Putin and the History Books

Vladimir Putin will be re-elected President of Russia this Sunday. He has the chance to go down in the history books. A commentary by Karl von Habsburg.

For 18 years, Vladimir Putin, the former KGB man and later head of the FSB, has held power in Russia. He exercises this rule in the style of a Great Khan, standing at the apex of not only the political but also the economic power pyramid. Today, he is considered one of the wealthiest men in the world. Around him, a cult of personality has been built, so typical of a khanate—a form of rule that, following the collapse of the ‘Golden Horde’ (Mongol rule), characterised both the Russian Tsarist Empire and the communist Soviet Empire, and remains deeply anchored in the Russian soul.

Some observers have speculated that Putin is weary of office, wishing to enjoy his wealth without further obligations, and would therefore forgo a new candidacy. But the fact is, he is running again, and anything other than his re-election on Sunday is improbable, if not impossible, given the current situation in Russia.

With his re-election, Putin certainly has a great opportunity to enter the history books. Syria and the reordering of the Middle East provide the backdrop. For decades, the USA was the policing power in the region after the Ottoman Empire collapsed at the end of the First World War and European colonial rule ended after the Second World War. The Soviet Union tried to keep pace with the Americans, but it too collapsed.

With the war in Syria, Moscow returned to the game. The USA supported (and still supports) a wide variety of groupings, most of which could kindly be described as bands of robbers. Russia clearly backed Assad and bombed everything that did not fit the plan. Facts were thus established that made Moscow stronger. Washington increasingly removed itself from the game through Donald Trump’s Twitter politics. Consequently, the USA’s ability to exert influence is vanishing. Moscow will decide on the future peace order together with the two regional powers, Turkey and Iran. And Vladimir Putin thus has the chance to go down in history as the President of Russia who showed the only global superpower, the USA, its limits.

The article originally appeared on the website of Karl von Habsburg.

Featured photo: © European Union, 2013/Source: EC-Audiovisual Service/Photo: Vladislav Lonshakov