A World at Odds with Vladimir Putin

Russian President Putin is a self appointed czar without a crown. Nevertheless, even his bona fide royal predecessors couldn't imagine the ambitious agenda the Russian Czar-dictator has established. In spite of the civilized world's resistance to his power grabbing and serial killing of political opponents, Czar Putin is planning an invasion of the Ukraine while continuing to prop up the evil Assad regime in Syria. 

All the while, the Russian ruble is junk currency. Worse, Putin has prevented his citizens from learning about military deaths because, he says, the information is a matter of national security. In other words, when a Russian mother says farewell to a child who joins the country's military, she may never hear from her offspring again.

Internally, Russia has to be in a state of turmoil. Oligarths (people with tons of money) have left the country to find residence in other nations. Opposition leaders are being serially murdered, either by poison or outright violent assassinations. Military people who die while fighting (like in the Ukraine) are cremated at the scene of their demise in portable cremation machines. When military people die, their deaths  are kept secret. It's impossible to understand how Putin can even support a loyal military when morale must be at rock bottom low. Besides all of the above, Putin has created a mausoleum of  his own making in Sochi, a community he built to the cost of unbelievable amounts of money, with no return on investment, to pay for the 2014 Russian Olympics.

Although the world is well aware of Vladimir Putin's dangerous ambitions, it doesn't seem like anybody wants to do much about the problem. Of course, the world is at odds with Vladimir Putin. In fact, world leaders have kicked Putin out of the G7 leaders. Whoo-hooooo.....! So, Putin created his own pack of influence with President Assad in Syria, China's President Xi Jinping and the evil idiot North Korean President Kim Jong-un. It's difficult to understand how Putin gets along with the ego-maniacs in this cauldron, but the buzzards are birds of the same feather, so to speak. They instinctively know how their axis will be formidable opposition to world leaders who are unwilling to take military action to defend their high minded anti-Putin principles.

Now Russians are expected to invade the Ukraine. Of course, the Russian army has been fighting "incognito" in the Ukraine for a long time. Yet, it seems like Putin, now, has nothing to loose by just taking the charade off the invasion. If Russia doesn't report military deaths and everyone who has died fighting are cremated where they are killed in battle, then Putin can just run roughshod over the Ukrainians and destroy all evidence of the military campaign. Of course, when the Russian military is caught in the Ukrainian campaign, there will be fewer troops to prop up the Syrian Assad puppet government. It's probably a risk worth taking for Putin, because, if he's able to finally steam roll a Russian highway to a warm water port in Crimea, he can then reinforce his bases in Syria. Of course, that's assuming there's any viable money or military leadership remaining to succeed. 

Furthermore, Putin's ambitions are also predicated on his survival. Surely, Putin must be facing the risk of his own mortality! After all, given how many people Putin is responsible for murdering, surely there is "Kremilin intrigue" plotting some kind of revenge.  (In fact, the same thing is going on in North Korea. Perhaps, it's just a matter of time before Kim Jong-un is also dead. Unfortunately a lot of perpetrators against Kim Jong-un are, themselves, going die trying to do away with the dictator, before somebody finally succeeds.)

Although western world leaders are aware of Putin's dangerous ambitions, it seems as though they're just waiting until something more horrible happens, before reacting. As the world waits for another Russian driven crises, Putin's brinkmanship continues with no end in sight.....yet.

Although the world is at odds with Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader is clearly not impressed by their snubs. He's obviously not interested in being popular. Instead, Putin is crafting his own reign of terror for as long as he can get away with it.