Olympic Security, Sochi, President Putin and Muslim Extremists

Russia's President Putin certainly has a lot to worry about. Although Putin thrives on bravado, the world is not impressed by his swashbuckling photo opportunities. 

Eventually, events will usurp Putin's totalitarian leadership. Situations will ultimately implode around him, as it becomes difficult for him to bring peace to Russia,  

His immediate challenges:

1.  Sochi Olympic Games- Along with the emotional, not to mention the cost, of providing security for thousands of people who attend.

2.  Muslim extremism causing terrorist fear.  

3.  Syria - a country where the leadership of the tyrant President Assad is dependent on Russian support.  

4.  Ukraine- an uprising from a Russian controlled state that could become a revolution.

Security is being tightened across Russia in the wake of two suicide bombings in as many days in the southern city of Volgograd that have killed over 30 people and injured dozens. 

With the Olympic Games set to commence in less than six weeks in Sochi, a city located just a few hundred miles from the site of the attacks, this most recent stint of violence is causing added anxiety.

High profile suicide bombings throughout Russia in recent years have heightened concern about such violent extremism among the Russian public.

When asked about eight potential threats to their country, Russians said that Islamic extremist groups pose the biggest danger according to a Spring 2013 survey by the Pew Research Center. More than half (53%) claimed such groups were a major threat, trumping other potential dangers such as international financial instability (46%) and global climate change (46%). Women (57%) were more likely than men (49%) to consider such extremism a major threat.

Muslim extremism continues to grow in correlation to the oppression exerted to control this threat to peace in the world. Although Russia has no interest in supporting freedom of speech or religion for Muslims, the government's oppression of extremist Muslims only feeds their anger.

My advice to President Putin is to focus on bringing peace to Russia, before wasting time unjustly criticizing people based on their sexual orientation. Between the Ukraine uprisings, the war in Syria, where millions of people are displaced by their own government and the Muslim extremists who hate Putin, I don't think Russia is a safe place to begin setting up business.  

Russia is in trouble.

Sochi's Winter Olympics will come and go, but internal violence against Putin's leadership and Syrian genocide continues.

Nevertheless, leading Russia's very multicultural national identities is extremely challenging. Historically, it has only been accomplished by tyranny or when the nation has been galvanized by an outside threat.  

Obviously, President Putin isn't seeking advice from Maine Writer, but I'm not writing for his benefit. Instead, my purpose is to issue a sadly dire prediction about Russia. It's a nation at the tipping point of imploding. 

To that end, President Putin needs to stop swashbuckling around taking photographs of his staged bravado experiences.

Instead, he should be acting like a world leader who wants to create world peace rather than a tyrant intent on oppressing his enemies.

Undoubtedly, President Putin will be the happiest man in the universe when the Sochi Olympics are safely over. He'll have to figure out how to pay the extraordinary financial bills these international games and intense security will cost his people. Surely, he must've figured the cost was worth the investment. 

Olympics notwithstanding, the internal violence from Muslim extremists and revolts like in the Ukraine will not go away with the ending of the Sochi games. Resolving national and international problems will continue to challenge all Russian leaders. President Putin can't hold on to power forever. After Sochi, then what?

Therefore, the ultimate question is whether or not President Putin can lead Russia at all. It seems like his authority is becoming more heavily dependent on tyranny. This is not good for Russia and it's certainly a dangerous omen for world peace.  

A World at War With Itself

There's no  such thing as "traditional warfare" anymore.  

Battle lines are now "sleeper cells" or "networks".  

Although joyous events like the birth of the Baby Prince of Cambridge dominates the media this week, the flip side of world news is anything but pleasant.  Quite the contrary.  In fact, civil war fueled by world terrorism is reigning fear and early death for militants and civilians in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.  

Risks of terrorist attacks exist practically everywhere.  Enemy terrorists don't wear uniforms, so we obviously can't identify them as a threat.  Witness the Tsarnaev brothers, who perpetrated the April 2013, Boston Marathon bombings. In retrospect, we now know they were the face of modern terrorism.  They blended with Americans while they were clearly at war with their Cambridge, MA neighbors and harbored a misunderstood US policy towards Muslims. In other words, they were at war with us.

First, the good news: 22 JULY 2013 HRH Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge and HRH Prince William, Duke of Cambridge welcomed a baby boy. "We could not be happier," said the Duke, who was at his wife's side when she gave birth. The beautiful boy, who is third in line to the English throne, was delivered at 4:24pm on Monday afternoon at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington.  Royal baby news was greeted by huge cheers from onlookers who gathered outside the hospital and Buckingham Palace.

"Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a son at 4.24pm," said a statement from Kensington Palace. "The baby weighs 8lb 6oz."

Congratulations to the expanding Royal Family.  

But, here's the flip side:  Thousands of children were born in the world on the same day as the new English Royal baby, but many of them are born into poverty that will negatively determine their life expectancy.  

Moreover, civil war and revolution fueled by terrorism are reigning fear and early death for militants, and civilians in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.  Egypt might as well be in a civil war as rival groups vie for political and religious power.  Israel is constantly on alert to prevent attacks from clerics with Hezbollah and Arab extremists from Iran.  Rape has reduced war to unbridled attacks on innocent women in African countries where civil strife is under reported.  There's hardly ever prosecutions against gang rapes in Africa. Women are victimized simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Perpetrators of rape and human rights violations, like selling girls into sex slavery, are seldom, if ever, prosecuted.  It seems like, if there weren't bad news about Africa reported in the media, there wouldn't be any news at all from the huge continent.

It seems the world is living in a war with ourselves.  There are no battle lines or victory parades.  Rather, we seem to live under the dome of terrorism, where everyone, even the terrorists, are victims of serendipitous circumstances and corrupt political systems.

Maybe, the prevailing "doom and gloom" is the reason the world is hugely smitten by news of the birth of Baby Prince of Cambridge.  A new baby clearly symbolizes renewal at a time when the world desperately needs hope.  A baby boy, born to be a world leader, might live long enough to change the world (...maybe).

Hope spring eternal when we consider the potential for the newborn HRH baby, who has the potential to become a peacemaker. Although Baby Prince must enjoy a joyous childhood, his future adulthood has the potential (given the opportunity) to follow in the footsteps of transcendent people like Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa of Calcutta and the Dalai Lama of Tibet.

We must find a way to create world peace, especially considering the ominous alternative of a world escalating in war after war, within itself.  

Let's hope the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are as excellent at parenting as they are demonstrating their prowess as heirs to the British Throne.

A world in need of hope can pray for a time when someone will lead us into peace and out of a world at war with itself.