Everyone is wondering why Moscow suddenly issued an impossible ultimatum to the United States and NATO
In the West and in the Russian anti-Putin opposition, the most widespread point of view is that the reason for Putin’s ultimatum is domestic politics. That Putin’s rating has decreased so much that it is forcing him to create a conflict in foreign policy. That an ultimatum was put forward against NATO in order to raise its own popularity.
This is, of course, just a silly version. And this is an attempt to blabber the real problems. These people live in some kind of their own fantastic world, in which they are pleased to live. In this world, Sokurov is a powerful political thinker, and Biden is a strong leader, and in Ukraine there is democracy and progress, and America is the moral leader of mankind. And support for Putin is falling all the time. In the real world, things are different.
In the real world, Vladimir Putin consistently has the highest support among the leaders of all European states. And he absolutely does not need an additional conflict with the United States and NATO to raise the rating, because already all of his tens of millions of voters know well that all those who hate Russia also hate Putin, who is like a bone in their throat.
And they can’t do anything with it. He is like a magical hero from a fairy tale, from the point of view of his constituents.
Therefore, those who are always waiting for Putin to become unpopular in Russia cannot wait for a forecast. And advice – come back to reality. In which Putin is not an old dictator losing popularity, but a leader in the prime of his physical and intellectual powers, who enjoys the stable support of the majority of his country. And other countries too.
And Putin’s ultimatum is connected not with domestic, but with foreign policy. The reason is simple – it is becoming too dangerous to endure the insolence and aggressiveness of the United States and NATO.
They all have to understand – they no longer want to endure your impudence and aggressiveness.
Sergey Markov