Just how crazy are the Russians?

 

The embarrassing and erratic behavior of Vladimir Putin and his minions seems to be a peculiarly Russian trait, one that Nikita Khrushchev was (in)famously known for. While no one is banging a shoe on a desk—or throwing one…

 

…that is probably “preferable” to the bullying being regurgitated by the Russians today, since it is difficult to tell just how “serious” they are, given that we really don’t need people with mental instability making certain decisions, like starting a nuclear war. Putin, for example, is now declaring that if he can’t get his war done by the end of the year, he plans on launching his intercontinental missile, the “Satan-2.” He does? To where?

Of course we have our own problems in this country with bellicose blowhards whose grasp of reality is a questionable commodity. But Russians are certainly not shy about what they “mean” in their version of “reality.” For example, we hear far-right nationalist politician Alexei Zhuravlev proclaim on the Russia-1 television station  “I will tell you absolutely competently that to destroy the entire the East Coast of the United States, two Sarmat (Satan-2) missiles are needed. And the same goes for the West Coast. Four missiles, and there will be nothing left.” Zhuravlev has also boasted that Russia can wipe out London and Berlin in 200 seconds, and with one Satan-2 missile “the British Isles will be no more.”

If you expect cooler, more responsible heads to prevail, like that of the head of Russia's State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, forget it:  he has also suggested that “the heart of Europe could disappear" if the West continues to arm Ukraine. If Russia was a true “democracy” and had a free press, this kind of provocative and dangerous talk would be debated and analyzed, and people would be allowed to freely voice an opinion on it. But that constitutes a criminal offense in Russia, so there is no way to know what “ordinary” Russians think of their country starting a nuclear war, since their leaders certainly act like their opinions don’t matter.

And then last week, according the Belarus news agency BELTA, Belarusian president-for-life/dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko—often likened to a cockroach by political opponents in the country—once more cozied-up to his only real “friend” in the world, Putin, by adding his own crazed commentary. He suggested that a “forgetful” Europe needs to be “cleansed” of Nazism again, and that “our Slavic way” is once more under threat (yes, we see the “Slavic way” of Russia in action in Ukraine), and since that “threat” continues, Europeans who have forgotten their parent’s crimes must now be punished themselves.  

Lukashenko went on to confirm what we all suspected: that he is just a lackey being allowed to call himself a “president” because Putin is allowing him to:  “We are the only country that supports the Russians in this struggle. Those who reproach us, did you not know that we have the closest alliance with the Russian Federation? With a state with which we are building a single, powerful, independent state. We were and will continue to be together with fraternal Russia.”

Dmitry Kiselyov, a television presenter and apparently the Kremlin's unofficial propaganda minister, claimed on the Russian News of the Week program that an underwater nuclear drone could create a giant 1500-foot tsunami that would drown the UK in “radioactive seawater.” The Russians have always been known for boastful talk, but this indicates a people and a regime that has chosen to be isolated from the West, has chosen to be a “victim” when it had every opportunity to become integrated into modern society. 

Instead of negotiating, compromising and seeking common goals to maintain peace and prosperity, Putin's Russia has chosen to lash out like a demented child, threatening to “kill you” if it doesn’t get the toy it wants. We even hear Russian lawmakers demanding a "referendum" be held in Alaska to determine if its residents want to be "returned" to Russian rule. It seems impossible to deal with people like this, or know just how “serious” their threats are. It's bad enough to deal with an individual like this--but a whole country, and one just itching to "play" with its nuclear toys?