Putin in a pile of problems

Ordinary Russians visited the Dutch embassy in Moscow to pay their condolences for the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine as it was flying from Holland to Malaysia. Many left flowers, reports BuzzFeed

And some left notes. This one says, simply, “Forgive us”.

It seems the Russian people are already way ahead of their heinous leader Putin in asking for forgiveness.  

Vladimir Putin, president of Russia,on the other hand, hasn't even acknowledge Russia's involvement in providing the missile and the technology that took down the passenger airliner.

Well, maybe the Dutch, who suffered the unimaginable loss of citizens in the completely unwarranted attack on the Malaysian Airliner MH17 by a Russian built missile, can possibly forgive the Russian people.  But they absolutely won't forgive Vladimir Putin.

Russians leave flowers at Dutch embassy in Moscow

As a matter of fact, President Putin is up to his cold blue eyes in a pile of problems resulting from the destruction of MH17.  

Now only did the Dutch people loose nearly 200 people in the attack, but the world lost a team of international AIDS experts who were excellent advocates for humanitarian public health. 

Putin must somehow explain how Russia will pay reparations for the unprovoked crime against a passenger airliner with heat seeking missile. Moreover, he must resign as a result of his failed leadership.  

Not only has Putin's puffed up ego driven Russia into economic stasis, he's created a useless ruble worth about "2 bits" or a US quarter. His outrageously grand spending on the Sochi Olympics drove the Russians into debt and Putin's war mongering in the Ukraine brought about US economic sanctions. Now, Putin's problems include international disdain, including the potential for a United Nations investigation. Moreover, his arrogance and lack of remorse reflect on Russians living or traveling in Asia. Many Russians live as expatriated Oligarchs in Asia. Now, they'll likely be in a position of having to pretend they're either Polish or Ukrainian, to avoid the ire of the Asians, who also lost citizens in MH17 and, by the way, don't like the Russians' bossy attitudes, anyway.

Putin is in a pile of problems. His predicament is creating pressure on him to respond. Unfortunately, Putin has been in a defensive and finger pointing mode. He's in psychotic denial of the preponderance of evidence about the Russian mistake that now puts his leadership in jeopardy.

Meanwhile, it will be a long time before Russia can recover from this totally preventable MH17 tragedy.  

Regardless of how Putin ends up - banished or worse, the Russian people will have to find a way to pay reparations to the Dutch and Malaysian airlines for this disaster. I doubt the families of the victims of this tragedy will be very patient with their expectations.

P.S. Additionally, when Putin goes, as he must,......Syria's tyrannical President Assad will be vulnerable, as well.

Ukraine - suffering in the beautiful city of Kiev but Putin can't possibly endure another Syria

Russian President Putin may not be a religious man but if he has any spiritual soul at all, he's praying for the Sochi Olympic games to end without incident. 

Meanwhile, the civil war in Syria (with Russia protecting its self interest in the country's port city of Tartus) is displacing 9.3 million people while street fighting in the Ukraine is taking time away from the public relations opportunity offered to Russia via Sochi's games.

Aleppo, Syria

While Putin props up Syrian President Assad, the UN Security Council is debating allowing more humanitarian aid to reach the nation's millions of refugees. Imagine having to vote on such a self evident issue. What's more discouraging is how Syria will never be the same. In fact, it's likely to become a Russian colony.

On the other hand, while the Ukraine really is a Russian colony, a relationship relic of the Cold War, it's now violently falling apart. 

Although I'm certainly not a diplomat, it's my opinion that Russia's President Vladimir Putin can't sustain two deteriorating "colony" nations while he is personally hosting the Sochi Olympic Games. 

 Think Progress Blog reports:

It’s been a rough 24 hours for Russian president Vladimir Putin. After basking in the glow of a successful Olympics for the better part of a fortnight, reality came crashing down on him over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving his — and Russia’s — image in the spotlight and the glare is unflattering.
Casting the harshest light on Putin’s Russia and the role it plays in its neighborhood, Ukraine appears to be exploding. For a brief moment, it looked as though the political crisis that has seized Kyiv since November was preparing to come to a close. The government of president Viktor Yanukovych and protesters who claimed that he intended to replicate Putin’s tight grip over Russia in Ukraine were slowly edging towards an agreement, one that left a Russian ally — who received a $15 billion bailout from Moscow last year — in power.

Instead tensions flared again on Tuesday, leading to police attempting to clear out Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) and end the so-called “Euromaidan” protests once and for all. The result was the bloodiest day yet in the stand-off, leaving at least 25 dead and hundreds injured. As dawn broke on Kyiv on Wednesday, the protesters were still there, continuing to feed the fire that separated them from the riot police. Western governments denounced the violence, with members of the Obama administration and European diplomats alike warning of potential sanctions being levied against the Ukrainian government’s leaders.

