That Putin is going feral is the conclusion of an extensive article in the Economist recently. Specifically, the article reports on his apparent “everything, everywhere, all at once” strategy of assassination, arson, sabotage and hacking against the West. He seems to think that the current world political situation is his best opportunity to establish a new dictatorial world order, which has always been his long-term goal. I have said many times that the West seems to forget that he has been KGB since he was 16 years old and that, just because he buys his suits from Saville Row in London, he is not remotely civilized – he is a despot, and a dangerous one at that.
“We’ve seen arson, sabotage and more: dangerous actions conducted with increasing recklessness,” warned Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, Britain’s domestic security and counter-intelligence agency, of the threat posed by Russia and the GRU, its military intelligence agency. “The GRU in particular is on a sustained mission to generate mayhem on British and European streets”, he said on October 8th, this year. Other European intelligence agencies are equally concerned. On October 14th, Bruno Kahl, Germany’s spy chief, said that Russian covert measures had reached a “level previously unseen”. Similar statements from the heads of security in Norway and many other European countries have all pointed to a huge increase in Russian spy activities and direct actions in recent months. Sir Richard Moore, Britain’s chief of MI6, put it bluntly, and in typical British understatement. He said, “Russian intelligence services have gone a bit feral, frankly”.
There have been documented incidents of sabotage in Britain, Norway, Lithuania, Germany, France, Poland and the Czech Republic in the past summer, all with suspected links to Russia.
Similar incidents and activities are ripe in the United States as well, although perhaps sidelined by the chaotic political situation running up to the Presidential election. Certainly, Putin will be capitalizing on his friend, Donald Trump’s, who idolizes his actions.
In May, Avril Hanes, America’s Director of National Intelligence, called Russia “the most active foreign threat to our elections” above China and Iran. She said, “Moscow likely most views such operations as means to tear down the United States a its perceived primary adversary, enabling Russia to promote itself as a great power”. In July, American intelligence agencies said that they were beginning to see Russia target specific voter demographics, promote divisive narratives, and denigrate specific politicians. I should add here, “all aided and abetted by Donald Trump’s words as he seeks to establish his own version of Putin dictatorship on the U.S. – maybe the GRU is even supplying him with appropriate briefs and strategies!”
Sergey Radchenko, a historian of Russian foreign policy, has said, “We are in for the most dangerous, unpredictable and, at the same time, most important decade since World War II. This is a revolutionary situation. The belief that post-war order is rotten and needs re-writing, by force if necessary, also gives Russia common cause with China. Right now, there are changes the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years. Xi Jinping told Putin last year in Moscow, “we are the ones driving these changes together”.
Let me stop for a moment for some perspective. We are not talking about Russia and China here, we are talking about Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. Some will say there is no difference, but talking about combating whole countries, rather than two individuals, is a different proposition, and requires a different strategy. We are talking about two people who want to rule the world and they should be dealt with that always in mind. Neither will live for ever, and they could be toppled before their natural demise, although that is probably more likely in the case of Putin than it is for Jinping. Perhaps thinking in this way could give western democracies a more efficient and effective way of defending their positions and ways of life. More on this later.
