Crazy Old Russia

Is there anything at all that the present iteration of the Russian Federation is not prepared to do in terms of cocking a snook at civilization as it is understood in the West?  From Vladimir Putin’s “sovereign democracy” and “vertical system of power” to invasion of and/or annexation of parts of Georgia and Ukraine, to destruction of foodstuffs imported despite the Kremlin’s spiteful tit-for-tat import ban, even though countless Russians are poor and underfed.  That kind of thing.

This week there are one very new and one newish process to think about.  The new one is that last week two gents in the Russian puppet Parliament came up with the idea of a law that would apply a 5,000 rouble (around 70 euros) fine on anyone who publicly declares that he or she is gay or lesbian.  Someone I was discussing this with chuckled and said that at that level, someone with the means could declare homosexuality once a month, say, and not break the bank.  This is, however, yet another example of the Putin regime’s rabid obsession with “sexual minorities.”  Even the dude who came up with the country’s original “gay propaganda” law said that the new proposal was a step too far.  Does that mean the puppet Parliament won’t pass the proposal?  Don’t count on it.

On a more global level, there is Russia’s “involvement” in Syria.  Tsar Vladimir turned up at the United Nations last month to talk about how awful the “Islamic State” is and how all good people must come together to battle against it.  (The scenes of Putin and Barack Obama shaking hands and both of them looking like the other one just released intestinal gas were priceless; but I digress.)  This once again has been Russia doing things its own special way.  When it was decided by the aforementioned puppet Parliament that yes, Vladimir, you just go ahead and compensate for your runty size by using big, big weapons, a mid-level apparatchik from the Russian military turned up at the US Embassy in Baghdad and basically said: “We’re going to start bombing in half an hour, so please get your airplanes out of the way.”  He probably didn’t say “please,” but that was the gist of it.

In the event, of course, it turned out that Russia’s actual purpose was not particularly to combat the “Islamic State,” it was to combat anyone and anything that was opposing the regime of the brutal dictator that is Bashar al Assad.  This would include forces that the United States is at least theoretically supporting (equally priceless was the admission by a high-ranking US military official at a congressional hearing that after spending millions of dollars, the United States had managed to train exactly five, yes -- five “rebels” to America’s liking; but I digress again). 

What could possibly go wrong with American and Russian warplanes sharing the same airspace for the first time since forever?  Yes, apparently the two militaries are talking to one another to avoid any “accidents,” but this still raises the question of the end game in this situation.  The Obama Administration has been quite clear about the need to get rid of Assad and his cronies.  The Putin Administration has been equally clear in insisting that he must be kept in office.  This is oil and water.  Something will have to give.  Particularly given that as is its wont, Russia has been busily denying that it has killed any civilians, that some of the missiles that it fired off from thousands of miles away didn’t come anywhere close to their intended targets, etc.  Lying is rule number one in the Russian codebook.  That’s no partner, no matter what Putin claimed at the UN.

From Latvia’s perspective, the goings-on in Syria and in the broader Middle East are not of immediate military interest.  We don’t have any warplanes to contribute, and no one is talking about a land war, whether American-led or otherwise, just now.  What the ongoing chaos does mean, however, is that the number of refugees and asylum seekers fetching up on Europe’s shores is not going to stop; it is going to increase even further.  Our political class has already gone through conniption fits about the 700+ refugees whom we are expected to absorb already.  What will happen if it turns out that there have to be more?  Will the government be prepared?  Will there be facilities to accommodate the refugees?  Will Darla realize that Greg is actually her long-lost brother?  Oops, sorry, slipped into soap opera zone.  But it is a great unknown.  And while the world continues to dither in terms of what to do about Syria and the Middle East in general, this is not something that Latvia will be able to ignore.

Karlis Streips is an America Latvian journalist and a TV presenter on Latvia’s state broadcaseter, LSM.