Images of the human horror in Syria filled the world’s news screens this week: Infants, children, teens, adults, some strong, some weak, all helpless and hopeless. Mouths gasping for air and oozing foam, eyes staring but not seeing. The dying lay alongside the already dead.
All were innocent victims of deadly chemical weapons that Russia’s Vladimir Putin and his despotic client, Syrian President Bashar Assad, had assured the world no longer existed.
Now the world has seen with its own eyes why, even though Assad may have ordered the crime, Putin must bear the ultimate blame. And maybe the most conscientious world leaders, who once again found it inconvenient to intervene and easy to just accept the assurances of the untrustworthy, will know that they too must share the ultimate shame. Once again, the world watched but did not act.
Perhaps now the Russian people will finally see why the world blames Russia for enabling the horror in Syria and elsewhere. And perhaps Russians will finally figure out that although Putin’s militarism and swagger makes them feel strong and makes others fearful, fear is a weak substitute for the real strength that comes from genuine prosperity, which they not long ago came close to achieving.
But maybe not. Perhaps Russia’s citizens have forgotten -- or never even knew! -- that just three years ago, Putin came close to convincing world leaders Russia could be a trusted partner in the global economy. But Putin’s chance to bring prosperity to his people was shattered when his inner KGB nerve-stem erupted in rage.
The re-emergence of Putin’s inner KGB was masterfully explained last month by respected CNN international affairs analyst Fareed Zakaria in his documentary, “The Most Powerful Man in the World.” It began by reporting on the trauma and shame Putin felt in 1989 as a 37-year-old KGB agent in East Germany when the Berlin Wall fell. And how Putin has relied on military power to make sure Russia never suffered that sort of embarrassment again.
But I believe there was a crucial gap in CNN’s otherwise comprehensive documentary. It overlooked the almost-success of a non-military plan Putin never announced but definitely implemented.
I’ve previously called it the Sochi Two-Step. One: Putin would convince the world to hold its 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Two: Putin would then convince the G8 world economic leaders to hold their June 2014 summit in Sochi, where he would deploy round two of his charm offensive.
It was way back in 2010 that Putin set out to make it happen. That’s when he went to the Olympic Committee’s meeting in Guatemala City and launched a charm offensive. He brazenly built an ice rink in that tropical locale and worked with the skill of a Chicago alderman to impress each committee member. Sochi won in a close vote. A Russian official called it “one of the most important days in Russian history.”
The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi was a huge success for Russia — and Putin’s grand plan seemed on the verge of delivering for the Russian people. But when Putin saw Ukraine, once a Soviet family jewel, seeking closer ties with NATO and Europe, his inner KGB resurfaced. Putin snatched Crimea from Ukraine in March and boosted his military backing of Ukraine rebels. A stunned G8 retaliated by cancelling its June summit in Sochi and held a G7 (minus Russia) in Germany instead. The West slapped Russia with new sanctions.
Putin abandoned all pretense of being a global good neighbor and aligned himself with the world’s worst. He militarily propped up Syria’s mass murdering Assad; Syrian or Russian jets repeatedly bombed hospitals. And across the pond, Putin ordered a neo-Watergate cyber-stealing and leaking of Democratic Party emails to help Donald Trump get elected.
Russians seemed charmed by Putin’s strongman ways. His polls percentages soared into the 80s. And the Moscow Times reported a 2014 poll showing an astounding 45 percent of Russians felt the sacrifices of the Stalin era were justified (up from only 25 percent two years earlier). And 39 percent actually expressed “admiration,” “kind regards,” or “sympathy” for Stalin.
But Russians may soon wise up and realize they can’t deposit Putin’s swagger in their bank accounts. Once again, Putin is seeing antigovernment protests in the streets. And a terrorist’s subway bomb in St. Petersburg just killed 11.
Any day now, Russians may figure out their tough-guy president has failed to deliver the prosperity that, back in the days of Putin’s kinder, gentler Sochi Two-Step, seemed to be just a step away.
By Martin Schram
Martin Schram, an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service, is a veteran Washington journalist, author and TV documentary executive. -- Ed.