Well, well,well.....Syria and Ukraine. Let's remember Volgograd terrorists, on top of these. It sure doesn't look good. When Sochi is over, the Russian government could risk imploding from having overextended itself by propping up two governments while subsidizing a very expensive Olympic Games.

Will Putin's government survive? 
This is the time when the proverb about the devil you know being preferable to the devil you don't may fit. 

Nonetheless, when Putin's government implodes, Syria's Assad will be sucked along with him. This synergistic collapse could create an international vortex, the outcome being a black hole. 

Kiev in Chaos - Putin's Three Front War

While President Putin entertains Olympic guests in Sochi and watches hockey games, his leadership is challenged on three fronts. First, domestic terrorists are still lurking on the borders of Sochi in Volgograd. Then, there's the humanitarian crises in Syria with President Assad as a despot, while Russia props up his genocidal regime. Now there's Kiev burning in the Ukraine.

First, Volgograd:  On December 30, 2013, at least 14 people were killed in a suicide bombing on a trolleybus in the Russian city of Volgograd. The blast came a day after 17 people died in another suicide attack at the central station in the city. As a result, security was tightened at railway stations and airports across Russia.

Moscow is concerned that anti Putin militants are plotting violence to attract attention during the February 2014 winter Olympic Games in Sochi. (I'm pretty sure Putin has taken care of this problem in the short term, but the dissidents won't disappear.)

Now, there's the burning of Kiev, by protesters who disagree with a government decision to pass up a trade agreement with the European Union.

Police are storming the main protest camp in Ukraine's capital, Kiev, which has been occupied since November.

Explosions are taking place, fireworks are being thrown and large fires have broken out in Independence Square, known locally as the Maidan.

On Tuesday at least 18 people were killed, including seven policemen, in the worst violence seen in weeks.

BBCNews reports that opposition leaders later met President Viktor Yanukovych but failed to find a solution to the crisis, reports say.

Vitaly Klitschko, the leader of the opposition Udar (Punch) party, said the president only called for protesters to leave the Maidan, according to Ukraine's Hromadske TV.

Meanwhile, Mr Yanukovych's aide said the president was preparing to address the nation, without providing further details.'Island of freedom'

Security forces had given protesters a deadline of 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT) to leave Independence Square, the scene of a mostly peaceful protest camp since November.

The city's metro service was completely shut down, and there were reports that cars were being prevented from coming in to the capital.

Then shortly before 18:00 GMT, police announced over loudspeakers that they were about to begin "an anti-terror operation". (To me, this announcement sounds like an imminent massacre, while Putin is engaged in his Olympics Loves Russia campaign).

While Kiev burns and a street massacre is threatened, Putin is still under threat of domestic terrorism from the militants in Volgograd. 

Compounding the above is the humanitarian disaster in Syria, where millions of people are suffering and dying in refugee camps while their families are living under threat of massacres, all on Putin's watch. Assad is Putin's puppet. Together, they are the "ying" and "yang" of totalitarian despots, putting millions of people in harms way with their oppressive rule.

No single despot can sustain a three front war. Hitler tried and failed in Europe, Russia and Africa.  All three failed.

Putin can't suppress every dissident group. My suspicion is that Putin has put many people in prison and murdered unknown numbers to protect the success of the Sochi Olympics. Nevertheless, like a blocked water hose, Putin put pressure on Volgograd to keep Sochi safe, just see Kiev burst the pressure.

Sooner or later, the humanitarian crises in Syria will drown the Assad regime, regardless of who wins the brutal civil war. Assad's days are numbered, because it's not possible for him to lead a nation where millions of his nation's Syrians are living in exile.

More tragic than Kiev in chaos and Putin's three front war are the vast numbers of people who are suffering in the violence.

I don't understand how Putin and Assad can continue to lead their nations unless they annihilate their opposition. Although Assad is toast when Putin is fed up with him, it's possible for the Russian leader to murder all his adversaries and thereby remain in power for a very long time.  

Yet, Kiev in chaos could conceivably be the match to start a Russian conflagration. There's no way to keep Volgograd's domestic terrorists quiet forever. Moreover, Syria's Assad can't survive the humanitarian disaster he's created. Surely, Putin can't be feeling secure in his position as Russia's president.

Therein is the worst problem of all. An insecure leader can be dangerously erratic. Putins' three front war could derail the vision of a modern Russia. Rather, leadership insecurity could lead the world back into the climate of cold war politics with a Russian despot in charge.  Kiev in chaos could infect Russia and put Putin in the position of being a caged animal.  

