Putin the gangster
Sir: Putin is a gangster’s gangster. While he ruins Russia economically and diplomatically to keep himself in power, he behaves like a renegade in Ukraine and Syria (‘Putin’s triumph’, 10 October). He is a stirrer and an adventurer, who causes danger in the world and to his fellow citizens.
In 2011 he suggested that Russia should join the EU in a common market reaching from Lisbon to Vladivostok. That would be a good idea if the country were ready in terms of human rights and law and order, for Russia’s obvious political destiny is as a bridge between Europe and Asia. But Vlad changed his tune straight after the Sochi PR beano.
Russia was not ‘right about Iraq and Libya’, Owen Matthews, nor were ‘America and Britain dead wrong’. Russia has no view on matters of right and wrong, and Putin couldn’t give a damn about Assad; he wants a warm-water port and leverage at home.
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