randomness while a national leader. Although President Putin certainly lacks moral centeredness, he does not lack cognizable purpose or the skills to implement it.

 

In this regard, Americans would do well to do less self-righteous screeching and more thinking, when it comes to dealing with our alleged adversaries. Strategically speaking, for example, the Russian Federation is not an obligatory American enemy. The Federation's stage, though capably played, is too small.

 

Scapegoating the Russian Federation has been convenient to those who want to hide their parasitic plutocratic depredation of the rest of us by misdirecting our angry attention. The excoriation of President-elect Trump as a traitor, given his announced respect for the Federation's leadership, is a case in point.

 

American group think has long been our enemy. For the most part, over the last half-century, we have acted like a nation of feces-slinging tree monkeys. It would be nice to turn this manure-gobbling trait around. After 240 years, we might consider growing up and taking an accurate look into the mirror.

 

Not that such will happen, of course. Nations, like most people, seem to be prisoners of unthinking destiny. Exceptions stand out.