Enjoying the Sochi Olympics could be Putin looking like a wolf in sheep's clothing. In the future, Putin's three front war will expose him as a leader who believes Russia never lost the cold war.

Syrian Holocaust while Putin watches hockey in Sochi

Realizing how sensitive the word Holocaust is when describing genocides, it's tragically time to address the horror going on in the Syrian civil war, by labeling the mounting deaths with this horrible word. 

People of the world will regret doing nothing during the Syrian humanitarian disaster resulting from a preventable civil war.  

Syrian President Assad is guilty of mass murder, because he is doing nothing to help his people, while Russia props him up like a corpse at an Irish wake. Assad is a dead man walking. Meanwhile, his people are dying by the thousands because Assad will not even allow humanitarian aid to help them.

BBCNews reports that the United Kingdom and France accuse the Syrian government over the failure of the second round of Geneva peace talks with opposition groups. 

Humanitarian aid is essential, but the horrific Syrian deaths grow in number, multiplying exponentially and an overwhelming number who are victims in the genocides are Christians.

New streams of refugees were forced across the border into Lebanon as U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi tried to find common ground between the warring sides during their second round of negotiations in Geneva. The United Nations said Wednesday that it would bring forward a trilateral meeting with Russia and the United States, which it is hoped will kick-start deadlocked discussions. 

While the holocaust of innocent victims continues.

Since the peace talks began nearly three weeks ago, violence has continued unabated, with civilians killed at a record rate, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Barrels packed with explosives rained down on the city of Aleppo again Wednesday, while in the mountainous Lebanese border region of Qalamoun, airstrikes battered several towns.

Dirt roads across the border were “like a highway”, reported humanitarian workers Wednesday, as more than 500 families — about 2,500 people — fled.  This in addition to millions of displaced people who are living in refugee camps while Syria's President Assad continues his power politics. Assad is now among the most evil of world despots, while his people face a disastrous future. Millions of refugees are desperate. Moreover, they will never forget this carnage and neither will many future generations of their families. President Assad has set up a cycle of complete failure for his regime while desecrating the proud people who will never be able to help rebuild their homeland.   

While the world sits around and waits for peace talks to work.

Syria has created a Holocaust and it simply can't be resolved until President Assad is removed. He's a monster.

While Russian President Putin watches the Olympic hockey games in Sochi, the Syrian people who he ignores by supporting Assad are in the throes of a humanitarian catastrophe. 

Is this deja vu of the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, Germany?

Snowden Living in Suveillance Immersed Russia

National Security Agency whistle blower Edward Snowden is such a hypocrit.  He lives in exile in Russia because he wants to make a world wide statement against governmental electronic invasion of privacy. Hurray for him.  Now, he's living in all surveillance all the time Russia. Indeed, the Russians boldy made it clear that all electronic communications during the winter 2014 Olympic games in Sochi will be monitored to prevent terrorism. 

Anybody who believes this high level of alertness will subside after the Olympic games are over, must be delusional. Snowden has been sucked into living in the midst of the kind of society he gloated about revealling to the world, when he became a traitor to the US. In other words, Snowden can sit in Russia and criticize the US for unbridled use of electronic surrveillance; but he's unable to criticize Russia for boldly admitting to using the same techniques for the same purpose as the US - to prevent terrorism.  

Athletes and spectators attending the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February will face some of the most invasive and systematic spying andsurveillance in the history of the Games, documents shared with the Guardian show.

Russia's powerful Federal Security service plans to ensure that no communication by competitors or spectators goes unmonitored during the event, according to a dossier compiled by a team of Russian investigative journalists looking into preparations for the 2014 Games.

Although Snowden says he has potentially millions more documents he can release to continue his embarrassing barrage against US surveillince, he can't do the same about Russians, who admit to doing the same.

Snowden says he lives the life of a "house cat" in Russia. Yet, if he causes any trouble with Russians, he risks living like a Siberian rat. 

Unfortunately, the new normal for anyone using electronic communications is to expect this techology to be at risk for government surveillance.  Snowden's message never caused the international revolution against surveillance he anticipated. Instead, he lives like a house cat in a country where surveillance is pervasive. Snowden is now immersed in the surveillance he disdained. This is the concept some describe as "hell" - a deep and desolate place where the soul must live for eternity in the misery they created when they lived. Fortunately, Christians believe in redemption. Therefore, it's possible Snowden can renounce his hypocricy and return home to face justice for stealing information he had no business revealing. No clemency, but justice. It sure beats living the rest of his life as a hypocrit.