The most telling element of this piece is this: Rustamova describes her sources to be “in the know” and “good acquaintances” yet no one really knows what Putin is actually thinking. Everyone is blindsided. All are distancing themselves. And what is supposedly known about “The Inside Story” in this article is, on closer analysis, actually only inferred. One does not have to look at many pictures of Putin to see the social, physical, and apparently political distance he enforces between himself and everyone else. Intimacy is not shared over physical distance. It’s not just that Ms. Rustamova does not know anyone who really knows what Putin is thinking. I’m forced to conclude no one does. That’s the scary part. We are all, even these insiders, just guessing. And when you don’t actually know what your enemy is thinking, he or she is at his or her most dangerous.
James B
2 years ago
Thank you for the illuminating article. My Russian friends and contacts tell me exactly the same.
Jim R
2 years ago
One man was allowed to amass absolute power in Russia over 20 years and now has the ability to single handedly destroy all life on the planet in a matter of minutes. That was not even possible in the cold war era. And now he appears to have taken leave of his senses. Has the human race ever been in this much danger? Is it possible we need to seriously reconsider the wisdom of our righteous escalations?
…possibly some people’s narrative, but not mine. I’ve been banging on about the danger posed by Czar Putin of All The Russias, The Celestial Emperor Xi of the Middle Kingdom…and indeed the Black Banners of a new Caliph at the Iron Gates for years…rather unfashionably I’ve believed that Frances Fukuyamas “End of History” thesis was mostly wishful thinking pretty much since it was published…the thing we should all be reading is Samuel P. Huntingtons “Clash of Civilizations”…and the sooner the better..!
He can’t single-handedly destroy all life on the planet in a matter of minutes. Even the Russians operate checks and balances on the their nuclear triggers.
Martin Logan
2 years ago
This was the action of a Sambo wrestler, not a chess player.
Somehow Putin believes that always doing the unexpected will achieve great results.
The problem in this line of reasoning is that his actions are unexpected because only an idiot would choose those particular courses of action. So it’s no surprise that even influential Russians were blindsided by this.
The article is valuable in suggesting that there are still smart–and sane–people in Russia.
But just not enough of them, it seems.
Ian Stewart
2 years ago
Ok. But how far is he prepared to go? If Russia starts using poison gas or battlefield nukes to flatten the cities and eliminate the resistance quickly, taking out thousands of civilians like he did in Aleppo, which is the only way to avoid street fighting with very high losses – will we in the west be able to watch that and do nothing?
probably an earlier comment re : 5 days to get out of the ukraine or we will ALL have to squash you might motivate the rest of the russian leadership to grow some testicles…
John Hicks
2 years ago
“The inside story?” Humankind’s inside story is that “Bad people continue to do bad things so long as Good people do nothing.” Having murdered most intelligent Russians and a fair few of that Nation’s Goodies through the past 100 years, insight of fidgeting by members of the Russian Security Council is, sadly, the best we can hope for?” Look forward to the next “insight?”
No one knew about the war beforehand, but everyone has been vocally supporting it from the beginning. Some secretly reject it, but only some. Typical Russia.
Last edited 2 years ago by David Nebeský
joe hardy
2 years ago
Just an anecdote from U S. here, talked to my Russian coworkers today who are very adamant about being American citizens. They said Putin surprised everyone and has gone off the deep end. Left no doubt that he’s not bluffing about dropping nukes. Also made mention that he is destroying 2 countries, not just 1.
tis a sad day when the members of a country are so cowardly and/or stupid to allow one person to hold so much power – all it takes is one brave man to change all this just as it did with Hitler etc etc etc etc. Also sadly makes one yearn a little for the macho American world policeman scenario. John wayne would not take any s**t and everyone knew about it and tended to behave ….
I think it’s easy for the citizen of a country in which one can criticise the head of state, and even be congratulated if one insults him/her, to accuse the citizens of an authoritarian country of cowardice for ‘allowing’ one person so much power.
They should resist, of course, but it probably needs a catalyst, such as the repressive powers showing a reluctance to be ruthless, but such leaders sense that ruthlessness keeps them in power, whereas even a slight lack of it condemns them to being ‘retired’, thus losing enormous wealth and immunity from justice or worse.
