Russian President Vladimir Putin has become an unlikely hero for American conservatives. The recently adopted law prohibiting ‘gay propaganda’ and Russia’s diplomatic role in the Syria crisis, have attracted glowing praise from the far-right and, more worringly, among establishment Republicans. To a lesser extent, on the left as well, Putin has won some reluctant friends following his decision to grant refuge to whistle-blower Edward Snowden and his covert anti-fracking crusade in Europe.
The ex-KGB officer has proven apt at skillfully manipulating Western opinion on both sides of the aisle, while simultaneously nurturing anti-Americanism at home and cementing his hold on the country. In an article entitled Putin’s well-oiled PR machine, Caroline Holmund sheds light on Putin’s Western-oriented media outlet ‘RT’:
‘Question more’ is the omnipresent slogan of RT’s English site, perfectly directing its content to a large swathe of online denizens unwilling to swallow the conventional wisdom broadcast by ‘mainstream’ Western media outlets. Hit conspiracy films, such as the ‘Zeitgeist’ series, have keenly displayed the lack of trust in official news sources on both sides of the Atlantic…it is unclear to what extent a news outlet such as RT can cover up the chasm that exists between the values of many liberal Western readers and United Russia partisans.
It is hopefully redundant on my part to remind readers that Russia ranks 148th out of 179 countries in the 2013 World Press Freedom Index, below countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
But, it is not only Putin’s cunning political calculations that have allowed him to so often find a receptive audience in the US. In many cases, it is an uneasy and unspoken fleeting alliance of interests forged between Putin and US politicians and pundits constantly vying for a strategic advantage. While playing into Putin's games may prove advantageous for short-sighted politicians, in the long-run, it is undermining the West's position vis-à-vis an increasingly belligerent Russia.
Fool me once: Putin the good Christian
In June 2013, the Duma, Russia’s federal parliament, unanimously adopted legislation outlawing the distribution of propaganda of ‘non traditional sexual relations’ among minors. In a country where Orthodox Christianity supplanted Communism as a new State-ordained ideology, the law was welcomed with much fanfare. In the United States too, spokesmen for several right-wing groups, including the American Family Association, have praised the Russian law.
Speaking as a ‘homosexuality expert’, Bryan Fischer, Director of Issues Analysis for the American Family Associations, said on Voice of Russia Radio:
Homosexual behavior is just as risky as drug abuse...I think the Russian government is right to be concerned with propaganda on teenagers who are at the age of struggling through sexual identity issue and we should help to channel these urges in productive behavior. Heterosexuality is God’s design. Policies that encourage young people to think this are good ideas.
Columnist Pat Buchanan has chimed in as well,
saying:
Putin is trying to re-establish the Orthodox Church as the moral compass of the nation it had been for 1,000 years before Russia fell captive to the atheistic and pagan ideology of Marxism.
Even more establishment conservatives have joined the cheering squad. Rod Dreher, the usually down-to-earth and thoughtful conservative who blogs for The American Conservative, has rallied behind Buchanan, giving
1.5 Cheers for Putin:
Russia is more conscious of its Christian history and character than the United States, a nation that still likes to think of itself as culturally Christian, but which is becoming ever more anti-Christian. That’s why I give 1.5 cheers to Putin. He is anti-liberal in ways that are morally objectionable, but also in ways that are morally praiseworthy. The Christians of the Middle East have a greater friend in Vladimir Putin than they do in Barack Obama
The irony of this all is that Putin has savily instrumentalized the Orthodox church to reinforce his hold on internal politics and a key lever of the country’s soft-power among ex-Soviet States. Putin’s rise to power and enduring popularity were largely a result of his pledge to rule with a firm hand and restore Russia’s lost power and prestige. Society was in shambles and Russia’s position in the world greatly eroded following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the ensuing chaos under President Boris Yeltsin as public services collapsed and the vistages of the State sold off to the country’s emerging class of oligarchs.
Putin has been able to make good on that promise through the State’s close partnership with the Orthodox church. A Public Opinion Fund poll found that 82% of Russians self-identified as believers and 70% as adherents to the Orthodox Church. This is in stark contrast with the overwhelmingly secular lives led by most Russians. Putin has turned the Church into a badge of patriotism, leaving spiritual aspects by the wayside.
In an article published by the State-owned news agency ITAR-TASS promoting a documentary that aired on State television in July, Russia: Baptized for the Second Time, the agency reported that:
Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that the Russian Orthodox Church strengthens the unity of the Russian nation and statehood and helps maintaining friendly ties with other peoples.
It quoted an interview Putin gave to the documentary’s producers:
The adoption of Christianity and the Orthodox faith gave a start to the formation of a unified and single Russian nation and a centralized Russian state. The Russian nation and the centralized Russian state rest on common spiritual values, which unite the entire vast European territory on which Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are located. This is our common spiritual and moral space. It is also a very serious unifying factor for people
The importance of the Church and its role goes beyond the boundaries of contemporary Russia. It helps us to establish good relations with people in other countries, especially in those that have emerged in the post-Soviet territory. The Church plays a very constructive and positive role
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the region, already battle-hardened gay communities are fearful of what Russia’s geopolitical and cultural sway may mean for them. Truth Out recently ran
an article on the geopolitics of Ukraine’s gay rights movement. The country is currently caught in the middle of a battle of influence between East and West in the run-up to an Association Agreement with the EU and Russia is using every weapon in its arsenal in an attempt to retain influence over the country. Russia has used the sway of the Orthodox Church to potent effect in neighboring countries to construct trans-national myths and meta-narratives to bind these peoples into a common-destiny with their former Soviet master.