The most telling element of this piece is this: Rustamova describes her sources to be “in the know” and “good acquaintances” yet no one really knows what Putin is actually thinking. Everyone is blindsided. All are distancing themselves. And what is supposedly known about “The Inside Story” in this article is, on closer analysis, actually only inferred. One does not have to look at many pictures of Putin to see the social, physical, and apparently political distance he enforces between himself and everyone else. Intimacy is not shared over physical distance. It’s not just that Ms. Rustamova does not know anyone who really knows what Putin is thinking. I’m forced to conclude no one does. That’s the scary part. We are all, even these insiders, just guessing. And when you don’t actually know what your enemy is thinking, he or she is at his or her most dangerous.
Thank you for the illuminating article. My Russian friends and contacts tell me exactly the same.
One man was allowed to amass absolute power in Russia over 20 years and now has the ability to single handedly destroy all life on the planet in a matter of minutes. That was not even possible in the cold war era. And now he appears to have taken leave of his senses. Has the human race ever been in this much danger? Is it possible we need to seriously reconsider the wisdom of our righteous escalations?
…which implies a powerful enough madman must be allowed to do whatever he chooses to do? I can’t see that helping, in the longer term…
But isn’t it really our fault that we let a good boy go bad?
Rather the narrative in certain quarters for the last 20 years.
…possibly some people’s narrative, but not mine. I’ve been banging on about the danger posed by Czar Putin of All The Russias, The Celestial Emperor Xi of the Middle Kingdom…and indeed the Black Banners of a new Caliph at the Iron Gates for years…rather unfashionably I’ve believed that Frances Fukuyamas “End of History” thesis was mostly wishful thinking pretty much since it was published…the thing we should all be reading is Samuel P. Huntingtons “Clash of Civilizations”…and the sooner the better..!
You are right. In the USSR the president was elected by the politburo. They could remove him; he did not have ultimate power.
He can’t single-handedly destroy all life on the planet in a matter of minutes. Even the Russians operate checks and balances on the their nuclear triggers.
This was the action of a Sambo wrestler, not a chess player.
Somehow Putin believes that always doing the unexpected will achieve great results.
The problem in this line of reasoning is that his actions are unexpected because only an idiot would choose those particular courses of action. So it’s no surprise that even influential Russians were blindsided by this.
The article is valuable in suggesting that there are still smart–and sane–people in Russia.
But just not enough of them, it seems.
Ok. But how far is he prepared to go? If Russia starts using poison gas or battlefield nukes to flatten the cities and eliminate the resistance quickly, taking out thousands of civilians like he did in Aleppo, which is the only way to avoid street fighting with very high losses – will we in the west be able to watch that and do nothing?
probably an earlier comment re : 5 days to get out of the ukraine or we will ALL have to squash you might motivate the rest of the russian leadership to grow some testicles…
“The inside story?” Humankind’s inside story is that “Bad people continue to do bad things so long as Good people do nothing.” Having murdered most intelligent Russians and a fair few of that Nation’s Goodies through the past 100 years, insight of fidgeting by members of the Russian Security Council is, sadly, the best we can hope for?” Look forward to the next “insight?”
There is interesting backstory videos here. and ‘Ukraine on Fire’ is also a must-watch.
No one knew about the war beforehand, but everyone has been vocally supporting it from the beginning. Some secretly reject it, but only some. Typical Russia.
Just an anecdote from U S. here, talked to my Russian coworkers today who are very adamant about being American citizens. They said Putin surprised everyone and has gone off the deep end. Left no doubt that he’s not bluffing about dropping nukes. Also made mention that he is destroying 2 countries, not just 1.
tis a sad day when the members of a country are so cowardly and/or stupid to allow one person to hold so much power – all it takes is one brave man to change all this just as it did with Hitler etc etc etc etc. Also sadly makes one yearn a little for the macho American world policeman scenario. John wayne would not take any s**t and everyone knew about it and tended to behave ….
I think it’s easy for the citizen of a country in which one can criticise the head of state, and even be congratulated if one insults him/her, to accuse the citizens of an authoritarian country of cowardice for ‘allowing’ one person so much power.
They should resist, of course, but it probably needs a catalyst, such as the repressive powers showing a reluctance to be ruthless, but such leaders sense that ruthlessness keeps them in power, whereas even a slight lack of it condemns them to being ‘retired’, thus losing enormous wealth and immunity from justice or worse.