Sadly, misguided pundits on the right cheer on Putin in the name of Christian solidarity as he attempts to and largely succeeds in tighten his hold on his own people, as well as neighboring ex-Soviet satellites.
Fool me twice: Putin the diplomat
As Republicans scrounged for reasons to stimy Obama’s attempts to may good on his promises in Syria, the question of the country’s christian community has resurfaced. Religious conservatives have praised Putin for his proposal for Syria to surrendur its chemical weapons to the international community, thereby avoiding American intervention. In the wake of the anti-gay law, the link is all to clear for many conservatives: Putin is the new Christian crusader.
Slate reported protestors remarks at a congressional hearing on Syria
"It’s all over for the Christians if Assad were to fall"…."We Support the Syrian Military Fighting Al Qaeda"…"The fall of the Byzantine empire is going to happen again, but it’s going to happen in America.”
An article in Red State deplored the humanitarian crisis in Syria, while also highlighting the plight of the country’s Christian minority, saying they would be the next victims of Obama’s Syria policy.
From a humanitarian standpoint, over 100,000 men, women, and children have been killed in a civil war that has been gathering momentum for the past two years... One of these humanitarian tragedies is the systematic assault on the ancient Christian community in Syria by the people we are in the process of arming.
Among establishment Republicans who prefer the realpolitik without less rapture, Putin has also been praised for the swiftness of his diplomatic efforts compared with ‘bumbling Obama’. Now that the crisis has died down, Republicans criticize Obama for his indecisive leadership and blame him for the logistically questionable disarmament agreement out of which many reckon Assad with cheat his way in the coming months as public pressure wanes. Meanwhile, Russia comes out looking like a more solid ally and America a country that won’t follow through on threats in the face of mass violations of human rights.
Fool me thrice: Putin the environmentalist
This one may be the most surprising, but Putin has emerged for some as a leader in the anti-fracking movement in Eastern Europe, although not a vocal one. NASDAQ reported remarks by the Russian President expressing concerns over the environmental impacts of fracking. Many industry experts have griticized Russian natural gas giant Gazprom for underestimating the potential of US shale gas. Now, Russia is worried that the US ‘oil boom’ will weaken its price setting power in international markets.
While Putin has said little publicly, RT, the regime’s news portal aimed at Western readers, has heavily covered the anti-fracking movement in the West. A Google search (site:rt.com “fracking”), turns up a good ten pages of recent coverage. Russia has also been accused of providing covert support to anti-fracking movements in countries across Europe in an attempt to keep additional supply out of European gas markets. In neighboring Ukraine, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has also accused fracking opponents of being “Russian agents.”
Behind his unlikely environmental position also lies geopolitical calculations. Russia’s most powerful arm in relations with its former Soviet vassals is their dependency on Russia for energy. In its attempts to coax its Westwardly-inclined neighbors into its Eurasian Customs Union with vibrant economies such as Belarus and Kyrgystan, Moscow has repeatedly threatened to raise gas prices for its neighbors. Russia recently bullied Armenia into giving up its bid for an EU trade agreement by threatening to raise gas prices by 60%.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, Ukraine has up to 1.2 trillion cubic metres of shale gas and the combined gas reserves in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary could equal more than 535-billion cubic metres of gas. Exploitation of these reserves could prove a game changer for these countries, providing them with alternative sources of gas.
Fool me….quadrice: Putin the defender of transparency
The Oxford English Dictionary is categorical that the sequence ends at trice, and for good reason perhaps – this tirade should be redundant by now. This is also the point that, admittedly risks riling the feathers of my audience, which is why I’ve included it.
The groundbreaking revelations on the NSA’s PRISM program made public by Edward Snowden quickly provoked global protests and catapaulted the former Booz-Allen contractor to worldwide fame, quickly becoming a household name. But only two months later, Snowden found himself, praising Russia as “the first to stand against human rights violations carried out by the powerful rather than the powerless”, accompanied by Olga Kostina, who, as Caroline Holmund points out, is probably the only individual who runs both a human rights organization called ‘Resistance’ (Soprotivlenie in Russian) and is in charge of PR for the secret police, the FSB (formerly known as the KGB).
To be fair, Snowden had no other options in his choice of country in which to seek asylum. Stranded in the Russian airport with no passport, Putin’s offer was his only out and the US’ treatment of Bradley Manning leaves little doubt about the alternative outcome. By extending asylum, Putin was able, in one fell swoop, to foil Obama’s attempts to capture Snowden, a little treat for Republicans, while elevating Snowden to a position of exiled martyr for his supporters, while also ultimately undermining what he stood for.
Enough
Americans on both sides of the aisle are playing into Putin’s ploys for short-term political gain, while Putin himself quietly consolidates his power at home and abroad. He has been skillful at manipulating the Kafkaesque nature of post-modern American politics. One might call this soft power à la Putin. With so much Putin in the news recently, it seems worthy to remind Americans of a simple truth: that Putin is a ruthless autocrat and an enemy of every ideal the country holds dear.
He has repeatedly persecuted dissidents at home, while portending to stand up for the oppressed. He has consolidated control in Russia and abroad by highjacking the Orthodox Church, gutting it of all spirituality to transform it into a nationalistic rallying point. He bullies neighbors with his belligerent 'energy diplomacy' and has quietly led opposition to the development of shale resources to maintain the country's hold on international energy markets.
Enough is enough.